# I wanna buy an online magazine subscription.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793 "2020-05-31T15:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/1 "2020-05-31T15:05:50Z")
…but I don’t want it to automatically renew and charge my credit card again in a year. Is this achievable without much hassle? I’ve read where one of the benefits offered by certain credit card providers is that they will give you a temporary, one-time use credit card number number but that isn’t an option with any of mine (and I don’t want to get a new credit card for that purpose only). I simply want to purchase a one year subscription and be done with it without having to make the effort to cancel the subscription when the year ends. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/2 "2020-05-31T15:20:04Z")
You could get a $50 gift card and get the subscription with that. Then spend the rest of the gift card before the year is over. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/3 "2020-05-31T15:25:30Z")
Another option is Paypal (if the merchant offers that payment option): > [@](#): > > How do I cancel a recurring payment, subscription, or automatic billing agreement I have with a merchant? > > Here’s how: > > ``` > Log in to your PayPal account. > Click Settings near the top of the page. > Click Payments. > Click Manage pre-approved payments. > Click Cancel or Cancel automatic billing and follow the instructions. > > ``` [https://www.paypal.com/li/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-cancel-a-recurring-payment,-subscription,-or-automatic-billing-agreement-i-have-with-a-merchant-faq1067](https://www.paypal.com/li/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-cancel-a-recurring-payment,-subscription,-or-automatic-billing-agreement-i-have-with-a-merchant-faq1067) ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/4 "2020-05-31T18:09:31Z")
I have a Mastercard debit card (I.e. no credit.) that’s tied to a separate bank account. I just transfer over exactly what I need to pay for online services and if someone tries to re-bill me without my knowing, well, good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/5 "2020-05-31T21:06:38Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > I have a Mastercard debit card (I.e. no credit.) that’s tied to a separate bank account. I just transfer over exactly what I need to pay for online services and if someone tries to re-bill me without my knowing, well, good luck with that. Or the magazine rebills you when you put the money in the account to pay for your porn-site subscription and they get that money. Then the porn site bills you and there isn’t enough money in the account, so you get a $35 overdraft fee from your bank. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/6 "2020-05-31T21:23:37Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > …but I don’t want it to automatically renew and charge my credit card again in a year. Is this achievable without much hassle? I’ve read where one of the benefits offered by certain credit card providers is that they will give you a temporary, one-time use credit card number number but that isn’t an option with any of mine (and I don’t want to get a new credit card for that purpose only). > > I simply want to purchase a one year subscription and be done with it without having to make the effort to cancel the subscription when the year ends. The one-time use credit card numbers don’t work for that. All they do is prevent a different merchant from billing the same number. The merchant that originally billed the number can force through a payment even after the card has expired. Do you want to order the magazine from one specific source? Or would you order it from another source that doesn’t do auto-renewals? For example, if you order a magazine from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com), you can specifically request an auto-renewing or non-auto-renewing subscription at the time you order. Sometimes they have a discount for auto-renewals, so I have ordered them in the past. You can go into the amazon subscription manager a few days later and just click a box to cancel your auto-renewal quickly and easily. I also like [discountmags.com](http://discountmags.com), they have really low prices and until recently they did not have auto-renewals. They recently added an option to auto-renew that you have to explicitly request. Also, nearly every weekend they publish really cheap specials on [slickdeals.net](http://slickdeals.net) that are good for only a few days. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/7 "2020-05-31T21:50:30Z")
You can usually turn off auto renew well before the term is up. I don’t know how the one time credit card numbers work. I assume magazines aren’t as aggressive as gym memberships. Those will force the monthly dues onto your new card even if the old one is ‘lost’ or expired. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/8 "2020-05-31T22:22:16Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Or the magazine rebills you when you put the money in the account to pay for your porn-site subscription and they get that money. Then the porn site bills you and there isn’t enough money in the account, so you get a $35 overdraft fee from your bank. First of all, I hear there’s plenty of free porn on the internet so you can probably cancel your subscription to that, and secondly nobody can overdraft my account. That’s what no credit means. I’ve actually hecked up the currency conversion a couple of times when I’ve ordered things and gotten the message that I had insufficient funds. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/9 "2020-05-31T23:58:34Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > The one-time use credit card numbers don’t work for that. All they do is prevent a different merchant from billing the same number. The merchant that originally billed the number can force through a payment even after the card has expired. I’m not arguing with you, but my experience is different. I’ve used Citibank’s virtual card generator several times. Once you delete one of those numbers, it can’t be used again, even with the same merchant. I know because I’ve tried it, and the charge was declined. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/10 "2020-06-01T00:19:47Z")
Can the vendors identify temporary credit card numbers? Is it possible that some (like exercise gyms) would reject any that are temporary? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/11 "2020-06-01T02:20:19Z")
Is this a magazine that is only published online, or do you mean that you want to subscribe online to a regular magazine? Is there any way you can get a regular mail address for the magazine? If so, send a letter to the magazine saying you want to subscribe to the magazine and enclose a check for one year’s subscription. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/12 "2020-06-01T03:47:15Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > I’m not arguing with you, but my experience is different. I’ve used Citibank’s virtual card generator several times. Once you delete one of those numbers, it can’t be used again, even with the same merchant. I know because I’ve tried it, and the charge was declined. Please tell me more about this. My credit card (BofA) discontinued their virtual card service a year-or-so ago. :mad: So I asked right here on this board if anyone knew of another bank with a similar service. Somebody (was it you, **erysichthon**?) suggested Citibank. So a few months ago I went to the local branch to get a credit card from them. It says right on their web site that they offer this service. But the account rep told me that they had just (last December?) discontinued this service too! :mad: :mad: :smack: Are ALL the banks that had this suddenly discontinuing it? When was the last time you used this service? Do you still have this service available to you? Maybe existing accounts get to keep this service but new accounts don’t get it? What do you know about it? Anybody know of another bank that offers this service? I loved having this kind of service for doing on-line purchases!!! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/13 "2020-06-01T03:51:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Can the vendors identify temporary credit card numbers? Is it possible that some (like exercise gyms) would reject any that are temporary? Supposedly NO, but perhaps they can guess. These virtual cards come with a very short-term expiration date that you can choose (in increments of months). So if you’re going to make a purchase Real Soon Now, you create a card with an expiration date just a month or two from now. If the vendor sees that the expiration is that soon, they might guess that it’s a temporary number. On the other hand, you could also set an expiration of, say, a year from now. Then, any time you want to cancel, go to your bank’s web site and cancel that temporary card. That way, it won’t affect your “parent” credit card account, nor any other temporary cards you created to use with other vendors. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/14 "2020-06-01T03:52:52Z")
You buy your subscription and then immediately turn off the autorenewal. Unless the company you’re buying from is extremely disreputable, it will be zero hassle. A few clicks on their website. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/15 "2020-06-01T04:05:10Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > The one-time use credit card numbers don’t work for that. All they do is prevent a different merchant from billing the same number. The merchant that originally billed the number can force through a payment even after the card has expired. The one-time cards might work like that. Maybe different banks (if any still offer this service) works slightly different ways. My late lamented BofA cards worked like this: You specified a short-term expiration date AND a maximum credit limit that applies just to that virtual card. So as soon as you know what you want to buy on-line, create your card with just enough credit to pay for that (and maybe a few dollars more in case they add shipping or sales tax or whatever). That limits the total amount that can be charged to that numbers. Furthermore, as you said, once you use the card, if there’s any money left on it, then only that same merchant can bill to that card again. And on top of that, you can go to your bank’s web site and cancel the virtual card any time you want. **BUT**. . . What bank still offers this service? Did ALL the banks that ever offered this suddenly quit it at about the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/16 "2020-06-01T04:36:32Z")
[Privacy (dot) com](https://privacy.com/) will give you as many unique debit card for any transaction you want I believe it is restricted to US residents and you will have to give verification information under US “know your customer” laws. It’s free… Be aware using these types of cards you don’t get the full credit card protecctions your own credit card would offer, such as full ability to dispute and chargeback ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/17 "2020-06-01T05:08:07Z")
Be aware that if you agree to their terms to get that subscription, merely stopping their access to your account, _that you have previously agreed to give them access to_, does not absolve you of the responsibility to pay them. If you do not like the spelled out method of cancellation, do not subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/18 "2020-06-01T07:03:58Z")
CapitalOne has Eno [https://www.capitalone.com/applications/eno/](https://www.capitalone.com/applications/eno/) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/19 "2020-06-01T09:42:50Z")
Stopping access to your account does not usually cancel the contract. Many of these auto-renewal subscriptions, whether to magazines, gyms or tech gadgets, can be quite difficult to cancel and they will pursue defaulting customers. Some of them (and I have personal experience of this) will impose quite onerous requirements to cancel: A notice in writing seems quite common as is at least 90 days notice. I had a look around and I see that some States are introducing legislation to curb the worst excesses - [Evergreen Clauses: How Enforceable are "Automatic Renewal" Provisions? - McLane Middleton](https://www.mclane.com/thought-leadership/evergreen-clauses-how-enforceable-are-automatic-renewal-provisions) ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793/20 "2020-06-01T17:22:50Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Please tell me more about this. > > My credit card (BofA) discontinued their virtual card service a year-or-so ago. :mad: So I asked right here on this board if anyone knew of another bank with a similar service. Somebody (was it you, **erysichthon**?) suggested Citibank. So a few months ago I went to the local branch to get a credit card from them. It says right on their web site that they offer this service. > > But the account rep told me that they had just (last December?) discontinued this service too! :mad: :mad: :smack: Are ALL the banks that had this suddenly discontinuing it? > > When was the last time you used this service? Do you still have this service available to you? Maybe existing accounts get to keep this service but new accounts don’t get it? What do you know about it? > > Anybody know of another bank that offers this service? > > I loved having this kind of service for doing on-line purchases!!! I used Citi’s virtual card generator a moment ago, right after reading your post, and it worked fine; I was able to create a number. The previous time I used it was in late December. I haven’t heard a peep about the service being discontinued. Citi doesn’t have any qualms about eliminating services, but, in my experience, they announce such things in advance via email. I can’t explain why the customer service person at the bank told you this. I suppose it’s possible existing customers were grandfathered in. It’s also possible that the particular card your local branch offers doesn’t come with that service. Citi offers a bewildering array of cards and they don’t all have the same benefits; the one I have is called the Double Cash card. If this is a service you really need, I’d suggest calling them and asking about it rather than going through a local bank. The number for new applications is 1-888-201-4523. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-buy-an-online-magazine-subscription/854793.md?page=2)