Some U.S. outlets no longer accept CCs and require bank transfers.
They give various silly cover stories but the real reason is that some of them were taken for a ride by the usual Nigerian fraudsters, ordering 10 x of everything on the company's price list. You do have to be dumb to fall for one of these (we get them weekly at my business) because they are so obvious from the way they order but most U.S. pilot shops have monkeys working in their shipping departments who will not realise that somebody ordering a totally implausible list of items must be a crook.
The stuff is shipped out to the customer in Bongo Bongo Land and a bit later the merchant gets a chargeback because the card was stolen. A credit card payment is not "cleared funds" - well not for about a year following the transaction, according to a Barclays Visa rep I spoke to.
I once got stuff sent from the USA to my correct UK address but instead of UK they put Hong Kong on the label. When it arrived at my house ( some 3 months later, having been to HK first...) I phoned up their export dept manageress and she said "I thought the UK was
in Hong Kong".
I do buy stuff from the USA but a lot of places cannot be used for this reason.
Excellent outlets include this
avionics shop. Aircraft Spruce are also OK but with apes who sometimes get things wrong, and they charge extra for an 8130-3.
I normally email a number of shops out there and those who don't reply to the email are not worth dealing with. But some are good.
The smaller firms are often excellent, for engine parts, hoses, etc.
There are no regs in the USA preventing foreign credit cards being accepted. It's really just like the UK - you have to take an intelligent look at the way the customer is conducting himself, and remember that a CC is not a cleared payment - it is just like a cheque which can bounce. You do need intelligent people in sales order processing, unfortunately.
Debit cards work internationally. Mine does.