I have seen a number of posts on this topic in r/Xbox360, and decided to see for myself if a newly-purchased $10 credit would work on the web. It does not. I will explain in greater detail, but first, it should be stated that over the summer Microsoft converted all Microsoft Points held in US accounts to US dollars. Before they did this, you could visit marketplace.xbox.com, log in with your live account, and make purchases with said points, even if you did not have a credit card. After the conversion, it was eventually explained that you could not use this converted credit on the web site. you had to use it on an Xbox 360 console. I had converted points, I bugged support about it, and finally got the message, and over the intervening months, I have used up my converted credit on my 360. Since then, I have made a few small purchases with credit cards, both on the web and on my console.
That brings us to today. Earlier in the week, I purchased an Xbox $10 Gift Card [Online Game Code] from Amazon.com. I redeemed the code on the Xbox website, no problem. I then went to purchase a game that was less than $10, and it looked to me like it was going to charge my credit card. I hit up chat support, and they said I should be able to use my credit, but the site was being updated, so I should give it an hour and try again. I tried again several times over the next few days, to no avail. it always wanted to charge my credit card, and never gave me any option to select the account credit. I even removed all my credit card payment options, leaving only the Microsoft account credit, and then it would simply tell me I had no valid payment options, and it gave me the option to add a credit card.
So I once again hit up chat support. This time he said it should work, and I should go ahead and click confirm with a card on there, and I would have the option to switch to credit. I told him that seemed wrong, because what if I bought the point card but did not have a credit card? He said I should use my console in that case. I think that is a cop out, but fine, I added a credit card, and then asked him if he would reverse the charge if it hit my credit card. He agreed, I made the purchase, and sure enough, it hit my credit card. I was never given the option to use my account credit. True to his word, he reversed the charge, so I am not upset, but I am disappointed that Microsoft has not explained this new restriction anywhere. It was not mentioned when I bought the $10 gift card, nor is it mentioned on the web site. It would seem it is just a broken feature at this point.
Given the fact that Sony has somehow figured out how to let us apply credits AND make purchases with said credits on their website, I assume Microsoft will fix this. There are times when I am traveling, and nowhere near my 360, and a game goes on sale, and I'd like to use my account credit to buy it. I should not be penalized for that, but currently I am.
So for all the folks who have posted about this and not got a straight answer, here you go. I think that for the time being, using any type of account credit for purchases via the web, be it converted Microsoft Points or a US dollar gift card, is a broken feature. I hope Microsoft fixes or at least acknowledges this soon.
I have seen a number of posts on this topic in r/Xbox360, and decided to see for myself if a newly-purchased $10 credit would work on the web. It does not. I will explain in greater detail, but first, it should be stated that over the summer Microsoft converted all Microsoft Points held in US accounts to US dollars. Before they did this, you could visit marketplace.xbox.com, log in with your live account, and make purchases with said points, even if you did not have a credit card. After the conversion, it was eventually explained that you could not use this converted credit on the web site. you had to use it on an Xbox 360 console. I had converted points, I bugged support about it, and finally got the message, and over the intervening months, I have used up my converted credit on my 360. Since then, I have made a few small purchases with credit cards, both on the web and on my console.
That brings us to today. Earlier in the week, I purchased an Xbox $10 Gift Card [Online Game Code] from Amazon.com. I redeemed the code on the Xbox website, no problem. I then went to purchase a game that was less than $10, and it looked to me like it was going to charge my credit card. I hit up chat support, and they said I should be able to use my credit, but the site was being updated, so I should give it an hour and try again. I tried again several times over the next few days, to no avail. it always wanted to charge my credit card, and never gave me any option to select the account credit. I even removed all my credit card payment options, leaving only the Microsoft account credit, and then it would simply tell me I had no valid payment options, and it gave me the option to add a credit card.
So I once again hit up chat support. This time he said it should work, and I should go ahead and click confirm with a card on there, and I would have the option to switch to credit. I told him that seemed wrong, because what if I bought the point card but did not have a credit card? He said I should use my console in that case. I think that is a cop out, but fine, I added a credit card, and then asked him if he would reverse the charge if it hit my credit card. He agreed, I made the purchase, and sure enough, it hit my credit card. I was never given the option to use my account credit. True to his word, he reversed the charge, so I am not upset, but I am disappointed that Microsoft has not explained this new restriction anywhere. It was not mentioned when I bought the $10 gift card, nor is it mentioned on the web site. It would seem it is just a broken feature at this point.
Given the fact that Sony has somehow figured out how to let us apply credits AND make purchases with said credits on their website, I assume Microsoft will fix this. There are times when I am traveling, and nowhere near my 360, and a game goes on sale, and I'd like to use my account credit to buy it. I should not be penalized for that, but currently I am.
So for all the folks who have posted about this and not got a straight answer, here you go. I think that for the time being, using any type of account credit for purchases via the web, be it converted Microsoft Points or a US dollar gift card, is a broken feature. I hope Microsoft fixes or at least acknowledges this soon.