Rakuten - Foreign Credit Cards

[englandmj7]

Couldn't find anything in a search on this.....

I used the following link to set up an account with Rakuten:

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/base/oversea/

Long story short, the vendor I tried ordering from said that Rakuten, in the past couple months, has banned use of non-Japanese credit cards to order items due to issues with fraud, etc. Have any of you heard of this?

He said that they might allow it again in the future, but for now, they can't accept my card. I know some stores permit Paypal as well, but these guys don't. It's even more confusing since they specifically state that they welcome international orders and will ship internationally, but I have to have a Japanese card. WTF? What's the story?

If it's a regular VISA, how would they even know it was not Japanese?

[robin]

Have any of you heard of this?

Yes - many companies do this.

If it's a regular VISA, how would they even know it was not Japanese?

It's been awhile since I've worked with this type of stuff, but I believe they can tell by looking at part of the credit card number or during the check against your address on file with your CC company.