ETD: 949 No to American Express; Plagiarism; Merchants recover 17% of fraudulent chargebacks, study finds

E-Tailer's Digest etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Jan 24 13:31:02 GMT 2006 

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0949          January 23, 2006
  George Matyjewicz, Moderator         mailto:georgem at gapent.com
  Published by:  GAP Enterprises, Ltd.  http://www.etailersdigest.com
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   CONTENTS
  [1]  Greetings
  [2]  No to American Express
  [3]  Plagiarism
  [4]  Merchants recover 17% of fraudulent chargebacks, study finds

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  [1]  Greetings.
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Hi All:

Today we have a lot of discussion on why etailers are not using 
American Express. I still believe you should use as many cards as 
possible.  Why lose a sale.  I do state ways to control your card processing.

A couple of list members shared their experiences with plagiarism.  I 
like the idea of turning a lemon into lemonade, i.e., when you get 
Plagiarized, turn it to your advantage.

One of our list members shared an article on the recovery of 
fraudulent chargebacks, which fits in with our discussion on American Express.

Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.

Sincerely


George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com

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  [2]  No to American Express
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I can explain to you why e-tailers do not accept American Express.

If you buy something from me, you can contest it with American 
Express, and they will automatically credit you WITHOUT TELLING US.

Even an angel business like us has fraud and bad check problems. We 
don't need more fraud because of American Express horrible policies. 
Visa and MC give us a chance to dispute charge backs.

Hope this helps you.

Get Discover, MC, or Visa, and help put American Express out of business.

Don
www.All-About-Angels.com

+++ [Next Post] +++
On the Amex vs Visa/Mastercard issue - My husband has a small 
business. it costs 2.5% for Visa/Mastercard and 4.5% for Amex - 
almost double. And it's not a few cents when it gets into hundreds of 
dollars.  Yes if that were the only issue it would be more sensible 
to take all of the cards.

We used to do that with a previous service provider.  However, with 
the current one, there's a separate application fee for Amex and a 
higher monthly charge as well.  If Amex wants to be offered 
everywhere the other two are, it's going to have to stop overcharging 
and upcharging the small businesses.

My impression has always been that they are a very 'snooty' company 
who marketed themselves to the upper income levels and so they could 
get away with the higher charges.  Well now they are used by 
businesses and common folk at my income level (below 75,000 - well 
below it most days) and if they want to be in this marketplace they 
are going to have to adjust as well.  I've been waiting 10 years for 
that to happen.

Beth Cherkowsky
eBay id = woadieland or queenoftheinternetauctions
My eBay Store
My Store

+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Don & Beth, These are all legitimate issues.  However, if people use 
Amex, why not cater to them?  If in fact Amex does market to "upper 
income levels" why not take advantage of that?  Pam Danziger keeps 
telling us how the luxury market is doing well, which implies the 
upper income levels are spending.

As far as chargebacks are concerned, I would suggest doing what our 
CFO does - every day she checks the credit card balances online.  She 
does it to verify that we did get notice of funds in, but also to 
check for chargebacks.

It's your business.  You need to take steps to grow it and to control it.

Amex is a client of ours (at the corporate level, not credit cards), 
and I will try to get some answers.

George

+++ [Next Post] +++
Here is another example where when you check in to the Venetian Hotel 
in Las Vegas, they will accept American Express and yet when they are 
trying to sell a subscription to their Magazine they do not.  This to 
me does not make sense.  I also oppose that you have to fill out the 
full application before you find out what kind of payment they accept.

Review the application 
at;   https://secure.hostdepot.com/10/103/subscribe_1.asp

Jules Kaplan
Inovium Corporation
http://www.inovium.com


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  [3]  Plagiarism
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There's nothing amusing about plagiarism, but maybe I am demented for 
having this rub my funny bone:

I was recently looking for some general information about the Chinese 
Year of the Dog soon approaching, and I had liked what I had read 
about this Year of the Rooster on some particular site, the URL of 
which I had neglected to note.  But I had copied for my own amusement 
a couple of paragraphs, and I thought the best way to find that site 
again was to Google an entire sentence.  Well, lo and behold! I found 
over a dozen sites with EXACTLY the same article!  And the amazing 
thing, similar to your plagiarists offering business consulting, is 
that a number of the sites were offering "reading" services (as in, 
what will happen to YOU in the Year of the Whatever).  What does this 
do to one's credibility?

And I'd be interested to hear from Phil whether the person suing for 
libel won the suit.

May your Year of the Red Dog be filled with Health and $ucce$$

Francisca
           *   Dreamers that Do   *
Francisca de Zwager, Vice-President
Domus Accents Trading Company Limited
OFFICE AND SHOWROOM IN SHENZHEN, CHINA
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIO IN MANILA, PHILIPPINES

+++ [Next Post] +++
We have found our articles word-for-word on sites and have just 
written to them and invited them to continue use of our content with 
a byline and a link to our site.  We approach them with "being sure 
they posted the article in error with no harm intended."  We usually 
get an apology and a by-line. We benefit if our works are available 
to people on other sites with the proper credit.

However we belong to groups that promote the use of our articles on 
e-zine sites with credits given.  I am sure there are those who want 
their content to be exclusively found on their site.  That is another 
thing.  Still, politely asking to have it taken down, instead of 
legalizing, does seem the best way to go and in some cases it may 
lead to a networking opportunity.  If someone enjoys your work enough 
to post it on their site they may be up for a membership, 
subscription or book purchase.

Good luck with your encounters,

Patty Sachs
www.PartyPlansPlus.com
www.InstantPhotoFrames.com
www.PattyCakeGreetings.com

+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
I do the same thing - take advantage of their marketing.  The problem 
with this one was he sent out a newsletter, which would mean a retraction.

I did get my day however.  Somebody who reported it to me was about 
to use their services, and decided not to.  Instead they are using us.

To answer Francisca, Phil doesn't remember the final outcome.  But 
another colleague said his dad lost a big case because of actions 
like that - telling the world that the plagiarizer is a bum.

George

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  [4]  Merchants recover 17% of fraudulent chargebacks, study finds
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List member, Don at www.All-About-Angels.com send us this link....

Online merchants challenge 43% of credit card chargebacks and recover 
losses from 39% of those challenges, resulting in a net recovery of 
17% of chargebacks, CyberSource Corp. says in a study of online fraud.

Interestingly, the largest percentages of merchants either challenge 
all chargebacks or ignore all chargebacks, CyberSource says. "It's 
very bipolar," says Doug Schwegman, director of market intelligence. 
"22% of merchants have a policy to challenge everything, but 28% just 
walk away."

The study of chargebacks was based on a survey of 178 merchants 
representing about 30 product and services categories, and was 
included in a broader study of online fraud conducted in October, the 
Seventh Annual CyberSource Online Fraud Survey.

The study also found that merchant chargeback policies are not very 
dependent on merchant size or category, though retailers in the 
$500,000 - $5 million range challenge chargebacks slightly more often 
than other groups of retailers, Schwegman says.

The retailers in the $500,000 - $5 million range also show the 
highest net recovery rate, at 26%, CyberSource says.

Article at...
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=16961

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