Posted on: 03 December, 2001
Author: Lynne Schlumpf
Thanks for joining me for Part 3 of this article. Now let's look at ... we learned from our scenario of two Internet store ... to be ... what is great about this booklet. Thanks for joining me for Part 3 of this article. Now let's look at somelessons we learned from our scenario of two Internet store owners.Lessons to be learned:That's what is great about this booklet. You don't have to lose to learnthese lessons. If youread carefully and apply the principles I am going to teach you, your onlinebusiness will be afortress against credit card theft. Thieves prey on new online stores orlazy merchants.I hate to be a skeptic, but TRUST will put you out of business on theInternet. Apathy will putyou out, too.Here are my steps to protecting yourself:1. Do not use an automatic verification service for online shopping carts.There are many providers outthere who say they will take care of your processing for you. All you do issend your customers to theverification/credit card purchase page that the provider gives. The money isthen automatically depositedin your account.We created our own shopping cart. When we get an order, we're sent an emailwith a link to click on thattakes us to a webpage printout of the order.We then take that information, use the software our merchant provider gaveus and input it there for verification by modem.Your credit card verification should be either by software or by telephoneverification. This gives youcontrol of what transactions you allow to go through.2. Take a good look at the order. Does it look strange to you? Is the amounta large amount? For example, is someoneordering 200 computer monitors from you? There's probably a 99% chance it'sstolen. Is the email address they providedfrom a free email service? Look at the ship to and bill to addresses. Arethey different? Is someone having somethingshipped overseas, but the credit card billing information is in the UnitedStates?3. Call EVERYONE who orders from you. We get 4.9 cents a minute on our longdistance, so for 25 cents to call thecustomer and the toll free number to the bank that issued the credit card,we verify EVERY order.4. When calling the customer, explain to them that you have seen a lot ofcredit card theft on your online store. Makeit clear that you want to protect them.Ask them these 2 questions. They will tell you whether or not that personhas that credit card in their hand:A. Please provide me with the tollfree number from the back of your card.B. Please provide me with the bank's nameThis conversation with the customer also gives you the opportunity to checkthem out and give them the comfort ofknowing a human being took their order. (You would not believe how many ofour online store customers have said theyfelt better that they got to talk to a real person!)This does not ensure that the person you are speaking to on the phone didnot lift the card from someone in a store oron the street. You MUST do step #3 to ensure your safety.5. Call the toll free number they gave you over the phone. Explain to thebank that you are a merchant with an Internetstore, and you need to verify that the order you received was a valid one.You can give the address that the customergave you as a billing address to allow the bank to verify that this is thecorrect address.You're STILL NOT FINISHED YET.6. Make a copy of the order from your online store. Make a copy of theverification printout that you get or write downthe authorization number received when you verified that the credit card hadenough on it to make the sale. Make a copyof the invoice. File these away in a safe place.You would not believe how many times we've received letters from ourmerchant account provider that ask us for thesethings because the customer is trying to do a chargeback against us,claiming they never made the transaction in thefirst place.YOU EAT THESE and sometimes lose your merchant account if there are too manyof them. And there are more than make mecomfortable!If you don't save copies of this documentation, you lose!7. Another method of verification that will protect you: For orders over acertain dollar amount (the amount is whereveryour level of UNcomfort is), we fax our customers a copy of the credit cardslip and have them sign it, then fax it back.We sometimes also have them put their card under a blank piece of paper,scratch over it with a pencil so that animpression of the card number, expiration, and name on the card show up,then have them sign this piece of paper andfax it to us.Another note:If the customer has sent you a check, MAKE A COPY OF THE CHECK. Attach thisto the invoice and file in a safe place.Now, I know that Internet online stores seem to be an easy place to make aquick, lazy buck, but as you can see, nottalking to who orders from you and not using the services of Visa, Discover,Mastercard, and American Express canhurt you.When I return, Ill provide you with some resources to protect your onlinestore even further. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com