January 28, 2008 12:32 PM
We strive to make working with SecureMarket as smooth as possible for our vendors. Apart from highly developed technical side, we make strong emphasis on working with each vendor individually, always taking an extra step to accommodate their needs.
In return, we expect that our vendors abide by our few yet important principles:
- Vendor validation collaboration.
We expect our vendors to provide truthful and complete information regarding their products descriptions, means of product delivery, refund/return policies, company information, contact information etc. This is further explained in Vendor Shell->Help->Vendor Validation Criteria (this is accessible for registered vendors). However, the basic idea is that we need sufficient information about your business, and will check for it after you register. If we cannot find it on your website, we will request it, which may cause delays in funds settlements or unnecessary holds on your account. This is undesirable both for the vendor and SM.
So the the best way for a vendor to prevent this would be not to wait, and provide relevant information before we ask for it. In other words, especially in the beginning stages of a vendor's account at SM, we would greatly appreciate if the vendor sent us information helping us validate their business and products.
- Delivery confirmation collaboration.
By this we mean full transparency and veracity of information shared with SM, and responsiveness to our order related inquiries. For instance, we may request confirmation of product delivery or other information pertinent to an order. The sooner a vendor responds to such an inquiry, the better it would be both for them and for SM. This would help avoid holds on funds, and provide financial assurance for the orders.
- Open communication.
We understand that different businesses have different conditions and needs. We expect our vendors to openly express and motivate their needs and do the same from our side. If you need custom funds settlements solutions, or special business conditions affect your collaboration with SM, please do not hesitate to inform us. This may help resolve potential problems before they happen.
Responsive vendors enjoy all the perks of custom account servicing, and are highly valued at SecureMarket.
January 24, 2008 3:13 PM
Why choose SecureMarket for retailing your goods and/or services? Apart from features that are standard and set by industry (see Features for details), there are several perks that are specific to SecureMarket:
- Flexible rates.
We are always open to negotiate the rates with vendors, based on transactions volume and risk factors. You give us reliable partnership, we give you a lower rate.
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Adequate customer support.
And when we say it, we mean it. We constantly monitor vendors' accounts and work to resolve any issues, often eliminating problems before they happen.
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Custom banking solutions.
We are open to vendor inquiries as to custom banking and funds settlements.
October 4, 2007 1:25 PM
Mailing address:
SecureMarket Inc.
171 Erskine Ave., Unit 303,
Toronto, Ontario M4P 1Y8
Canada
Tel: 1-416-731-4338
Fax: 1-416-981-8797
E-mail: service *at* securemarket *.* org
October 4, 2007 12:52 PM
SecureMarket is an online marketplace, specializing in retailing goods and services offered for sale by vendors from all over the globe through VISA and MasterCard. Not every type of products or services is supported by SecureMarket. Currently, our specialization is IT related products and services. For a detailed list of products and services not supported by SM, please see our Prohibited Products List.
SM is not just a marketplace. We are a secure link between the buyer and the seller. Both the vendor and the vendor's clients enjoy a multi-stage security and fraud prevention service when transacting through SecureMarket. We make online retailing for vendors easy and convenient by offering complete vendor account servicing, back-office reporting and sophisticated yet easy multi-level Vendor website integration. SecureMarket implements a very flexible environment to suit vendors with high sales volumes, offering very competitive rates structure.
SecureMarket is based in Toronto, Canada. Please see our contact information here.
September 7, 2007 10:10 AM
Shopping cart software, shopping cart, shopping basket or basket is the software used to facilitate purchases online. Shopping cart normally represents and electronic analog of the regular shopping cart used in malls. While browsing the web-site, users collect the appropriate items and proceed to check out. Shopping cart calculates the total for the order including delivery and handling fees along with associated taxes if applicable. Shopping cart software is also responsible for transaction processing, i.e. communication of the calculation results along with product codes and other service data to the credit card processor.
Modern shopping carts are easy to install and require minimum coding adjustments from administrators. All shopping-cart related data (product codes, prices, descriptions, customers, discounts, etc.) is stored in on-line database and are accessed by the software on real time basis.
Typical shopping cart consists of two components:
Storefront - area of the web-store accessed by the customers to purchase the goods or services. Product pages are generated dynamically basing on the available data.
Back office - administrative area controlled by the merchant. Back office contains tools required to control the online shop. Set of available tools varies for different types of shopping cart software. Normally, shopping cart manager is able to edit products, categories, prices, discounts, descriptions and other product-related information. Besides, many shopping carts provide merchants with detailed statistics on dynamics of sales, origin of the customers and other information.
You will have to select hosted or licensed version of the shopping cart software.
Hosted version does not require installation and is normally very flexible in terms of initial setup. Besides, hosted versions propose templates to choose from. Thus, time and effort required to have everything running is minimal with hosted solutions. On the other hand, choosing to utilize a hosted solution you bind your business with another business: hosted versions charge percentage for each transaction processed and may change their condition at any time.
Licensed version represents a fully functional version of the shopping cart software installed on the merchant's server (with the right to re-install the software on other servers if the license permits). Obvious advantage is independence from other businesses and absence of per-transaction charges. Licensed version requires more time for installation and requires qualified administrative assistance.
September 7, 2007 7:36 AM
Friendly fraud is a term used to describe the situation when the credit card holder purchases goods or services with his own credit card and then claims to have never received them, thus initiating a chargeback dispute through his/her issuing bank.
Tangible products
Merchants dealing with tangible products can protect themselves from this type of fraud by requiring a signature on goods delivery receipt. Signed receipt is a valid argument in a chargeback dispute. Merchants may also request CVV (3-digit number on the back of the card) to avoid of the "card-not-present" claims.
Intangible products
Friendly fraud is much harder to fight with when dealing with intangible products. It is very hard to prove that the products or services were delivered exactly to the credit card holder. Verified by Visa or other security programs testify that the cardholder was present when the transaction was processed, but do not prove the delivery of the product or service. In case of digital subscription service, merchants can envisage the mechanism that suspends the service in case chargeback is initiated. In other cases cardholder is most likely to get electronic goods or services without paying. At that merchant will still have to handle the chargeback fees charged by the issuing bank and the credit card processor (chargeback fees start with $20 and may grow dramatically in the course of a complicated chargeback dispute).
September 7, 2007 7:30 AM
A chargeback occurs when a customer refuses to recognize the charge on his credit card statement. As an Internet merchant, you will have to face the chargeback issues. Different categories of goods and services have different chargeback rates, however every merchant has to be prepared to the chargeback dispute. Frequently, chargeback is the result of fraudulent activities that were not prevented on the stage of initial transaction: as the real cardholder discovers the unknown charges and informs the issuing bank about the fraudulent transactions associated with his credit card. Every credit card holder has 6 months to dispute the charge on his credit card statement. You may receive clarification request (chargeback pre-note) from the issuing bank asking to provide the complete details on transaction. As a merchant, you will have to provide all available data on transaction - payment receipts, delivery receipts, copies of communication with the customer, etc. - to prove that transaction is not fraudulent. Speaking about intangible products, it is ultimately hard to avoid of a chargeback once the chargeback dispute is initiated. Therefore it is important to envisage the authorization mechanisms where the customer acknowledges the receipt of the product.
Here is the list of possible reasons for a chargeback request:
- Card holder did not authorize the transaction
- Card holder requests a copy of the transaction receipt
- Card not used within valid expiration date
- Card-holder claims invalid mail or telephone order transaction
- Card-holder claims merchant changed transaction amount without permission
- Card-holder never authorized transaction
- Card-holder not satisfied with quality of product or services
- Card-holder was denied ability to return item
- Counterfeit transaction
- Customer never received merchandise/services
- Error in transaction amount
- Failure to notify cardholder of pre-authorized amount
- Failure to obtain card-holder signature
- Incorrect Transaction Date
- Merchant knowingly participated in a fraudulent transaction
- No authorization
- Non-matching account number
- Product different from what was described or promised
- Refund not processed
- Services not rendered
- Signature on receipt different from card
- Signature on the card was blank
- Transaction not processed within Visa or MasterCard time frames
- Transaction processed for incorrect amount
- Transaction receipt is incorrect, incomplete, or illegible
- Transaction receipt was not imprinted
- Transaction was not canceled successfully
- Transaction was processed more than once
Merchant is responsible for all chargeback-related expenses unless it is proved that the chargeback request is ungrounded. In such case merchant is granted a reversal.
September 6, 2007 9:48 AM
3-D Secure is an XML-based protocol that is utilized for authentication of cardholders in electronic transactions. 3-D Secure was initially developed by Visa for its Verified by Visa program. The protocol is also used by MasterCard for its SecureCode program and JCB for its J/Secure service.
The essence of 3-D Secure protocol is the connection of financial authorization and online authentication. Authentication process is based on 3 domain (3-D) model: acquirer domain, issuer domain and interoperability domain. The protocol uses XML messages that are sent via SSL connection. Both peers (servers and client) use digital certificates for authentication.
Each issuer identifies the authentication method used, but in the majority secret password is associated with the card. This password must be entered in the special dialog to complete the online purchase.
September 6, 2007 9:47 AM
Verified by Visa is a security mechanism introduced by Visa in response to online credit card fraud (card not present transactions). SecureCode introduced by MasterCard is an analog of Verified by Visa. Whenever the credit card is enrolled in Verified by Visa program, the person who is using the credit card is redirected to the issuing bank's verification web-page. Verified by Visa utilizes cardholder's personal information (code) kept by the bank. Another more secure option is utilization of a one-time password. Verified by Visa program is a liability shift as tangible data is verified by the bank and therefore it is bank's responsibility to keep it secure.
Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode are protecting the merchants from fraudulent transactions, yet providing the credit cards users with additional facilities for protection from the personal identity theft.
September 6, 2007 8:38 AM
As an Internet merchant, you will have to protect yourself from the fraudulent transactions as they are inevitable part of any Internet business. As a beginning Internet merchant, you should treat fraudulent transactions as an inevitable business risk that you accept as you enter the market. Realizing that, it is your responsibility to work on reduction of these risks and identification of the fraudulent transactions before they are processed.
Here are some tips on detection of the fraudulent transactions:
- check the transactions for liability shift; if the transaction is verified by Visa, customer will not be able to claim that he wasn't the one who processed the payment;
- check the customer's IP address. There are several IP address databases that provide IP to location service, i.e. it is possible to determine the customer's location basing on his IP. The majority of card processors record the IP addresses of the customers. If you see that location of the IP address is different from the billing address stated by the customer, you should pay more attention to verification of the transaction;
- check bulky or repetitive transactions via telephone. Telephone confirmations for suspicious transactions might become your most effective protection from credit card fraud;
- check your credit card processor's transactions history. Fraudulent credit cards are often declined by the processors. Thus if you see the attempt to place the same order with different credit card numbers and different cardholders, this is a clear indication of fraud.
Yet another problem for Internet businesses is an attempt of the customers to claim that goods or service were not received. It is easy to deal with this type of fraud if you deal with tangible products: customers normally sign the delivery receipt that testifies that the product was received. Many merchants, however, deal with intangible products. In such case, customers may always claim that they have not received the product or what they have received was not what they expected. There is no possibility to be 100% secure from such kind of fraud. It is very useful to develop some kind of mechanism where the customer signs electronic delivery receipt as he downloads the product. Merchant should keep the appropriate records easily available in case any dispute takes place. Whenever the chargeback dispute takes place, merchants must provide as much information testifying their faultlessness as possible.
© 2007