I am surprised at how hard it is to find a clear answer to some questions about buying through Amazon. I was wondering if some of you guys here could shed some light on this.

I made my first order through Amazon, used to make my purchases though eBay, but saw a deal and went for it.

The thing is that I added my debit card and entered checkout yesterday, but my bank account still shows the amount of money that is supposed to go away to pay for the item I ordered.

So my questions are:

1) When you enter a debit card, do you have to do another step besides entering the card number and the "name on card"? That's tje only information I was asked to provide when adding a debit card to Amazon.

2) Does it usually take days for the money to be substracted from the bank account and to reach Amazon? Which would mean my money is yet to be substracted and that I just have to wait because everything is going as expected?

Thanks.

AFAIK paying with a debit card is exactly the same as paying with a credit card (at least in most cases). I only have a debit card but it's worked just like you described, I think. And yes, it can sometimes take up to a few days for it to properly show on my bank account (usually on weekends though, but I haven't looked that carefully to be sure). My bank shows two numbers though: the one with the actual amount, and the one with these 'reservations' deducted.

Of course it could be different where you live.

Debit cards are handled exactly the same as a credit card by online vendors, except instead of the credit card company funding it -- you are.

Amazon doesn't charge your card until your item ships (not even a hold).

This is why preordering through amazon is awesome.

Thank you guys for the input. My money is substracted very quickly after checkout though eBay so I thought something was wrong with the way I added the debit card.

I suppose that everything is normal, I just don't want to mess up the payment.

Thank you guys.

Yea its just because it hasn't shipped yet. Payment will process once the item hits "preparing for shipment" status. Give you the opportunity to cancel orders placed in error or if you change your mind before shipping. Also works great for pre-orders.

That is nice to know. I wish they would have said that after checkout so that I wouldn't worry about it. Fortunately you guys are here to explain things. Thanks.