Ebay doesn't ask for a password to spend my money

[TwentyFiveAndCounting]

Hi,

I've noticed recently that if I buy something on ebay, the system doesn't ask me for a password to confirm that I have ownership of the card that is being used for purchase. The purchase just goes through as soon as I've clicked to buy.

This means that if someone clicked "buy it now" on something expensive like a car, then there would be no safety check that it is me that is doing the buying.

I have hunted all over the place on the user interface to try to make it ask me for a password, but I can't make it do that.

I wondered if anybody else has this and has worked out how to solve the problem?

Thanks!

What sort of password do you mean?
Why would you have someone else's card details?

There are usually 3rd factor authentications set up, such as sending a code to the phone number associated with the payment card.

Usually "having all the card details" is the "proof" of ownership of a card. That's why you don't give them to anyone. And you cancel the card if it's nicked or used by someone else. Obviously not foolproof.

What password could it ask for?

I don't use Ebay, but presumably you can delete the card details you have stored and stop using the 'buy it now' option.

It doesn't ask me to type anything in at all. I just click "buy" and then the whole transaction goes through with no other verification steps at all. My bank details and credit card details are stored in the system, including the security code and it won't let me remove them unless I put something else in their place. I think it might be because I am registered as a seller, but I'm not sure.

It wouldn't happen in my house, but I know that others with young children have had their kids accidentally buy really expensive things by mis-click when there were no other controls to check that a parent was present.

My DS is older, but I could really see myself mis-clicking and suddenly finding that I had bought something by accident.

All other website that ask me to pay for stuff send a code to my mobile phone by text message and ask me to type it in, and they also want me to type in my three digit security code from my credit card. Ebay doesn't require either of these.

Huh? This is fairly normal. Amazon etc don't ask either.

Pay by PayPal then and remove your card from eBay. That definitely asks for a password.

I am afraid I have no helpful suggestions but a lot of online retailers are like this now and it is dangerous!

Amazon do the same. But if someone tried to get the address changed for deliveries, they would have to enter a password

So it's the stored card details that are the issue.
Yes you should be able to remove them from a buying account, but presumably they want to be able to take payment as a seller.

It's ages since I had a selling account but I really think they would have some option somewhere of keeping it separate - what if you wanted to use a different card for buying, that's quite a common situation?

Yes that's a good thought. That would be helpful.

I think it is solved!

I just deleted my credit card and then bought a pencil sharpener and it asked me to type about a hundred things in to confirm it was me. I paid by paypal this time.

I then bought another pencil sharpener and it got me to do the whole thing again. I hadn't committed to buying until I did the whole paypal thing.

That is much better.

Thank you !