I'd Gladly Pay You Tuesday For An E-Commerce Purchase Today
from the bill-me-later dept
Many people are still quite nervous about using their credit cards online -- perhaps for very good reasons. With stories about massive credit card data leaks showing up in the news quite frequently, it's no wonder people are nervous. Even if the chances of actually being a victim of credit card theft is pretty rare (even for those whose numbers have been exposed), it's certainly not a comforting feeling. Business Week is profiling a company that is pushing a "Bill Me Later" option as a reasonable alternative. While the article talks about how different this is, it really just sounds like "instant credit," rather than a basic credit card. The company claims it can grant this instant credit based on just your birth date and last four digits of your Social Security Number -- and then successfully sniff out fraud attempts. That could raise a lot of questions, though. After all, that's data that's not very hard to figure out for many people. The company, obviously, tries to screen stuff out if you're ordering something and shipping it to a different location than where you live, but it's not hard to see how scammers might quickly jump on this system and run up quite a bit of debt for unsuspecting people. Really, the only major differences with this system and traditional credit card systems is that (1) consumers don't have to know their card number (2) merchant policies are much more agreeable and (3) they claim to have better fraud detection. It's the fraud detection that's key. If credit card companies could catch up in fraud detection, while also making their merchant policies a bit friendlier, then it's hard to see how "Bill Me Later" has much of an advantage.
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Credit Cards Are A Joke For Merchants
Checking accounts and credit cards are the two biggest scams pulled by banks EVER.
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Re: Credit Cards Are A Joke For Merchants
Sure, the merchant has to pay some (small) fees. But he is *more* than recompensed by the increased sales generated by people spending without thinking due to their plastic.
That's not even taking into account the fact that, now that credit cards and such are entrenched and very few people actually carry any cash, refusing to take cards would be tantamount to committing business suicide.
This is, by the way, why I own no credit cards, and try to conduct as much of my business with cash as possible.
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Re: Credit Cards Are A Joke For Merchants
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nope
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What happens when someone finds out/phishes your information and starts using it fraudulently? You going to change your SS number or your birthdate?
At best, you wont be able to use the Bill Me Later service ever again.
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This is the same problem with fingerprint security -- you can't ever change the key. I wouldn't want to lose a finger just because someone wants to steal my car...
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No Subject Given
That crap about increasing your business is just that. Crap. Sounds like a Visa or processing company employee because that is the pitch I got every time the Visa rep came into my business. Every time I showed him the door. I probably lost 1-2 customers a week. Not even close to enough business to justify paying the merchant fees for the customers paying by credit card out of sheer laziness or force of habit.
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Re: No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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hey
Just kidding....
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Re: hey
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Re: hey
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bleh
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Re: bleh
And yet, I've seen an American Express Blue card bill with a 28.9% interest rate.
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PayByCash
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Banks and credit card co's call it Soft Fraud / Fr
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Re: Banks and credit card co's call it Soft Fraud
--
Violins for sale
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Cardmember service agreement / merchant agreement
They can't do that. Report them to the credit card co immediately. You also can't raise the price just to cover the fee if someone decided to use credit instead of cash on the transaction.
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read the rules John
They can't do that. Report them to the credit card co immediately. You also can't raise the price just to cover the fee if someone decided to use credit instead of cash on the transaction."
-Actually, yes it can be charged as a convenience fee, if payment by credit is not of the norm for the business.
-Furthermore, a fee can be charged for debit.
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