Topic: Child management woes

Hi all,

Sorry, newbie question and straight to the point.

Can I add a child account and allow my child to purchase items on the Nintendo store but only up to the value of what’s on their account?

I don’t want to block them making purchases but at the same time I don’t want to allow free reign to my credit card.

Thing to point out here; my child doesn’t live with me. So I can’t be at their Switch unit.

I therefore need to do all of this online.

Sadly the Nintendo site seriously lacks any detailed information. - it’s has things like; yes you can restrict payments. Hmm… Someone needs to tell Nintendo that the devils in the details.

Thanks

@DaddyJ If you log into the Nintendo game store online with the account that your kid uses, you can make the purchase yourself. After the purchase, your kid can download the game on their switch. I think that could solve your issue. I've never done it myself, though.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-eShop/Nintendo-eShop-1806...

Thanks @WoomyNNYes

I’m happy to do that, but I wonder if the my credit card will be saved on their account ?

I dont fancy a huge bill thanks to in-game purchases etc. 😬

Thanks

@DaddyJ : You can include your child's account on your own console (with your console acting as a "secondary console" for the purposes of your child's account) and make the purchases yourself.

With respect to saving your credit card details to your child's account, I think that would be unwise.

You can also control spending by purchasing credit to your child's account without giving them access to your credit card, which can - again - be done via your own Switch so long as your child's account is also accessible via your console.

Thanks @Silly_G

Doesn’t look like the second option will
Work as per this article I found after looking up “add funds to child’s Nintendo account”.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-Switch/How-to-Add...

It mentions adding funds of a blue of your choice (as you mentioned), but it then goes on to say that credit cards can’t be used across regions.

I assume they mean “funds” purchased via credit cards can’t be used across regions, seeing as it’s under the adding “funds” topic.

The former option might work though.

This is unfortunately way more complex than I’d hoped it would be for an international manufacturer. I guess it’s security and legality at play here.

Thanks for your help.

@DaddyJ : The credit card restriction is in reference to different countries/regions (e.g. Europe, North America, Asia etc.) and not those living in a different county, state etc. within the same region.

Assuming that yourself and your child are residing in the UK, this should not be an issue for you.

Two things. You can make a purchase without saving the credit card info (I never leave my credit card info saved). Also, when you set up a switch, you can password protect making-purchases. So, if your child did hit PURCHASE, they'd get a prompt that will ask for a password. That's how I've been doing it.

It's also your choice whether you want pay only the price of a game/dlc, or leave extra money on an account.

Digital Game Purchases Through Nintendo.com FAQ
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a...

You can also ask nintendo support. Helping parents manage a switch is part of what they do. (Nintendo support UK hides their phone number, last I knew. You have to use contact page until you get an email form, and the phone number will be at the bottom of the email form - unless it's changed since summer. I'm in the US, and it no longer lets me get that far on UK site to check)

My daughter (17) just bought the Animal Crossing DLC on her account the other day and the option to save card details was greyed out - it said that card details cannot be saved for under 18s.

@dmcc0 That's an interesting bit, there. I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!