Forum Moderators: buckworks
I am beginning to build a large (for me at least) ecom site with items ranging from $2000-20,000. I've built a number of ecom sites in the past, but never with products this pricey and am nervous I might be missing things. Is there a resource (book, website, whatever) which would be good for making sure I'm not missing anything obvious? A list of best practices, tips, tricks, caveats, etc.
For example, I just read a post on here about blocking Nigerian shoppers. I hadn't known about this phenomenon and wouldn't have guarded against it until I was bitten in the a**. If possible, I'd like to cover most of these bases before hand.
Thanks
Selling such items on the internet is a fascinating task. YOU WILL GET PLENTY OF ORDERS. My guess is that 60-95%% will be fraudulent depending on the product.
Our own products are cheap and we have little fraud (or experience with it), but I think I'd only accept telephone orders to start. (even with the cheapest products, about 15% of orders will come by phone).
Any Relay Operator call will be fraudulent. Beware of orders shipped to a legit USA/UK address and then rerouted elsewhere. Talk to your shipper about maximizing security.
I also read some article relate to legal issue about the needs of good return policy, shipping policy, privacy policy and site that allow confirm the order. The most important thing is avoid charging a stolen credit card.
Your return policy should state that all the shipping cost and return shipping cost are at buyer side. Order mush return within 7 days (take 3 days to ship to customer and they can't ship it back on time and they didn't even notice) charge 15% for restocking fee(this can avoid the return, if they willing to pay the 15% and the shipping fee, you got nothing to loss). Don't accept paypal. Much easier for customer successfully request charge back.
I have the case like this. I shipped the scooter to my customer with the right address. He claim that the scooter has a scratch and ask for return(he wants me to pay the shipping fee, but my site state shipping fee on buyer). He didn't contact me for a while, and he called his cc for chargeback. Afterward Paypal contact me that my account has negative balance. I contact paypal, they told me that they will deal with the cc. The only think they request is the shipping tracking number. I gave it to them. At last, case loss. Customer doesn't ship the scooter back to me. If i can deal with the cc directly, i think i can win the case.
-Corey
Yikes, this is all quite scary - as I suppose it should be. I'm surprised that there isn't a place where collective knowledge of webmasters on this subject has been compiled.
The reason is pretty simple, build confidence to customer, avoid charge back. Building this kind of page doesn't cost you any money. It just like your store policy.
In privacy policy, just mention about ssl issue, like all your information is privacy ,we don't sell it, blah blah. It's important to somebody.
In return policy, list your return policy. The return policy guideline is depend on your product and customer. Some people suggest no return shipping cost, some suggest restocking fee. Some suggest 30 days full refund after that issue store credit. Some no refund at all. But You must have return policy so that credit company can judge.
Your store profile - Tell us who you are, when you establish, How big you are. You may think it's not necessary and mind your own business right. But some people interest your product, some of them will read the whole page. You can post your store picture, warehouse pictures in this page. It also build trust.
Make them believe your store is exists.
Contact us page - I suggest you list all the method can contact you(phone, email, fax, store location) also, write a script that allow your customer send you a message without they open outlook or hotmail to contact you with email. This really helpful - this is the real target email address. Send them a newsletter and catalog in future. Some people willing to spend $$$ to buy this email address.
Live help is also a good idea, but only you can afford it. Liveperson is pricy. I suggest it if you have alot of traffic in your site.
and other testimonies, career opportunity that may help build trust.
-Corey
We investigated the possible frauds, some were obvious. We started to pubish these frauds in our "Hall of Shame". We have had other retailers contact us, because we rank highly for these "bad" addreses in Google!
Last week someone from an organisation I'd nevr heard of called "Early Warning" (www.early-warning.org) found our hall of shame. Early Warning is a webiste that lists known fraid, emails, telephone numbers, addresses. SO you can serach thier database. If you've ever beeen stung by CC fraud in the UK I'll bet the address or name is in their database.
They could sue for defamation, or it could stimulate them into even more fraudulent behavior.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not waste your time asking for a faxed copy of the Card. Apart from anything it is a VERY insecure method of data transfer and you could lose your account as a POC (point of compromise) secondly it will do diddly squat in terms of proving a fraud as genuine - fraudsters simply alter the details to match the ones you want.
It is very bad practice and needs to stop. It's part of the reason ID theft is so high - merchants binning the faxes with name, address and Card details on them.
Corey, apologies but you are wrong stating the front of the Card should be faxed - if you do that with Amex you are in breach of your T's and C's and will be cancelled if you try to use the fax as support in response to an RFI.
Best bet to avoid chargeback is deliver to a validated address (either via AVS or third party - e-identity works well in the UK) by signature on delivery. Unless you are extremely unlucky and have had full recourse slapped on your account or operate in an industry (digital download etc) where full recourse applies by default you will always be given the opportunity to defend an RFI (the first stage in the chargeback process) - proving you have delivered to the cardholders address will rebutt the chargeback back to the cardholder.
-Corey
This should cut down on fraudulent cc charges.
