D&D General D&D Player's Handbook PayPal Orders Suffer Processing Issues

According to forum comments on D&D Beyond, it appears that many customers who pre-ordered the 2024 Player's Handbook using PayPal are receiving emails which say that their payments failed to go through.

LaTia Jacquise, the D&D community manager, has asked those affected to file support tickets so that WotC can look into and rectify the issue.

The book's release is on September 17th. For those who pre-ordered the three core rulebooks, it appears that only the Player's Handbook is affected at this stage. Those who pre-ordered the digital and physical bundle were charged for--and received--their digital books previously; the physical portion of the order was charged separately, and it seems that this portion is the one that is failing.

Hey all! (Again, big font for visibility.)

I come with an update on these PHB pre-order cancellations. There were two potential reasons for these cancellations, and we are working to resolve the issues quickly.

The first reason was a tech issue that caused some orders to fail payment processing when shipping started which caused the order to automatically cancel. On September 11th, customers in this category were notified via email that we will attempt to re-process their order after 24 hours with the opportunity to opt-out by contacting customer service.

The second reason was due to payment failure of the original payment method used for the pre-order when shipping started which caused the order to automatically cancel. This payment failure could include things like insufficient funds or an expired card. In this case, customers will be notified today with instructions on how they can re-order the PHB book using an updated payment method.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience but wanted to keep everyone informed as we quickly work to resolve the pre-orders.

- LaTia Jacquise, D&D community manager​

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[aco175]

Welcome, user with one post (this one).

In his defense, he did join back in 2005. I think it is a new sasquatch lurker award. I have seen a couple 20 years and 1 post people in my day.

 

[Oofta]

Had the issue, sent them an email. They responded and are looking into it so we'll see what happens next. Like many companies they don't charge for physical goods until they're shipped, which may be because of laws in various areas so it would make sense that it's an issue with Paypal.

In any case I don't really blame WotC for this, bugs happen.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

hey, a reason to complain does not have to be logical. A conspiracy theory is an ever hungry beast that need to be fed with any scraps you can find or make up.

I find trying to understand the psychology behind these posts fascinating. It makes no sense, yet there it is. I mean, it's real people feeling real anger... you can't just cavalierly dismiss it, there's a human being behind it. But wow...

It's like a built-in suspicion of what... authority figures? It feels like a threat response. What's the threat though?

 

[Theory of Games]

In your heart of hearts, you genuinely think they were trying to steal from their customers?

The company that tried to nullify their own un-nullifiable OGL agreement so they could make more money?

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

The company that tried to nullify their own un-nullifiable OGL agreement so they could make more money?

Okay. Can you explain a real world motivation for Hasbro to steal their customers money in this situation? And maybe explain how it would even be possible to keep that money without delivering the product that was paid for? Maybe you're suggesting this is a bait and switch, where they offered a preorder discount and this is a nefarious way to claw back that discount? I'm trying to make sense of your position. As compelling a counterargument as a JT meme is, a written explanation would be more helpful!

 

[Oofta]

Okay. Can you explain a real world motivation for Hasbro to steal their customers money in this situation? And maybe explain how it would even be possible to keep that money without delivering the product that was paid for? Maybe you're suggesting this is a bait and switch, where they offered a preorder discount and this is a nefarious way to claw back that discount? I'm trying to make sense of your position. As compelling a counterargument as a JT meme is, a written explanation would be more helpful!

They are not "stealing" anything. I was not charged for the book. This promotional package was quite unusual in that you pay for the book at the time of release, months after the initial payment. As a developer, I honestly would not have given it a thought that the approval would expire for a PayPal charge. When you process a payment transaction on the server side, PayPal isn't different from any other credit card.

They've likely simply never hit this scenario before because even with preorders, the physical product is shipped fairly soon after the purchase. Hopefully they get it figured out soon.

 

[shoplifter]

As a developer, I honestly would not have given it a thought that the approval would expire for a PayPal charge.

This is definitely something that one of the folx specializing in OM/fulfillment would/should have known. That said, stuff like this still makes it into production because it gets missed. I see it all the time.

At this point, I would just like a statement acknowledging what happened, indicating what path will be taken to actually correct it because simply running the transactions again isn't going to fix the Paypal auths. I'm sure everyone will somehow be made whole, but I'd argue that they should next-day the PHBs as a make good since people committed to both digital and physical preorders and receiving the books after the wide public release (let alone the FLGS one) isn't a good feeling for those people.

 

[Oofta]

This is definitely something that one of the folx specializing in OM/fulfillment would/should have known. That said, stuff like this still makes it into production because it gets missed. I see it all the time.

At this point, I would just like a statement acknowledging what happened, indicating what path will be taken to actually correct it because simply running the transactions again isn't going to fix the Paypal auths. I'm sure everyone will somehow be made whole, but I'd argue that they should next-day the PHBs as a make good since people committed to both digital and physical preorders and receiving the books after the wide public release (let alone the FLGS one) isn't a good feeling for those people.

Maybe they should have known, but this is an unusual scenario for them one they've never hit before. Just because they have online payments doesn't mean it's not just someone who read technical specs on how to process payments. Been there, done that.

I assume they're working on figuring out the best way forward. But yes, I agree at the least they should send everyone an email. I have no problem switching to a different payment method but we need instructions.

 

[shoplifter]

Maybe they should have known, but this is an unusual scenario for them one they've never hit before. Just because they have online payments doesn't mean it's not just someone who read technical specs on how to process payments. Been there, done that.

I'd bet it's either that, or the person that did item setup wasn't informed on how they needed to do it to prevent this.

 

[KYRON45]

So is this now the "Pre-order Payment debacle"?