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Why We Require Account Creation
As with any site that requires account creation during checkout time, the aim is to make your next
visit easier by saving a lot of your personal details and preferences and applying them to your next
visit. This makes the next visit just a few clicks in order to make a purchase with no need to do
any verifications and filling out of forms since that has already been taken care of on your first
visit. By making each subsequent visit faster and more convenient, we hope it will encourage repeat
visits and a long-term customer relationship.
The next reason we require account creation is that we have a rather involved identity verification
requirement and this takes time. We don't want to have our customers do this every time they want
to make a purchase and so account creation solves this. By creating an account, the identity verification
process does not have to be repeated on subsequent visits as we already have the needed information.
But why do you require identity verification?
We require identity verification because being a site that sells virtual currency, we are the premier
target of fraudsters around the world. Anyone with a stack of stolen credit cards will come knocking
at our door because virtual currencies are easy to buy, can be purchased anonymously (usually), and
are easy to flip for a profit. So let's say John the fraudster just bought a handful of stolen Paypal
accounts or stolen credit cards on the black market. He's looking to make a quick score by buying stolen
products online. Well John doesn't want to go to Walmart.com and purchase a laptop because this would
require him to have them ship the laptop to his residence or that of a friend's house and when an
investigation ensues, this could lead to him! John wants anonymity. Therefore, he's going to want to
buy something that is digital and valuable. Well... he can't buy an e-book or a digital movie download
because that is hard to sell. He'd have to create a website and get traffic to sell his stolen e-books
and movies. No, he's going to want something that is in high demand and can be quickly sold off, something
like a digital gift card or bitcoins or video game currencies. So as you can see, we fall into a niche
category that is a magnet for fraud. We are one of the few targets that form the ideal setup for someone
looking to use stolen credit cards and Paypal accounts.
Cool fact: every company that sells bitcoins,
which are a virtual currency, has taken down the option to buy bitcoins by credit card because the fraud
was so rampant. They began requiring payment by bank account transfer! For them to do this and alienate
so many customers, you really get the picture of how serious and abundant credit card and Paypal fraud
has become! Note: some bitcoin exchanges do accept credit card if you are using a "3DS password protected
credit card," however, most credit card owners do not have a special password protected credit card like
this and for a merchant to accept this form of credit card payment is a lengthy and expensive process...
So why do you care if you are the target of fraud?
Well because we are one of these unique sites who are the prime target of fraud, we have to "scare off"
the fraudsters. We need to ask for identity verification because fraudsters cannot or will not provide
that information because they don't want to get caught. If they gave out their identity, we could notify
the authorities and get them punished for their thievery. Also, we are protecting ourselves from the fraud
since in every case where we accept stolen cards and Paypal payments, the real owners of those credit
cards and Paypal accounts call up the credit card company or Paypal and dispute the charges. When this
happens, the funds get reversed and now we are out the product AND the money we got paid. We lose everything
and nobody else cares. The fraudster is happy for the free stuff and the original credit card owner
got his money back. We are the only ones to suffer. So it is in our interests to verify the identity of
the purchaser to eliminate fraud. We also save the person who really owns the stolen card or Paypal account
from having to go through the charge reversal hassle. PLUS, if we get enough charge reversals, the credit
card companies start to think WE are the problem and they terminate our account - which means we cannot
collect credit card payments anymore! So it is VERY important to weed out legitimate customers using their
own credit cards and Paypal accounts from fraudulent customers using stolen credit cards and Paypal accounts.
Friendly-Fraud
Prior to here, we explained how requiring identity verification scares off most fraudsters, but what about
legit customers who DO own their credit cards or Paypal accounts and are looking to commit fraud. Oh yes,
these cases are a problem as well! A person who uses their own credit card or Paypal to purchase something
online and then calls up their card company and CLAIMS they did not make the purchase is committing "friendly
fraud." This kind of fraud is much harder to deal with since these people are not afraid to give away their
identity. They are prepared to lie and have the balls to steal from us while also providing us with their
address, name, and identification! Well, to combat this kind of fraud, we simply gather as much evidence as we
can to prove we delivered the product on time and to the owner of the credit card as per our terms of use. So
basically, we are fighting their claim that "someone else used my card, it wasn't me" - also known as "unauthorized
use of card." In this defense, we can provide the credit card company who is in charge of the dispute
resolutions process evidence that the purchaser was the original credit card owner because we collect a
photo of their driver's license as well as a photo of them holding their drivers license during our identity
verification process. We also require the user to verify they are the owner of the credit card by issuing
a small charge on their card and asking them to enter in the amount of the charge on our form. By doing this,
they prove they were able to call up their card company and get this info (or login to their credit card
account online to get it). Only the original card owner can do this. Someone who has a stolen card would
not have access to this login information or be able to access the card account by phone. So these are just
some of the ways identity verification checks provide us with ammunition to prove our case against a lying customer who
claims they did not authorize the charge.
But what if they claim they never got their delivery?
In the event that a fraudster claims they never got their delivery, we can provide evidence to the contrary
in the form of a digitally signed document stating that the delivery was received. We require this
digital signature from customers upon receipt of their redemption code by email. When a customer goes
to redeem their redemption code on our redeem page, the first thing we require is for them to sign this
e-document acknowledging receipt of the redemption code. This way they cannot claim they did not receive
it. If they refuse to sign this out of fear that we will not execute the redemption of that code, the
customer may feel free to return the code and get a refund. They have to trust us. No different than
trusting a vending machine with the dollar they just inserted. If they don't sign this e-document, they
can easily say they didn't receive the product and we cannot prove otherwise. Visa, MasterCard, etc will
not take a screenshot of a gold delivery seriously. They will laugh at this... So we need the legal
electronic signature. Without this signature, the customer still has a grip on the dollar they just put
half way into the vending machine and they expect the machine to deliver the soda and trust THEM that they
will not just pull the dollar out of the machine as soon as the soda drops down into the tray. Any vending
machine that stupid would deserve to have all their soda's stolen as far as most people see it. So because
of the tremendous dishonesty and distrust abundant in this society, we are forced to guarantee the money
STAYS OURS prior to handing over the goods we just sold. Now, if the redemption process fails for some
reason, and you don't get your delivery, obviously we will be happy to
refund you. If your delivery takes
too long and you ask for a refund, we will happily refund you. But after you get the delivery and have
the gold/item in hand, we will not refund you. We don't have a system for you to sell the gold back to us.
But, you can go and liquidate that gold quickly on a gold auction site. Hell, even use our
sister site, wowbucksmarket.com to sell the gold/item you decide you
don't want anymore.
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