Buying Deutsche Bahn tickets online using an US credit card

I made six transactions on Wednesday, September 30. I am in the US and used a US credit card.

Because I was making so many transactions I pursued it because I wanted to buy the bahncard pass which was being offered for 19.9 euros for 3 months but the offer expires or expired September 30.

My issue was It would not accept my birth date no matter what form I used, month, day, year, or day, month year. After about 10 days of trying it finally worked and then it would not accept my credit cards, anyone that I used!

I feel I get the same run around as you, the bank says it's not their issue, the web site for bahn.de says it's not their issue.

So after 2 weeks I was finally able to purchase the bahncard, I went to purchase some train tickets putting in over 65 and the bahncard and my credit card was declined and the message indicated I needed to call the bank which I did and they released whatever hold was either put there by the train company or the evil spirits! And I immediately bought all the rest of my tickets.

When you say it's not working on the site, are you using the app? We had problems until we set up an account on the app.
Also, and this sounds weird, but it did work- try setting your computer to local time.
Makes about as much sense as anything at this point.
Good luck!

It may involve whether these were cards with "rewards". These may increase the transaction fees beyond what Deutsche Bahn can live with. EU credit card fees are capped at 0.3%. If you are receiving cash-back rewards, that would increase the processing fees above 0.3%. Just my guess.

So, again, trying to pay for train tickets on Deutsche Bahn web site using a US credit card directly does not work.

Well, it actually does work although I know there are glitches in the system. It has been a problem in the past, but I'm surprised you're having difficulties today. I just bought some train tickets a month or so ago for an upcoming trip in December, as my sister and I are heading to the Christmas markets in December, and didn't have any problem with it going through. Now I do have a DB account so that could have made a difference.

Here is a thread from 2022 that addressed this issue, and actually, it's been going on for even longer than that. I found threads going back to 2015 and 2016 that talked about difficulties using credit cards to buy German train tickets. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/deutsche-bahn-account-verification-codes-to-wrong-number

That said, as you can see in the thread, when I was buying my train tickets. in 2022, I had a problem on the first one and used PayPal for that, but after that, all my other Amex transactions went through on their own. I'm not sure what happened, but they all worked. And when I was in Germany, I know that I bought at least one or two train tickets on my phone, and those went through as well.

But like I said, they worked for me fine just a month or so ago, so I'm not sure why you're having problems.

It may involve whether these were cards with "rewards". These may increase the transaction fees beyond what Deutsche Bahn can live with. EU credit card fees are capped at 0.3%. If you are receiving cash-back rewards, that would increase the processing fees above 0.3%.

Sam, I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa card, which gives rewards and it was accepted.

I suspect that this is some kind of a procedural problem, but I have been expecting that sooner of later, European businesses would stop accepting US credit card.

The fee (discount), called the interchange fee, that US banks extract from vendors for processing a credit card transaction, usually, I understand, around 3 -3½ percent, is outrageous. It might have been more reasonable back in the 60s, when transactions were processed by hand, but in today's world, with computers doing the work, the fee are excessive, and banks are making millions, probably billions, off our using our credit cards. I just inflates prices for all of us.

The EU has set the maximum interchange fee from their banks at 3/10%, but since they don't regulate US banks, our banks are free to negotiate whatever interchange fee they can. The only rail tickets I have ever bought online using a credit card were Savings Fare tickets (5 of them in 10 years), and my credit account was always billed for the interchange fee.

So, if you have a card with "no European fee", it might be passed on to the merchant, and the Bahn says "no", so the transaction cannot be completed. I don't know if that is what is happening here, but I have been expecting it.

Evidently, it's more of a security issue from what I've been reading online. Somebody on Reddit said that they did not use the English page but kept it on the German page, and that their credit card went through after about four tries on the English page, so that might be a workaround.

What I would do first is maybe go to the English page and print it out or save a screenshot of it or something like that, so that you know what you're looking for (unless, of course, you speak German). Then go back to the DB page and try to get the transaction through in German and see if that works.

I only use the app on my iPhone for purchases. Web browsers often fail. I have similar issues and same solution with Eurozone hotel sites as well. Web is fine for research, timetables, etc.

I have paid for DB tickets using a US credit card from a staff person , ie at the Reisezentrum counter , the last time was this summer, These transactions always went through.

I have paid for DB tickets using the US cc from DB machines, these transactions always went through, using either the tap function or inserting the card following from the German language page, the most recent was this summer.

Depending on the machine, it could ask for the PIN when using the US cc, no problem, I have it anyway to punch in the 4 digit PIN on the key pad, the end result: transactton went through.

Pre-pandemic I used US cc to pay for DB tickets on-line, making these purchases from California, such as a ticket Paris to Frankfurt, etc, no problem, transactions always went through.

This example may be dated. Buying the DB tickets on-line I always used the German language page, if that makes any difference.

I don't use Pay=Pal, not my style.

If the problem persists you could try opening an account with one of the money transfer companies like Wise or Revolut. If you have a euros account (at least on Wise, which is what I have), you also have a virtual account with a European address, SWIFT/ BIC numbers, etc. On mine I also have AUD and there is also an Australian bank address. It works just like a normal debit card.

I think you can open instantaneously with a card on your phone, and a real one cost me A$10.

Lavandula

I had no problem about a month ago and used a rewards card.

I used a U.S. credit card to buy tickets in Germany a couple of weeks ago. Not online but in person at the Koblenz Hbf. Strangely enough, it was cheaper by about 15% to purchase there rather than online !

I have purchased DB tickets from the DB app using a US credit card. Most of my purchases are done when in Europe.

I do have an account with DB and my card is on file. I use a card from Citibank.

It's possible that the site is also blocking purchases from outside the EU. If so, try installing a VPN and set it to a site in Germany.