How to purchase Xbox Avatar items now!

[Lundon44]

So MS has dropped the whole MS points system. And I upgraded to an Xbox One from my 360. I used to go through my Windows Phone games hub, avatar editor, find something in the marketplace I wanted and purchase it using points or I would add points as needed.

Well, needless to say you can't "add" points any more and trying to do so just brings you to the MS website page about the change over from their old points system. I logged in my MS account page and there seems to be no way to add funds to my wallet. I logged in on my Xbox One and also noticed no more avatar marketplace exists.

So how in the world is this transaction supposed to work now?

 

[Curtieson]

So MS has dropped the whole MS points system. And I upgraded to an Xbox One from my 360. I used to go through my Windows Phone games hub, avatar editor, find something in the marketplace I wanted and purchase it using points or I would add points as needed.

Well, needless to say you can't "add" points any more and trying to do so just brings you to the MS website page about the change over from their old points system. I logged in my MS account page and there seems to be no way to add funds to my wallet. I logged in on my Xbox One and also noticed no more avatar marketplace exists.

So how in the world is this transaction supposed to work now?

When I go into the spot to buy stuff now, it just trys to charge me in Dollars. Did you ever go through the Pts to Dollars conversion? I read somewhere once...(months ago) that to go through the conversion you had to download the update to your Xbox 360 console and then sign in. So, if you didn't have a 360 that your pts were never converted. I have no idea if that was fixed (I'd assume it was though).

You can also just get add money to your account as if it was a giftcard. Do you have a Bing Rewards profile too? Could cash in some rewards for points (but I always HIGHLY recommend you cash in Bing Rewards pts for Amazon credit and then buy MS Cash with that...you get a better return rate for only a couple minutes extra of work (and it is all still done digitally)

 

[TheJoester09]

When I go into the spot to buy stuff now, it just trys to charge me in Dollars. Did you ever go through the Pts to Dollars conversion? I read somewhere once...(months ago) that to go through the conversion you had to download the update to your Xbox 360 console and then sign in. So, if you didn't have a 360 that your pts were never converted. I have no idea if that was fixed (I'd assume it was though).

You can also just get add money to your account as if it was a giftcard. Do you have a Bing Rewards profile too? Could cash in some rewards for points (but I always HIGHLY recommend you cash in Bing Rewards pts for Amazon credit and then buy MS Cash with that...you get a better return rate for only a couple minutes extra of work (and it is all still done digitally)

Interesting...I never considered that. Great tip!

 

[Lundon44]

Well I don't have my 360 any more and I've never used Bing Rewards only because at home I use Google search. So I'm going to assume I have to buy gift cards to get funds into my account. That's a lot of work just to buy my avatar a measly item.

 

[ven07]

This is the best i could find :/

Microsoft Account Transition to Local Currency | Billing and Subscriptions - Xbox.com

 

[Curtieson]

Well I don't have my 360 any more and I've never used Bing Rewards only because at home I use Google search. So I'm going to assume I have to buy gift cards to get funds into my account. That's a lot of work just to buy my avatar a measly item.

Ven's link had a good breakdown in it. Basically...you can not add funds to your account via a credit card because if you have a CC tied to your MS account it just lets you buy it directly. So if you are trying to buy the $0.99 item for your avatar, it will just charge $0.99 to your Credit Card instead of chaging you $5 to add funds so that you can have $4.01 left over when done.

It makes sense...you wouldn't want to add funds from a CC to your account because all that does is ties your cash up into your MA while still following the exact same flow.

 

[Lundon44]

I wish it were that easy. But on Windows Phone it looks at your points balance. And since I have no points I have no choice but to tap "add points". And then it just opens up a webpage to redirect me to an FAQ on the points conversion that took place last year. Obviously this is of no help to me.

Perhaps this thread shouldn't have been moved to the Xbox One section as I was originally inquiring about how to do this over Windows Phone.

 

[Curtieson]

I wish it were that easy. But on Windows Phone it looks at your points balance. And since I have no points I have no choice but to tap "add points". And then it just opens up a webpage to redirect me to an FAQ on the points conversion that took place last year. Obviously this is of no help to me.

Perhaps this thread shouldn't have been moved to the Xbox One section as I was originally inquiring about how to do this over Windows Phone.

Not sure who moved it, but I did also think you were having an Xbox One issue.
What country / carrier are you? Even if my pts account is empty, I can still choose to pay via the CC that I have entered into my Wallet, or I can charge the item to my Carrier or even select PayPal I think.

EDIT: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Snap dang. haha

I just did exactly what you said you were trying...and went to see if I could buy a new Tigers Jersey for my guy on my phone via the Games' Avatar Store and I am getting the same error. It is saying it is 160 pts, but instead of saying that is $2 on checkout [which is what the console does], it is saying I am short points and doing just what you said.

Looks like that is a pretty deep seeded issue...only guess would be that it will need to be fixed in WP8.1

 

[Lundon44]

Lol yeah.. It's a bit silly that MS wouldn't have patched this on their phones by now. I am pretty curious if WP 8.1 will fix this though. I don't know if the games hub was on the change list for updates.

 

[Curtieson]

Lol yeah.. It's a bit silly that MS wouldn't have patched this on their phones by now. I am pretty curious if WP 8.1 will fix this though. I don't know if the games hub was on the change list for updates.

Well...I lost my points...in what...June? And it took me nearly a year to realize it didn't work? haha And I feel I am on the 'power user' side when it comes to Xbox. Ohwell...

I sent a tweet to Xbox Support. They don't always know everything, and most of the time just assume someone is being stupid, but lets see what they say.

https://twitter.com/Curtieson/status/453634311745323009

 

[Curtieson]

Got a reply. They said it is a known issue, and said to go to the browser or console to buy. They didn't say when (if any...) fix would be rolled out.

 

[sinime]

Nope, isn't fixed with WP8.1... at least not with the developer preview.

 

[jlzimmerman]

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous that you can't go to the store from the XBox One. Doing it through the browser seems to be the only way to purchase through the store.

XBOX Marketplace for UK Gamers
XBOX Marketplace for US Gamers


And yes, as of November the Xbox Extras app and WP8 options to purchase avatar items is still broken.