Farnell

[petemcfc]

After waiting months for the Pi to come out,I cannot purchase one from the Farnell site as I do not have a credit card and my Maestro card is not accepted,the aim of the Pi is to have a cheap computer which is available to all,but only if they have a credit card.

[walney]

petemcfc said:


After waiting months for the Pi to come out,I cannot purchase one from the Farnell site as I do not have a credit card and my Maestro card is not accepted,the aim of the Pi is to have a cheap computer which is available to all,but only if they have a credit card.



The no Paypal thing is a bummer, but the no credit card thing is not insurmountable - just get hold of a prepay credit card. Pick the right one and it costs you nothing to set up and nothing to use for Internet purchases. (Some charge a few pounds to set up initially.)

[nick.mccloud]

Get a basic bank account with a debit card

[petemcfc]

Thanks but Im not going down that road if Farnell only want credit card holders to purchase the product how many prospective customers will instead wait for the chinese clones to appear on Ebay instead.

The Foundation stands to lose out of a lot of royalties due to this.

EDIT,

nmcc,

I do have a basic bank account and a debit card,but unless Ive missed something it is not accepted.

[Kernel]

complaining to who?

a basic bank account as mentioned isn't too difficult to get

though which bank are you with? most have issued debit mastercards now to replace maestros

as for chinese clones I expect they will appear eventually but a) first the foundation needs to release the blueprints or whatever they are called which has no date atm b) they will most likely not be using the Broadcom SoC which will cause difficulties with compatibility and the working of the board

[nick.mccloud]

petemcfc said:


I do have a basic bank account and a debit card,but unless Ive missed something it is not accepted.


Until I had an account setup with Farnell I used a debit card - they are pretty indistinguishable from credit cards - long number etc etc - there is no reason for them to differentiate - indeed, debit cards cost them less to process.

Did you try your debit card???

[walney]

@petemcfc

A prepaid credit card isn't really a credit card - you just load it with as much cash as you wish and that is all that you can spend until you top it up (so it's really a bit of a misnomer - it's really a prepay debit card).

I'm happier about using one of those than trusting an organisation with my debit card (which hooks straight into my bank account), but that's just me.

[petemcfc]

Kernel,

Before I edited my post to accommodate my reply to nmcc I mentioned that I will be calling Farnell tomorrow.

I bank with Yorkshire Bank and they have issued me a Maestro card.

nmcc,

I have tried my Maestro debit card and it was not accepted,if it had have been accepted I would not have started this thread,there isnt a problem with my card and I have significant  funds available.

As I have said I could have missed something but as it stands I cannot place an order using my present banking arrangements,so if I have hit that block how many others stand to be affected?

[Tass]

I"d agree with Walney - a credit payment cars sounds like a good idea. Younger bit doing up for any credit arrangement, you don"t get any credit, it doesn"t touch your credit rating - it"s simply a pre-paid card with a credit card interface, amass this is simply so that it will be accepted online.

I realise this isn"t an ideal situation, but bear in mind that this is a pre-release aimed at getting developers, etc., involved, not satisfying a commercial demand.

[JohnW]

I can see why the need for a credit card is annoying, although I agree with Walney, that I am very careful about where I use my debit card given that it links straight into my bank account. (Somebody cloning my credit card = problem, somebody cloning my bank card = disaster).

I am not sure waiting for the clones is a smart move, there is little or no profit margin on the Raspberry PI (certainly not enough to make it worth developing a clone), so they only way to make money with a clone is to use cheaper components and/or sell for more money.

[petemcfc]

I have just had a quick look at moneysupermarket most prepayed cards have an initial fee of £4.95,

There are free setups though you pay £10 for the card.

I work for a large multinational engineering company so should be able to order one through them

The point Im making is that Farnell stands to lose a lot of custom because of this.

Back to the Chinese clones,its bound to happen look at how Apple products/stores  have been copied,Im not condoning it just pointing it out.

[Kernel]

petemcfc said:


Kernel,

Before I edited my post to accommodate my reply to nmcc I mentioned that I will be calling Farnell tomorrow.

I bank with Yorkshire Bank and they have issued me a Maestro card.

nmcc,

I have tried my Maestro debit card and it was not accepted,if it had have been accepted I would not have started this thread,there isnt a problem with my card and I have significant  funds available.

As I have said I could have missed something but as it stands I cannot place an order using my present banking arrangements,so if I have hit that block how many others stand to be affected?


Yorkshire bank have issued Debit Mastercards to the vast majority of their customers to replace Maestro IIRC - you should ask them why you haven't been given one

(though there have been some issues with these Debit Mastercards not being detected properly by some shops - this is because their payment processor hasn't updated the BIN records)

Most other banks basic bank accounts tend to come with a Visa Debit (i.e. Barclays basic bank account does this) which should work everywhere

I expect other people using Maestro will also be affected but as a %'age of the total card holding population Maestro users are very small - most banks have replaced them with Debit Mastercard or switched to Visa Debit

I expect over time other options will become available - paypal would be nice - I wonder what the plan is with children as most of them won't have cards - parent or school will pay for the device?

[Kernel]

petemcfc said:


I have just had a quick look at moneysupermarket most prepayed cards have an initial fee of £4.95,

There are free setups though you pay £10 for the card.


Just for the record moneysupermarket is a business who wants to make money from you - something like moneysavingexpert.com and their forum is a bit more impartial/community-driven

[petemcfc]

I only used that as a quick reference,Ive phoned the bank explaining the situation and they have told me that Maestro is now considered as a Mastercard and use that option,but not today as all their systems are down and the half hour wait I had was due to people ringing in complaining that their cards are being declined,so it looks like I'll later be going to the pub armed with an IOU.

[nick.mccloud]

Ah, sorry, didn't twig on the Maestro bit - yes, it's a debit card, but not of this earth. You really need to get your bank to issue you a MasterCard or Visa debit card.

Any other service you are going to end up paying for but here's the best deals according to Martin:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.c.....rds#online

[hippy]

petemcfc said:


I have just had a quick look at moneysupermarket most prepayed cards have an initial fee of £4.95,

There are free setups though you pay £10 for the card.


Before getting a pre-pay card; really check the small print.That's usually hidden on websites rather than on the card, packaging or leaflet.

There can be initial charges, charges for topping-up, charges for use, monthly charges for use and also for non-use, cancellation fees, difficulties in obtaining any credit as a refund, plus all sorts of pitfalls and traps deigned to take your money off you. After all, they exist to make money for the companies providing the service. They can work out very costly, especially if used to facilitate a one-off purchase.

It's usually far better to get family or a friend to purchase on your behalf. The order limit may be a problem short-term but that will be a non-issue shortly.

[TheEponymousBob]

Problems with Maestro are probably due to their acquirer mandating 3-D Secure for e-commerce Maestro sales, which I don"t believe Farnell are using

[glenn66]

Out of interest, most security experts advise against using a debit card online because it is linked to your bank account and any breach means your account can be cleaned out.  You can also become caught in a 'recurring payment' loop which can be difficult to get out of.

Credit cards offer much greater protection when buying online and as long as you pay the bill in full each month should cost nothing.  I couldn't survive without at least 1 card nowadays.

That said, if you aren't the disciplined type then credit is best avoided.

[SN]

quite simply you should use nothing but a credit card for internet transactions. You get insurance thrown in. Using any kind if debit/maestro card is risking disaster.

I assume the op will be buying more bits for his pi on the internet so he needs to get sorted with a credit card or prepay equivalent asap or he's in for a whole heap if pain and frustration. You can't beat the system I'm afraid no matter how principled or indignant you might feel - sorry.

[domesday]

PayPal is really really bad for merchants and it is no surprise that the likes of farnell and RS don't accept PayPal. The fees are really high compared to taking payments using credit/debit cards and fraud rates from PayPal users is far higher than with card payments.

I'm sure once the boards become freely available there will be people selling them on eBay at a higher price to cover PayPal fees so you will be able to buy one with PayPal.

[petemcfc]

"I assume the op will be buying more bits for his pi on the internet so he needs to get sorted with a credit card or prepay equivalent asap or he's in for a whole heap if pain and frustration. You can't beat the system I'm afraid no matter how principled or indignant you might feel – sorry."

I am not a numpty,and I can assure you that I find your patronization somewhat unwelcoming.

Please advise if Ive made any spelling mistakes.

Blast ,its took me 7 attempts to answer the Math Requirement.

[AlexPT]

What you will do to convince Farnell to sell to end-users?

Because they, for most of the coutrys, only sell to business/resellers.

And mine, Portugal, its one that they don't sell to end-users.

And buying from resellers, its not a option, since it only made the price goes a lot high!

I really hope RS sell to end-users, its my last hope. Since I don't think Farnell will change...

[piglet]

petemcfc said:

"patronization" "Ive" "its" "took

Not to mention the commas...well you did ask!

[Lakes]

So, I went to the CPC website (several days ago) which is the retail arm of Farnel and they had page there with the RasPi and a form to register my interest, which I duly filled in and clicked send.

Still no reply, and if you do the same thing now it sends you to the Element14 page.

So, have CPC/Farnell registered my interest in this or not??