In “Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 1: The Basics,” I outlined the information you need to know to receive the best rates from your merchant account provider.
This article is "Part 2" of that series where I help you understand your credit card fees. In this installment, I address merchant account statements, and identify key fees and charges on them. I sympathize with merchants when it comes to reading their statements. I decipher statements every day, and there are times when I want to pull my hair out trying to understand their rates and charges.
The legitimacy of various fees and charges is hard to know without looking at a specific statement. To be sure, I've seen fees that are fair and reasonable. But, I've also seen bogus fees, inflated fees, questionable fees, and even nonsensical fees. For example, I recently analyzed an ecommerce merchant’s statement that had a "terminal support fee" on it. Terminals are for physical retailers, of course, not pure-play ecommerce merchants. In this case, the merchant account provider apparently had a cookie-cutter approach to processing, regardless of whether the merchant was brick-and-mortar or online.
The important point here is that not all merchant account providers are competent with ecommerce. If you see a questionable fee on your statement, ask your provider about it.
Fees and Charges
PCI Fees. The first fee you should look for in your statement is a “PCI Noncompliant Fee,” or words to that effect. Not all merchant account providers isolate this fee in their statements. If your merchant account provider does, you will probably find it at or near the bottom of the last page of fees. If you see this fee, you have a severe issue. PCI — Payment Card Industry — compliance is critical. Noncompliance could end up costing you your job or your company if you are breached and card holder information is stolen. Your merchant account provider should insist that your company become compliant. Unfortunately, some merchant account providers use noncompliance as just another income stream by charging merchants a higher monthly fee — say $25 — versus the more common monthly PCI rate of $5 to $10.
You may see a monthly — or yearly — “PCI Fee” on your statement. Some merchant account providers have not started charging a PCI fee, yet. Those that do typically charge $5 to $10 per month — or up to $99 per year. This fee covers the cost of conducting certain functions to help them ensure you are compliant. Merchants should ask their merchant account provider specifically what it is doing for the amount it charges you.
Annual Membership Fee. Many merchant account providers charge an "annual fee" or "membership fee." This is typically around $100, and it's usually charged to smaller merchants who process less than $250,000 per year in card volume. However, I have seen much larger merchants charged this fee. What is the purpose of the "annual fee" or "membership fee"? In my view, it's simply to increase profits of the merchant account providers. Merchants should view this fee as a red flag about how the merchant account provider views its business relationships.
Supply; Merchant Club; Terminal Support Fee. These fees all apply to physical merchants. No ecommerce company should be paying them.
Monthly Minimum Fee. Very small merchants — those processing less than $50,000 a year in card volume — need to be aware of the monthly minimum fee. Moreover, merchants with fluctuating monthly card volume should pay attention to this fee. Some merchant account providers may quote very low discount rates to small merchants because they know the merchants will end up paying the much higher monthly minimum fee. I have seen these monthly minimum fees as high as $75.
Monthly Gateway Fees. Ecommerce merchants may be charged both a monthly gateway fee and a per-item (per-transaction) gateway fee. Every ecommerce merchant needs a payment gateway, which links the shopping cart to the merchant account. However, remember that the monthly gateway fee is negotiable.
2011年6月29日 星期三
Making it Even Easier for Merchants to Reduce the Risk of Fraud
It use to be that merchants that accepted card-not-present (CNP) transactions were at significantly higher risk of fraud, chargebacks and cybercrime. The fraud prevention strategies required to protect their businesses from this kind of mischief were largely ineffective, often expensive and caused hassles in the customer experience or processing flow. Knowing this, Instamerchant.com, a progressive merchant account and credit card processing service, is proud to announce their newest add-on security solution that aims to remove the difficulties and limitations of existing fraud tools to further reduce the risk of fraud.
“We are constantly on the lookout to help our merchants fight fraud. This scoring tool will be a great tool for any merchant that wants to take their fraud prevention to the next level,” says David Standage, the owner of InstaMerchant.com.
Built in collaboration with their industry-leading fraud detection partner, Instamerchant.com’s latest fraud detection solution offers merchants of all sizes access to a sophisticated and comprehensive technology and, because it’s an add-on to their already expansive offering, merchants can avoid tedious and complex integration efforts.
This best-in-class fraud detection technology will help to identify and prevent chargebacks, as well as, it provides specific data on shopper behavior and trends to ensure merchants can appropriately acknowledge “good” customers. Additionally, it includes an automated, real-time scoring engine that evaluates the risk level of transaction data during the authorization process – creating merchant profiles that are unique and customized to handle scored transactions in several different ways.
Instamerchant.com is a known leader in fraud prevention and this newly released add-on technology is just another functional weapon in their arsenal of merchant protection. Above all, they are proud to provide an easy security solution that will remove all doubt and ultimately put more money in the pockets of their merchants.
Instamerchant.com provides every type of electronic payment which includes credit card processing, check guarantee, debit cards and gift cards for both retail and internet merchants. They work with all business types and sizes from home based Internet businesses to mom and pop retail stores, to large national chains. Instamerchant.com boasts one of the most competitive online merchant account solutions in the world.
“We are constantly on the lookout to help our merchants fight fraud. This scoring tool will be a great tool for any merchant that wants to take their fraud prevention to the next level,” says David Standage, the owner of InstaMerchant.com.
Built in collaboration with their industry-leading fraud detection partner, Instamerchant.com’s latest fraud detection solution offers merchants of all sizes access to a sophisticated and comprehensive technology and, because it’s an add-on to their already expansive offering, merchants can avoid tedious and complex integration efforts.
This best-in-class fraud detection technology will help to identify and prevent chargebacks, as well as, it provides specific data on shopper behavior and trends to ensure merchants can appropriately acknowledge “good” customers. Additionally, it includes an automated, real-time scoring engine that evaluates the risk level of transaction data during the authorization process – creating merchant profiles that are unique and customized to handle scored transactions in several different ways.
Instamerchant.com is a known leader in fraud prevention and this newly released add-on technology is just another functional weapon in their arsenal of merchant protection. Above all, they are proud to provide an easy security solution that will remove all doubt and ultimately put more money in the pockets of their merchants.
Instamerchant.com provides every type of electronic payment which includes credit card processing, check guarantee, debit cards and gift cards for both retail and internet merchants. They work with all business types and sizes from home based Internet businesses to mom and pop retail stores, to large national chains. Instamerchant.com boasts one of the most competitive online merchant account solutions in the world.
2011年6月26日 星期日
Debit cards poised to get much more expensive
Debit cards, a gleam in bankers' eyes 30 years ago, have become the preferred method for people to tap their bank accounts, a free and easy alternative to paper checks, live tellers or cash machines.
U.S. shoppers used them 37 billion times last year, making them more popular than credit cards (19 billion transactions) and checks (18 billion), according to the payments newsletter Nilson Report. Another estimate puts the figure at 45 billion debits.
But big changes are afoot that could make it much more expensive for consumers to use the cards. And with concern rising over data breaches, some privacy advocates are recommending that shoppers return to cash or use credit cards, which provide better protection against fraud losses.
For years, banks subsidized most debit card holders by levying heavy fees on retailers and overdrawn consumers. Merchants paid a processing fee averaging 44 cents every time a shopper swiped a card. And careless cardholders at major banks typically got dinged $35 every time the bank covered an overdraft.
Last year the nation's banks collected more than $50 billion from merchant fees and overdrafts, including checking and ATM balance-busters as well as debit card transactions.
That's likely to decline, however, thanks to new rules Congress mandated after the financial crisis. Starting next month, merchants will pay just 12 cents for debit processing, unless bank lobbyists persuade the Federal Reserve to tack on a surcharge for fraud prevention. Even then, the fee would probably not exceed 18 or 20 cents.
In addition, new rules that took effect last year prohibit banks from automatically charging consumers for debit card and ATM overdraft protection on everyday transactions; instead, cardholders now must opt in.
The bottom line is that banks stand to lose more than $10 billion a year in merchant fees and more than $6 billion in overdraft fees. They'll be looking to make it up somewhere — and it's likely to be from the mainstream debit card users, not just the sloppy ones.
Already, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and many other banks are reducing or phasing out rewards programs that gave users cash back for using debit cards. Chase has been testing a monthly $3 fee for debit cards in some states, and Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have added new fees to some checking accounts.
At least one credit union has capped debit purchases at $300 a day, and most of the nation's 7,534 banks and thrifts are testing or plan to test consumer reaction to new fees or limits on debit cards or the checking accounts to which they're linked, said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Assn.
"They're all testing the market and seeking the right price," Hunt said. "It's a mathematical certainty the consumer will bear the cost."
Industry consultant Michael Moebs predicted that the typical cost to consumers might approximate a Sam's Club or Costco membership, about $36 a year on average.
Consumer advocates are steamed. Electronic debits are much less expensive to process than checks or cash; banks have saved billions in operating costs, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. But the industry has largely pocketed those savings rather than pass them along to customers, he said, and now they're looking to charge users for the convenience.
"We were trained to use cards, and now they're telling us it's not enough, wanting to charge us for the privilege," Mierzwinski said. "It's diabolical."
It's not the first time activists have complained about banks' debit card practices. In the past, financial institutions made piles of money by reordering customer debits so the largest transactions cleared first.
For example, if a customer had $100 in a checking account and made three $10 debit purchases early in the day and a final one for $200, the bank would process the $200 transaction first, then the smaller ones. The result: $140 in overdraft fees as opposed to $35 if the transactions had been processed in order.
Facing numerous lawsuits, most banks, including Wells, Chase and BofA, have abandoned the high-to-low sorting of debits (although those three still process checks that way).
Citigroup., whose Citibank never routinely offered overdraft protection on debits, has said that next month it will begin sorting checks starting with the smallest amounts first.
Seeking to get ahead of the new rules, Bank of America stopped offering its customers debit overdraft protection last year.
U.S. shoppers used them 37 billion times last year, making them more popular than credit cards (19 billion transactions) and checks (18 billion), according to the payments newsletter Nilson Report. Another estimate puts the figure at 45 billion debits.
But big changes are afoot that could make it much more expensive for consumers to use the cards. And with concern rising over data breaches, some privacy advocates are recommending that shoppers return to cash or use credit cards, which provide better protection against fraud losses.
For years, banks subsidized most debit card holders by levying heavy fees on retailers and overdrawn consumers. Merchants paid a processing fee averaging 44 cents every time a shopper swiped a card. And careless cardholders at major banks typically got dinged $35 every time the bank covered an overdraft.
Last year the nation's banks collected more than $50 billion from merchant fees and overdrafts, including checking and ATM balance-busters as well as debit card transactions.
That's likely to decline, however, thanks to new rules Congress mandated after the financial crisis. Starting next month, merchants will pay just 12 cents for debit processing, unless bank lobbyists persuade the Federal Reserve to tack on a surcharge for fraud prevention. Even then, the fee would probably not exceed 18 or 20 cents.
In addition, new rules that took effect last year prohibit banks from automatically charging consumers for debit card and ATM overdraft protection on everyday transactions; instead, cardholders now must opt in.
The bottom line is that banks stand to lose more than $10 billion a year in merchant fees and more than $6 billion in overdraft fees. They'll be looking to make it up somewhere — and it's likely to be from the mainstream debit card users, not just the sloppy ones.
Already, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and many other banks are reducing or phasing out rewards programs that gave users cash back for using debit cards. Chase has been testing a monthly $3 fee for debit cards in some states, and Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have added new fees to some checking accounts.
At least one credit union has capped debit purchases at $300 a day, and most of the nation's 7,534 banks and thrifts are testing or plan to test consumer reaction to new fees or limits on debit cards or the checking accounts to which they're linked, said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Assn.
"They're all testing the market and seeking the right price," Hunt said. "It's a mathematical certainty the consumer will bear the cost."
Industry consultant Michael Moebs predicted that the typical cost to consumers might approximate a Sam's Club or Costco membership, about $36 a year on average.
Consumer advocates are steamed. Electronic debits are much less expensive to process than checks or cash; banks have saved billions in operating costs, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. But the industry has largely pocketed those savings rather than pass them along to customers, he said, and now they're looking to charge users for the convenience.
"We were trained to use cards, and now they're telling us it's not enough, wanting to charge us for the privilege," Mierzwinski said. "It's diabolical."
It's not the first time activists have complained about banks' debit card practices. In the past, financial institutions made piles of money by reordering customer debits so the largest transactions cleared first.
For example, if a customer had $100 in a checking account and made three $10 debit purchases early in the day and a final one for $200, the bank would process the $200 transaction first, then the smaller ones. The result: $140 in overdraft fees as opposed to $35 if the transactions had been processed in order.
Facing numerous lawsuits, most banks, including Wells, Chase and BofA, have abandoned the high-to-low sorting of debits (although those three still process checks that way).
Citigroup., whose Citibank never routinely offered overdraft protection on debits, has said that next month it will begin sorting checks starting with the smallest amounts first.
Seeking to get ahead of the new rules, Bank of America stopped offering its customers debit overdraft protection last year.
An Inside Look at Groupon from the Merchant's Perspective
Groupon is not the only Daily Deal site out there, in fact there are 500 worldwide, however Groupon is certainly the largest with 50 million subscribers and 22 million "deals" sold since November 2008, as of January 2011.
Before you decide this is the way to grow your business, McKeon shares some advice and information from someone who's been there, done that.
First of all, Groupon is very selective about merchants it works with. McKeon says that he's not sure if he'd even pass the vetting process now (but he got in early). Groupon looks at FaceBook, Yelp, and City Search to check out your business. They reject 85 percent of the merchants that apply. McKeon says that sometimes getting a response back after applying can be problematic. He suggests contacting a merchant who has run a deal recently in your area and asking for the contact information of the Groupon account manager they're working with. This can help you "get a foot in the door."
Even before you are approved, you need to make sure it is financially viable for your business. Groupon takes 50 percent of the total deal price. So if your product is usually $100 and you offer a Groupon deal for $50, you're actually only going to receive $25 for it. McKeon explains that you must be willing and able to sell your product for a 75 percent discount, or this is not for you.
You must also be able to provide the same product six months from now. You will likely get a rush of orders in the first week or two, but then they settle down to a steady flow. However, the customer has six months to redeem the coupon, so you must be able to provide the exact same product at that price six months from when you run the Groupon.
You must be set up to handle the influx of calls and emails on the day your Groupon runs, and the subsequent weeks as customers redeem their coupons. On the day it runs, someone needs to monitor the Groupon forum where potential customers post questions and comments. It's very important for your credibility to be able to handle the calls, emails, and forum quickly and efficiently or you may lose sales, and certainly will lose repeat buyers (which is the whole point of running a Groupon deal).
On a positive side, there is no cost up-front. McKeon recounts a time where he spent thousands of dollars on an airline magazine ad that generated one sale. The advantage of Groupon is you pay a portion of what you sell.
According to McKeon, approximately 20 percent of all Groupon deal purchasers never actually redeem their coupon. He adds that anyone who redeems their coupon are then your customers.
As an online retailer, he doesn't have concerns about people driving long distances to get the cheaper deal but never becoming a repeat customer. It doesn't matter where in the country his customers are (and in fact, McKeon runs Groupon deals in local markets all over the United States).
Since running his first Groupon, his customer base has gone from 8,000 to 60,000. He offers his printing services on other unusual materials (such as metal), so he finds he gets repeat customers purchasing different types of products other than the canvas deals he offers on Groupon.
Groupon's payment structure is interesting. They pay one third of the total sales one week after your Groupon deal runs. Then they pay another third one month later, and the final third comes two months later. This helps to even out the funds in relation to when the coupons are redeemed, but you may get more than a third of the orders within the first week, so you need to be prepared for that.
Groupon is certainly not for everyone, but for some types of businesses, even those online like McKeon's, it can increase business exponentially. You do really need to have a very detailed plan before taking on something like this. As McKeon shared, "Growing this fast just isn't natural!"
Before you decide this is the way to grow your business, McKeon shares some advice and information from someone who's been there, done that.
First of all, Groupon is very selective about merchants it works with. McKeon says that he's not sure if he'd even pass the vetting process now (but he got in early). Groupon looks at FaceBook, Yelp, and City Search to check out your business. They reject 85 percent of the merchants that apply. McKeon says that sometimes getting a response back after applying can be problematic. He suggests contacting a merchant who has run a deal recently in your area and asking for the contact information of the Groupon account manager they're working with. This can help you "get a foot in the door."
Even before you are approved, you need to make sure it is financially viable for your business. Groupon takes 50 percent of the total deal price. So if your product is usually $100 and you offer a Groupon deal for $50, you're actually only going to receive $25 for it. McKeon explains that you must be willing and able to sell your product for a 75 percent discount, or this is not for you.
You must also be able to provide the same product six months from now. You will likely get a rush of orders in the first week or two, but then they settle down to a steady flow. However, the customer has six months to redeem the coupon, so you must be able to provide the exact same product at that price six months from when you run the Groupon.
You must be set up to handle the influx of calls and emails on the day your Groupon runs, and the subsequent weeks as customers redeem their coupons. On the day it runs, someone needs to monitor the Groupon forum where potential customers post questions and comments. It's very important for your credibility to be able to handle the calls, emails, and forum quickly and efficiently or you may lose sales, and certainly will lose repeat buyers (which is the whole point of running a Groupon deal).
On a positive side, there is no cost up-front. McKeon recounts a time where he spent thousands of dollars on an airline magazine ad that generated one sale. The advantage of Groupon is you pay a portion of what you sell.
According to McKeon, approximately 20 percent of all Groupon deal purchasers never actually redeem their coupon. He adds that anyone who redeems their coupon are then your customers.
As an online retailer, he doesn't have concerns about people driving long distances to get the cheaper deal but never becoming a repeat customer. It doesn't matter where in the country his customers are (and in fact, McKeon runs Groupon deals in local markets all over the United States).
Since running his first Groupon, his customer base has gone from 8,000 to 60,000. He offers his printing services on other unusual materials (such as metal), so he finds he gets repeat customers purchasing different types of products other than the canvas deals he offers on Groupon.
Groupon's payment structure is interesting. They pay one third of the total sales one week after your Groupon deal runs. Then they pay another third one month later, and the final third comes two months later. This helps to even out the funds in relation to when the coupons are redeemed, but you may get more than a third of the orders within the first week, so you need to be prepared for that.
Groupon is certainly not for everyone, but for some types of businesses, even those online like McKeon's, it can increase business exponentially. You do really need to have a very detailed plan before taking on something like this. As McKeon shared, "Growing this fast just isn't natural!"
2011年6月22日 星期三
Voice Commerce app converts iPhone to sales terminal
The CashFlows Portable App allows businesses to accept real-time credit and debit card payments on the move, whether they are visiting customers or exhibiting at a trade show or event - all they need is a mobile signal!
Designed for iPhones, CashFlows Portable is a Virtual Terminal which can be used as a standalone service similar to a normal Face-to-Face payment terminal that is used in the high street today, or in conjunction with accepting credit & debit card transactions from a business' website.
CashFlows Portable is also fully integrated with Voice Commerce's VoicePay m-commerce service, which allows consumers to authorise a payment using their unique voice signature.
CashFlows Portable can be downloaded from the App store for FREE and has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use to enable businesses to start accepting payments less than five minutes after downloading the App.
Commenting on the launch of CashFlows Portable, Nick Ogden, CEO of Voice Commerce Group, said:
"By enabling our customers to accept payments with their phone and for consumers to make a payment with just their voice signature, we have created a true end-to-end m-Commerce solution".
Designed for iPhones, CashFlows Portable is a Virtual Terminal which can be used as a standalone service similar to a normal Face-to-Face payment terminal that is used in the high street today, or in conjunction with accepting credit & debit card transactions from a business' website.
CashFlows Portable is also fully integrated with Voice Commerce's VoicePay m-commerce service, which allows consumers to authorise a payment using their unique voice signature.
CashFlows Portable can be downloaded from the App store for FREE and has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use to enable businesses to start accepting payments less than five minutes after downloading the App.
Commenting on the launch of CashFlows Portable, Nick Ogden, CEO of Voice Commerce Group, said:
"By enabling our customers to accept payments with their phone and for consumers to make a payment with just their voice signature, we have created a true end-to-end m-Commerce solution".
International websites increasingly accept bank payments from U.S. consumers
Payment21 LLC is a Payment Service Provider whose most recent offering is Instant eCheck™ processing. This payment method allows international merchants to accept U.S. check payments via the Internet securely. Bank payments such as demand draft and direct debit transactions from U.S. consumers can be processed easily. Payment21 allows web merchants to conduct business with U.S. consumers quickly and securely and without the necessity of a U.S. bank account.
It is virtually impossible for a merchant outside of the States to open a U.S. checking account. Those few banks that are willing to accept international merchants will most likely impose security deposits and an endless amount of requirements to the point that most merchants just can’t afford the account. In general, U.S. banks see substantial risk in dealing with foreign merchant account holders. They incorrectly perceive that non-resident businesses will have higher than normal return claims from customers. Payment21.com’s Check21 and ACH payment processes changes all of this with.
Payment21.com’s gateway provides international merchants with financial access to more customers than any other payment method in the U.S.A. Funds clear faster and at much lower cost than credit cards.
Payment21.com's merchant approval policy is fully compliant with the Patriot Act. Due Diligence is done on all merchants. In order to comply with AML-provisions, beneficial owners related to cross-border payments get identified. All information is protected by data protection laws.
It is virtually impossible for a merchant outside of the States to open a U.S. checking account. Those few banks that are willing to accept international merchants will most likely impose security deposits and an endless amount of requirements to the point that most merchants just can’t afford the account. In general, U.S. banks see substantial risk in dealing with foreign merchant account holders. They incorrectly perceive that non-resident businesses will have higher than normal return claims from customers. Payment21.com’s Check21 and ACH payment processes changes all of this with.
Payment21.com’s gateway provides international merchants with financial access to more customers than any other payment method in the U.S.A. Funds clear faster and at much lower cost than credit cards.
Payment21.com's merchant approval policy is fully compliant with the Patriot Act. Due Diligence is done on all merchants. In order to comply with AML-provisions, beneficial owners related to cross-border payments get identified. All information is protected by data protection laws.
2011年6月19日 星期日
HSS Hire chief Chris Davies powers up to lift a bigger load
Chris Davies knew he was on the right track when he got a call from Radio 4. They wanted him to star in a new television show. This was the big time.
“It was this programme called The Undercover Boss and the guy went on about how I would wander around the company, spotting problems and not being recognised. I had to stop him after about five minutes and point out a flaw – in the first depot I went into, the first person I saw would have said 'hello Chris, how you doing?’ Thinking about the concept of the programme, it’s pretty telling of those organisations that take part. I would be mortified if people didn’t recognise me. ”
He might not have got to enjoy his 60 seconds of fame but Davies is upbeat as he sits in the boardroom of HSS Hire’s headquarters a few miles from Heathrow. The rain is lashing down outside in the resolutely uninspiring business park, pinging off HSS’s forklift trucks and heavy loaders, but Davies seems happy someone’s come to visit his “big small company”.
With the economic recovery as dreary as the weather, HSS is in surprisingly good health. The privately owned hire company, which specialises in providing machinery and tools for commercial customers, posted a 12pc increase in like-for-like sales in the three months to April and unlike some competitors is firmly in growth mode.
Such has been the turnaround – five consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth – that speculation about a potential sale or flotation is growing steadily.
“It was this programme called The Undercover Boss and the guy went on about how I would wander around the company, spotting problems and not being recognised. I had to stop him after about five minutes and point out a flaw – in the first depot I went into, the first person I saw would have said 'hello Chris, how you doing?’ Thinking about the concept of the programme, it’s pretty telling of those organisations that take part. I would be mortified if people didn’t recognise me. ”
He might not have got to enjoy his 60 seconds of fame but Davies is upbeat as he sits in the boardroom of HSS Hire’s headquarters a few miles from Heathrow. The rain is lashing down outside in the resolutely uninspiring business park, pinging off HSS’s forklift trucks and heavy loaders, but Davies seems happy someone’s come to visit his “big small company”.
With the economic recovery as dreary as the weather, HSS is in surprisingly good health. The privately owned hire company, which specialises in providing machinery and tools for commercial customers, posted a 12pc increase in like-for-like sales in the three months to April and unlike some competitors is firmly in growth mode.
Such has been the turnaround – five consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth – that speculation about a potential sale or flotation is growing steadily.
Hackers Halt Sega Pass
Sega Pass online gaming fell prey to a cyber attack on Friday that netted the hackers over 1 million user names and passwords. According to Sega no credit card data was stored on the breached server because they use an outside company for their payment gateway.
This attack is the latest in what seems to be an all out declaration of war from the cyber underground. Sega joins Sony, the CIA and numerous other data and gaming websites that have been forced to shut down their sites and services because of external server breaches.
Presently the Sega Pass website has this message "Hi SEGA Pass is going through some improvements so is currently unavailable for new members to join or existing members to modify their details including resetting passwords. We hope to be back up and running very soon. Thank you for your patience."
So far no one has taken credit for the hack, LulzSec which has claimed responsibility for the Sony and CIA breach tweets staunch denial of the Sega hack, iterating their love for Dreamcast and willingness to locate and take down the offenders as proof they're innocent.
Sega Pass website displays the privacy banner "ESRB Certified" which in turn links to a privacy policy that says "the storage of data is on secure servers or computers inaccessible by modem." I guess that hackers hired the amazing Kreskin or used a crystal ball so they just willed the data into their possession.
The lesson everybody should learn from this is claiming security and actually providing security are two different things. Any company or person using SQL databases are vulnerable to the good old injection code method of database stealing, and until that issue is fixed there will be a lot more data swiping and wiping going on. Doesn't anyone encrypt their stored data? Why did Microsoft make a big deal about "Bitlocker" If no one bothers to use it?
This attack is the latest in what seems to be an all out declaration of war from the cyber underground. Sega joins Sony, the CIA and numerous other data and gaming websites that have been forced to shut down their sites and services because of external server breaches.
Presently the Sega Pass website has this message "Hi SEGA Pass is going through some improvements so is currently unavailable for new members to join or existing members to modify their details including resetting passwords. We hope to be back up and running very soon. Thank you for your patience."
So far no one has taken credit for the hack, LulzSec which has claimed responsibility for the Sony and CIA breach tweets staunch denial of the Sega hack, iterating their love for Dreamcast and willingness to locate and take down the offenders as proof they're innocent.
Sega Pass website displays the privacy banner "ESRB Certified" which in turn links to a privacy policy that says "the storage of data is on secure servers or computers inaccessible by modem." I guess that hackers hired the amazing Kreskin or used a crystal ball so they just willed the data into their possession.
The lesson everybody should learn from this is claiming security and actually providing security are two different things. Any company or person using SQL databases are vulnerable to the good old injection code method of database stealing, and until that issue is fixed there will be a lot more data swiping and wiping going on. Doesn't anyone encrypt their stored data? Why did Microsoft make a big deal about "Bitlocker" If no one bothers to use it?
2011年6月14日 星期二
International Checkout Increases Global Sales
a leading international payment processor, and International Checkout, a leading third-party payment and fulfillment service for US retailers selling globally online, announced today an expansion of their multi-currency pricing agreement. Planet Payment’s Multi-Currency Pricing via its iPAY Global Gateway helps online merchants more effectively target international markets with pricing and payment transparency in any supported currency, through the ease of a single US-based merchant account.
International Checkout will now offer an additional twenty cardholder acceptance currencies - including the Turkish Lira, the Egyptian Pound, the Iceland Krona and the Belize Dollar, thereby bringing its total currency offering to over 65 currencies. To attract more merchants and help them sell more goods around the world, International Checkout has also agreed to take advantage of Planet Payment’s multi-currency processing support of JCB cards, enabling Japanese holders of JCB cards to pay in their own currency. The company will also extend Planet Payment’s multi-currency payment processing services to its newly launched Enterprise Solution, which enables a US online retailer to login to International Checkout’s database and print shipping labels and customs documentation.
Since launching these multi-currency processing services in 2009, International Checkout has seen a substantial increase in its sales to buyers from outside the United States using credit and debit cards. By partnering with Planet Payment, International Checkout has enhanced the international customer experience for its 500-plus merchant set.
“Planet Payment’s goal has always been to help merchants target new markets, and sell more goods and services,” said Drew Soinski, Managing Director of the Americas “Our partnership with International Checkout demonstrates how our multi-currency payment processing solutions can help merchants increase sales, by helping them tap into new markets and convert more international browsers to customers.”
“We are very excited to offer additional services that make selling and shipping internationally easier for our customers,” says International Checkout CEO and President, Saskia Chiesa. “Our goal is to make selling globally as seamless for our merchants as possible. Through valued partnerships with companies like Planet Payment and with the launch of our new Enterprise Solution, we continue to deliver solutions that make accessing the international e-Commerce marketplace as easy as possible.”
International Checkout will now offer an additional twenty cardholder acceptance currencies - including the Turkish Lira, the Egyptian Pound, the Iceland Krona and the Belize Dollar, thereby bringing its total currency offering to over 65 currencies. To attract more merchants and help them sell more goods around the world, International Checkout has also agreed to take advantage of Planet Payment’s multi-currency processing support of JCB cards, enabling Japanese holders of JCB cards to pay in their own currency. The company will also extend Planet Payment’s multi-currency payment processing services to its newly launched Enterprise Solution, which enables a US online retailer to login to International Checkout’s database and print shipping labels and customs documentation.
Since launching these multi-currency processing services in 2009, International Checkout has seen a substantial increase in its sales to buyers from outside the United States using credit and debit cards. By partnering with Planet Payment, International Checkout has enhanced the international customer experience for its 500-plus merchant set.
“Planet Payment’s goal has always been to help merchants target new markets, and sell more goods and services,” said Drew Soinski, Managing Director of the Americas “Our partnership with International Checkout demonstrates how our multi-currency payment processing solutions can help merchants increase sales, by helping them tap into new markets and convert more international browsers to customers.”
“We are very excited to offer additional services that make selling and shipping internationally easier for our customers,” says International Checkout CEO and President, Saskia Chiesa. “Our goal is to make selling globally as seamless for our merchants as possible. Through valued partnerships with companies like Planet Payment and with the launch of our new Enterprise Solution, we continue to deliver solutions that make accessing the international e-Commerce marketplace as easy as possible.”
Under the proposed 1.5 percent a year increase
A California lawmaker's bill to increase the pay of pilots who navigate massive cargo ships through San Francisco Bay's intricate shipping channels drew attention Tuesday to the handsome incomes earned by these little-known mariners.
A state Senate committee heard debate about a proposal sponsored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, to raise the rates of San Francisco Bay's bar pilots, who take home about $400,000 each annually.
The bay's 55 pilots operate as independent contractors who split all annual earnings equally.
Pilots claimed stagnant pay rates over the past several years have made it difficult to retain experienced pilots and attract new recruits to the high-skill, high-risk profession.
Shipping companies and exporters contended the pilots are among the best paid in the industry, and that any increase will hurt Northern California ports' affordability and competitiveness.
Ma's bill calls for the pilots' rates to be increased 1.5 percent annually over the next four years.
While pilots and shippers clashed over exactly how much was enough, both sides agreed that pilots' enviable earnings stem from the skill required to steer a 1,000-foot cargo ship through the bay's environmentally sensitive waters.
"Our profession is not an entry level job," said Capt. Bill Greig, who became a bar pilot after captaining oil tankers, including the Exxon Valdez, which ran aground off Alaska two decades ago under a different captain.
Prospective San Francisco Bay pilots typically have at least 15 years at the helm of large oceangoing vessels before they can even begin the training process, which can take one to three years, with no guarantee of a job at the end of the process, pilots say.
The test to obtain a pilot's license consists of a blank piece of paper on which applicants must sketch the entire navigational structure of San Francisco Bay area waterways, said Capt. Bruce Horton, president of San Francisco Bar Pilots.
Along with major ports such as Oakland and San Francisco, pilots must know how to navigate smaller ports that ring the bay as well as inland ports in Stockton and Sacramento and as far south as Monterey. A bar pilot will guide an outgoing ship until it passes through the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean or wait on a small boat to board incoming vessels just beyond the Golden Gate.
The bar pilot profession drew unwanted attention in November 2007 when the 900-foot Cosco Busan sideswiped a tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, spilling 53,000 gallons of oil into the water.
The ship's bar pilot, John Cota, was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor environmental crimes stemming from the spill, which killed more than 2,000 birds, fouled 26 miles of shoreline and delayed the start of that year's Dungeness crab fishing season.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that Cota's prescription medications impaired his performance, though he was not held solely responsible for the crash.
The state of California has regulated San Francisco Bay bar pilots since 1850 at the height of the Gold Rush. The Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, a state agency, currently oversees the pilots and recommends how much they should be paid.
Under the proposed 1.5 percent a year increase, San Francisco Bay bar pilots would earn about $530,000 a year by 2015, said Mike Jacob, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which unsuccessfully petitioned the bar pilot commission to recommend reducing bar pilots' rates.
"If the bill doesn't pass, they're still going to be making a boatload of money," said Jacob, who added that shippers do believe pilots should be paid well. "You don't need to further increase their pay to have (San Francisco Bay) be an attractive place to work."
Pilots dispute that the rate increase will yield the jump in income predicted by shippers and say their costs have risen by millions of dollars since their last raise in 2006, especially the cost of fuel for the boats that take them to and from ships. Ma's bill would include a new fuel surcharge in addition to the rate increase.
But neither side can say with certainty how much incomes will rise or fall, since pilots are paid based on ship traffic rather than a flat rate. Shippers pay pilots based on the length of the ship, as well as the weight. The more ships carrying more cargo, the more pilots earn.
The variable nature of pilots' incomes makes comparing their pay to pilots in other parts of the country tricky. But multiple industry surveys suggest that piloting rates in San Francisco Bay are among the country's highest, especially compared to the large ports in Southern California, where pilots are contracted to individual ports and whose rates are not set by the Legislature.
Jacob points to the scheduled opening of the Panama Canal to wider ships in 2014 as a reason West Coast ports must be vigilant in keeping their costs down. When geography no longer limits where China's largest ships can unload their exports, little will stop shippers from choosing the least expensive option, he said.
But the price of a mistake in San Francisco Bay can also be high, as the Cosco Busan disaster demonstrated.
"Currently there is no other occupation where so much responsibility for life, property and environmental protection rests on the shoulder of one person's decision-making abilities," Ma said.
A state Senate committee heard debate about a proposal sponsored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, to raise the rates of San Francisco Bay's bar pilots, who take home about $400,000 each annually.
The bay's 55 pilots operate as independent contractors who split all annual earnings equally.
Pilots claimed stagnant pay rates over the past several years have made it difficult to retain experienced pilots and attract new recruits to the high-skill, high-risk profession.
Shipping companies and exporters contended the pilots are among the best paid in the industry, and that any increase will hurt Northern California ports' affordability and competitiveness.
Ma's bill calls for the pilots' rates to be increased 1.5 percent annually over the next four years.
While pilots and shippers clashed over exactly how much was enough, both sides agreed that pilots' enviable earnings stem from the skill required to steer a 1,000-foot cargo ship through the bay's environmentally sensitive waters.
"Our profession is not an entry level job," said Capt. Bill Greig, who became a bar pilot after captaining oil tankers, including the Exxon Valdez, which ran aground off Alaska two decades ago under a different captain.
Prospective San Francisco Bay pilots typically have at least 15 years at the helm of large oceangoing vessels before they can even begin the training process, which can take one to three years, with no guarantee of a job at the end of the process, pilots say.
The test to obtain a pilot's license consists of a blank piece of paper on which applicants must sketch the entire navigational structure of San Francisco Bay area waterways, said Capt. Bruce Horton, president of San Francisco Bar Pilots.
Along with major ports such as Oakland and San Francisco, pilots must know how to navigate smaller ports that ring the bay as well as inland ports in Stockton and Sacramento and as far south as Monterey. A bar pilot will guide an outgoing ship until it passes through the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean or wait on a small boat to board incoming vessels just beyond the Golden Gate.
The bar pilot profession drew unwanted attention in November 2007 when the 900-foot Cosco Busan sideswiped a tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, spilling 53,000 gallons of oil into the water.
The ship's bar pilot, John Cota, was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor environmental crimes stemming from the spill, which killed more than 2,000 birds, fouled 26 miles of shoreline and delayed the start of that year's Dungeness crab fishing season.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that Cota's prescription medications impaired his performance, though he was not held solely responsible for the crash.
The state of California has regulated San Francisco Bay bar pilots since 1850 at the height of the Gold Rush. The Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, a state agency, currently oversees the pilots and recommends how much they should be paid.
Under the proposed 1.5 percent a year increase, San Francisco Bay bar pilots would earn about $530,000 a year by 2015, said Mike Jacob, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which unsuccessfully petitioned the bar pilot commission to recommend reducing bar pilots' rates.
"If the bill doesn't pass, they're still going to be making a boatload of money," said Jacob, who added that shippers do believe pilots should be paid well. "You don't need to further increase their pay to have (San Francisco Bay) be an attractive place to work."
Pilots dispute that the rate increase will yield the jump in income predicted by shippers and say their costs have risen by millions of dollars since their last raise in 2006, especially the cost of fuel for the boats that take them to and from ships. Ma's bill would include a new fuel surcharge in addition to the rate increase.
But neither side can say with certainty how much incomes will rise or fall, since pilots are paid based on ship traffic rather than a flat rate. Shippers pay pilots based on the length of the ship, as well as the weight. The more ships carrying more cargo, the more pilots earn.
The variable nature of pilots' incomes makes comparing their pay to pilots in other parts of the country tricky. But multiple industry surveys suggest that piloting rates in San Francisco Bay are among the country's highest, especially compared to the large ports in Southern California, where pilots are contracted to individual ports and whose rates are not set by the Legislature.
Jacob points to the scheduled opening of the Panama Canal to wider ships in 2014 as a reason West Coast ports must be vigilant in keeping their costs down. When geography no longer limits where China's largest ships can unload their exports, little will stop shippers from choosing the least expensive option, he said.
But the price of a mistake in San Francisco Bay can also be high, as the Cosco Busan disaster demonstrated.
"Currently there is no other occupation where so much responsibility for life, property and environmental protection rests on the shoulder of one person's decision-making abilities," Ma said.
2011年6月12日 星期日
Does it have analytics, reporting?
How difficult was it to set up?
It really could not have been easier. They sell their cart to others that already have websites, so they have made it outstanding as a stand-alone product. It seamlessly integrated with my website.
Does it have analytics, reporting?
It has counters that tell you the number of hits on each page (and which can be shown for weekly, monthly, etc.), but for thorough analytics I use Google. It was very easy to add.
What features do you wish it had?
I wish it had a bulk editor. (Actually, I think the version they came out with after the one I'm using may have it.) I wish my version could show more than 10 items per page. (Which in the new version you can.) However, in my version I can put each product under multiple categories, and you can't in the newer version. I checked into upgrading to the new version, and stayed with the one I have because of that category limitation.
What are the challenges you faced in starting your own website?
As with most websites, getting traffic is the big thing, especially in a competitive field like I am in. Although Prestostores does a Google feed on all of their stores, not too long after I started there I asked to do my own, so that I could add more information ("attributes"). The first year was definitely slow. But it has picked up nicely and the last couple to three years I have been very happy with the results. And it is still growing month-to-month.
I would say to anyone starting a new site - have patience! And since Google products, and Yahoo and Bing are more into featuring "shopping" items, it is a lot easier and quicker to be seen now. I make sure my pictures are good, and my descriptions, though accurate, are definitely not long and "flowery." But they do the job.
I think one important key is to get as much product listed as quickly as you can, because that makes you come up better in search.
What would you do differently if you were setting up a website today?
I might consider doing one that I put together from scratch and that would then be 100% "portable" - so there was no relying on a host like Prestostore. However, when I think about all the extra work that would have taken, it kind of makes me shudder. And with Presto I can at least download all my products in a csv file, though it would still take a lot of work to move to a new home. So really, I can't think of much I would do differently. I would rather put my time into adding product than fiddling around with code, etc.
How do you control inventory as a multi-channel seller? In other words, if you have the same item listed on multiple channels, and it sells, how do you make sure you take it down from the other channels?
Well, Google really frowns on doing that, and so for a couple of years now I do not list any product on more than one site. Easy for me to do that, because each of my products is fairly unique.
My inventory system is what you might call old fashioned and would probably drive some people nuts. As I get new inventory, I assign it a number and enter the info on an index card. I also put it on a list (spreadsheet form) - just the number and a short, maybe 5 word description, and a category abbreviation. This is so I can sort the inventory by number or category. Then, when I list something, the index card goes into either the SVS, Bonz or eCrater file. When it sells, I pull the card. And all of my jewelry (about 1500 items or so) is all neatly filed in numerical order. I never have to look for an item when it sells. (Well, never say never.)
Anyhow, it is a simple, easy to use filing/inventory system. It probably wouldn't work for someone who sells hundreds of items a month.
How did you create the logo/branding for your business/site?
My logo is used on all my sites, so it is getting fairly familiar.
How do you differentiate yourself from others selling similar products?
Well, I give quite good service, so get a fair amount of repeat buyers. Also, it seems that I get word-of-mouth recommendations. I try and provide a large variety of items, and include extra "content" such as designer information.
How do you drive traffic to your listings, and which channel do you primarily drive traffic to?
I drive almost all the traffic to my website, primarily through Google, though Bing and the others are coming on board nicely. Google provides about 65% of my traffic (Google Products was about 10%, back when you could see that info using the old tracking system, but at this point I have no idea how much traffic comes from there). Bing is at about 6%, but it has great metrics - people look at more pages and stay on the site longer. I have to confess I do little to drive traffic to my market sites (Bonanzle and eCrater). They would no doubt do better if I did.
Can you talk about some of the SEO techniques you employ to drive traffic to your site(s)?
I do a Google feed every couple of weeks, and it includes extra attributes (color, feature, etc.). I use excellent titles. I get a lot of traffic from Google images, so apparently they like my pictures.
I just recently went through all of my listings and put my "boilerplate" info in a picture, so Google wouldn't pick it up when it is crawling.
It really could not have been easier. They sell their cart to others that already have websites, so they have made it outstanding as a stand-alone product. It seamlessly integrated with my website.
Does it have analytics, reporting?
It has counters that tell you the number of hits on each page (and which can be shown for weekly, monthly, etc.), but for thorough analytics I use Google. It was very easy to add.
What features do you wish it had?
I wish it had a bulk editor. (Actually, I think the version they came out with after the one I'm using may have it.) I wish my version could show more than 10 items per page. (Which in the new version you can.) However, in my version I can put each product under multiple categories, and you can't in the newer version. I checked into upgrading to the new version, and stayed with the one I have because of that category limitation.
What are the challenges you faced in starting your own website?
As with most websites, getting traffic is the big thing, especially in a competitive field like I am in. Although Prestostores does a Google feed on all of their stores, not too long after I started there I asked to do my own, so that I could add more information ("attributes"). The first year was definitely slow. But it has picked up nicely and the last couple to three years I have been very happy with the results. And it is still growing month-to-month.
I would say to anyone starting a new site - have patience! And since Google products, and Yahoo and Bing are more into featuring "shopping" items, it is a lot easier and quicker to be seen now. I make sure my pictures are good, and my descriptions, though accurate, are definitely not long and "flowery." But they do the job.
I think one important key is to get as much product listed as quickly as you can, because that makes you come up better in search.
What would you do differently if you were setting up a website today?
I might consider doing one that I put together from scratch and that would then be 100% "portable" - so there was no relying on a host like Prestostore. However, when I think about all the extra work that would have taken, it kind of makes me shudder. And with Presto I can at least download all my products in a csv file, though it would still take a lot of work to move to a new home. So really, I can't think of much I would do differently. I would rather put my time into adding product than fiddling around with code, etc.
How do you control inventory as a multi-channel seller? In other words, if you have the same item listed on multiple channels, and it sells, how do you make sure you take it down from the other channels?
Well, Google really frowns on doing that, and so for a couple of years now I do not list any product on more than one site. Easy for me to do that, because each of my products is fairly unique.
My inventory system is what you might call old fashioned and would probably drive some people nuts. As I get new inventory, I assign it a number and enter the info on an index card. I also put it on a list (spreadsheet form) - just the number and a short, maybe 5 word description, and a category abbreviation. This is so I can sort the inventory by number or category. Then, when I list something, the index card goes into either the SVS, Bonz or eCrater file. When it sells, I pull the card. And all of my jewelry (about 1500 items or so) is all neatly filed in numerical order. I never have to look for an item when it sells. (Well, never say never.)
Anyhow, it is a simple, easy to use filing/inventory system. It probably wouldn't work for someone who sells hundreds of items a month.
How did you create the logo/branding for your business/site?
My logo is used on all my sites, so it is getting fairly familiar.
How do you differentiate yourself from others selling similar products?
Well, I give quite good service, so get a fair amount of repeat buyers. Also, it seems that I get word-of-mouth recommendations. I try and provide a large variety of items, and include extra "content" such as designer information.
How do you drive traffic to your listings, and which channel do you primarily drive traffic to?
I drive almost all the traffic to my website, primarily through Google, though Bing and the others are coming on board nicely. Google provides about 65% of my traffic (Google Products was about 10%, back when you could see that info using the old tracking system, but at this point I have no idea how much traffic comes from there). Bing is at about 6%, but it has great metrics - people look at more pages and stay on the site longer. I have to confess I do little to drive traffic to my market sites (Bonanzle and eCrater). They would no doubt do better if I did.
Can you talk about some of the SEO techniques you employ to drive traffic to your site(s)?
I do a Google feed every couple of weeks, and it includes extra attributes (color, feature, etc.). I use excellent titles. I get a lot of traffic from Google images, so apparently they like my pictures.
I just recently went through all of my listings and put my "boilerplate" info in a picture, so Google wouldn't pick it up when it is crawling.
Which payment methods do you accept?
What are the pros and cons of each marketplace and venue?
The pros of having my own website is that most of my sales come from there, and that I have pretty much total control over it versus the marketplace sites, where you have little control. For example, I like to take credit cards, and cannot do that on the market sites. Another pro of all of these sites is that inventory can be placed there and left an indefinite time, until it sells, without it costing anything (except for Etsy).
When considering all the places you sell, which channels are most profitable?
Definitely the most profitable is my own website, by a wide margin. Next is eCrater, because there are no costs involved there.
How does your revenue break out by channel (what percentage of sales come from each channel)?
My website 95%, eCrater 5% and Bonanzle (Bonanza) 2%.
I just recently started a small store at Etsy, but will not be listing much there, because of the costs involved and also because they do not submit many of the stores to Google Shopping, and consequently sellers feel the need to "relist" constantly in order to have visibility.
Part of the reason most of my sales come from my website is that is where I put 95% of my energy. So certainly the fact that my sales are lower at the marketplace sites is directly related to that fact. In fact, I'm surprised how I get a regular inflow of orders from eCrater, since I do so little about adding new items there.
Which payment methods do you accept?
On all sites I accept PayPal, Google Checkout, checks and money orders, and on my website I accept all of those plus credit cards.
What are the pros and cons of each payment method?
The cons with PP and GCO is that there are many horror stories of them shutting down sellers without notice, sometimes on what seems to be the flimsiest of reasons. So that always scares me, though I personally have never had a problem. I feel like they have to be offered, however, since so many people use them. I love people to use credit cards, because I have a minimum that I like to be reached and the more people that use them the lower my cost per transaction.
One service that I can recommend for a merchant account and gateway is Flagship Merchant Services, which uses First Data as the gateway. You can use them month-to-month, without an extended contract, which really appealed to me, and it took me about 5 minutes to set them up through Prestostores. (Filling out the application with them, over the phone, took longer but was also painless.) I've used them for over a year now.
Background (URL, when launched) and what was the impetus for starting your own website?
Sharons Vintage Store
Back in 2003 I bought two "box lots" of vintage jewelry at an auction. At the time I knew nothing about jewelry, and started selling on eBay while I was learning. I found the process very exciting. After about 3 years on eBay I had had it with the endless changes they required, and having to revise listings so often. But I loved selling online. So in 2006, I started my own website. I wanted the control, and fewer costs.
If you hired any companies to set up your website and/or design your logo/branding, how did you find them?
My website is with Prestostores, which is probably one of the easiest hosts to get started with. I've even heard a couple of people say they had one up and running in two hours. That, of course, is a simple site with no customization. They offer quite a few ways to customize your site, and it is worthwhile to take advantage of those selections. I also steeped myself in SEO and that has helped. I haven't actually hired any outside help.
Does your website have a checkout system, if so, what do you use, and what do you like/dislike about it?
One of the things I love about Prestostores is the checkout system. It is straightforward and easy for both me and my customers. Not too many clicks, and people don't have to register. They do fill out their personal info (name and address) which I get immediately in an email, along with details of the order. If they use PP, GCO or a credit card, I then get notices from each of those payment services about the payment. Really works smoothly. It can also be customized, with promo codes, notices and whatnot, which I like.
The pros of having my own website is that most of my sales come from there, and that I have pretty much total control over it versus the marketplace sites, where you have little control. For example, I like to take credit cards, and cannot do that on the market sites. Another pro of all of these sites is that inventory can be placed there and left an indefinite time, until it sells, without it costing anything (except for Etsy).
When considering all the places you sell, which channels are most profitable?
Definitely the most profitable is my own website, by a wide margin. Next is eCrater, because there are no costs involved there.
How does your revenue break out by channel (what percentage of sales come from each channel)?
My website 95%, eCrater 5% and Bonanzle (Bonanza) 2%.
I just recently started a small store at Etsy, but will not be listing much there, because of the costs involved and also because they do not submit many of the stores to Google Shopping, and consequently sellers feel the need to "relist" constantly in order to have visibility.
Part of the reason most of my sales come from my website is that is where I put 95% of my energy. So certainly the fact that my sales are lower at the marketplace sites is directly related to that fact. In fact, I'm surprised how I get a regular inflow of orders from eCrater, since I do so little about adding new items there.
Which payment methods do you accept?
On all sites I accept PayPal, Google Checkout, checks and money orders, and on my website I accept all of those plus credit cards.
What are the pros and cons of each payment method?
The cons with PP and GCO is that there are many horror stories of them shutting down sellers without notice, sometimes on what seems to be the flimsiest of reasons. So that always scares me, though I personally have never had a problem. I feel like they have to be offered, however, since so many people use them. I love people to use credit cards, because I have a minimum that I like to be reached and the more people that use them the lower my cost per transaction.
One service that I can recommend for a merchant account and gateway is Flagship Merchant Services, which uses First Data as the gateway. You can use them month-to-month, without an extended contract, which really appealed to me, and it took me about 5 minutes to set them up through Prestostores. (Filling out the application with them, over the phone, took longer but was also painless.) I've used them for over a year now.
Background (URL, when launched) and what was the impetus for starting your own website?
Sharons Vintage Store
Back in 2003 I bought two "box lots" of vintage jewelry at an auction. At the time I knew nothing about jewelry, and started selling on eBay while I was learning. I found the process very exciting. After about 3 years on eBay I had had it with the endless changes they required, and having to revise listings so often. But I loved selling online. So in 2006, I started my own website. I wanted the control, and fewer costs.
If you hired any companies to set up your website and/or design your logo/branding, how did you find them?
My website is with Prestostores, which is probably one of the easiest hosts to get started with. I've even heard a couple of people say they had one up and running in two hours. That, of course, is a simple site with no customization. They offer quite a few ways to customize your site, and it is worthwhile to take advantage of those selections. I also steeped myself in SEO and that has helped. I haven't actually hired any outside help.
Does your website have a checkout system, if so, what do you use, and what do you like/dislike about it?
One of the things I love about Prestostores is the checkout system. It is straightforward and easy for both me and my customers. Not too many clicks, and people don't have to register. They do fill out their personal info (name and address) which I get immediately in an email, along with details of the order. If they use PP, GCO or a credit card, I then get notices from each of those payment services about the payment. Really works smoothly. It can also be customized, with promo codes, notices and whatnot, which I like.
2011年6月8日 星期三
I thought Bling was a good product for merchants
Slow acceptance among merchants and consumers appears to be the underlying cause for Bling Nation’s decision to suspend operation of its PayConnect and FanConnect mobile services. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bling said earlier this week that it is pausing operations to retool its services in response to feedback from merchants and users.
The suspension is likely to leave Bling far behind competitors in a market that is developing fast and attracting major players, including wireless carriers and the Web search giant Google Inc. , observers say. Officials from the company were not available for further comment.
Analysts contend that Bling’s inability to deliver new customers to merchants hindered the appeal of its payment and loyalty programs to merchants. “If a payments company can’t deliver a substantial base of new customers to merchants, there is not a strong enough value proposition for merchants to support it,” says Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst with Boston-based Aite Group. “Bling has previously stated that its payment offering was a commodity and it appears they could not deliver a large enough customer base outside of what PayPal offered. Access to large segments of new customers is a potent value proposition for merchants.”
Bling began testing funding of its accounts through PayPal in July 2010 and in October was included in PayPal Inc.'s iPhone app.
Since its founding in 2008, Bling’s business model was best described as a highly localized approach. Proprietary direct debit and loyalty programs were offered to merchants in communities where local banks hold both consumer and merchant accounts. The model allowed for on-us settlement.
Bling relied on contactless stickers affixed to phones to initiate payments at the point-of-sale. Tapping the handset on point-of-sale readers, called “Blingers,” debited the consumer’s account.
In late 2010, Bling added FanConnect, a social-media application that allowed consumers to “like” a business on Facebook and share information about merchants and special offers within their Facebook community, which provided merchants with an easy entrée into social networking. Bling planned to support the program with analytics and customer-relations management tools for merchants.
“I thought Bling was a good product for merchants and that it offered lots of opportunities for value,” says Brad Rose, vice president of Information Technology and Security for La Junta, Colo.-based , an early adopter of Bling that received a letter from the company saying it was ceasing operations.
“Unfortunately, our merchants did not see that value,” continues Rose. “Not only was there reluctance to accept Bling, but in some cases a little arm twisting was needed to get merchants to sign up.”
The greatest resistance within the merchant community came from the large local merchant and merchant chains, according to Rose. “The large merchants either did not want to talk about Bling, told us they weren’t interested, or needed corporate approval to go ahead,” he adds. “With no monthly fee and interchange rates 50% less than Visa and MasterCard there was certainly value to it, especially for smaller merchants that compete with large merchants.”
Although Bling’s immediate future is uncertain, the company said in an e-mail that the “Bling Nation leadership team remains intact and we feel that we have a winning combination that will dominate these areas in the long term.”
Just what Bling’s next step will be is anyone’s guess. George Peabody, director of emerging technology advisory services for Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group says he would not be surprised to see Bling rebrand in order to distance itself from past merchant perceptions.
The suspension is likely to leave Bling far behind competitors in a market that is developing fast and attracting major players, including wireless carriers and the Web search giant Google Inc. , observers say. Officials from the company were not available for further comment.
Analysts contend that Bling’s inability to deliver new customers to merchants hindered the appeal of its payment and loyalty programs to merchants. “If a payments company can’t deliver a substantial base of new customers to merchants, there is not a strong enough value proposition for merchants to support it,” says Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst with Boston-based Aite Group. “Bling has previously stated that its payment offering was a commodity and it appears they could not deliver a large enough customer base outside of what PayPal offered. Access to large segments of new customers is a potent value proposition for merchants.”
Bling began testing funding of its accounts through PayPal in July 2010 and in October was included in PayPal Inc.'s iPhone app.
Since its founding in 2008, Bling’s business model was best described as a highly localized approach. Proprietary direct debit and loyalty programs were offered to merchants in communities where local banks hold both consumer and merchant accounts. The model allowed for on-us settlement.
Bling relied on contactless stickers affixed to phones to initiate payments at the point-of-sale. Tapping the handset on point-of-sale readers, called “Blingers,” debited the consumer’s account.
In late 2010, Bling added FanConnect, a social-media application that allowed consumers to “like” a business on Facebook and share information about merchants and special offers within their Facebook community, which provided merchants with an easy entrée into social networking. Bling planned to support the program with analytics and customer-relations management tools for merchants.
“I thought Bling was a good product for merchants and that it offered lots of opportunities for value,” says Brad Rose, vice president of Information Technology and Security for La Junta, Colo.-based , an early adopter of Bling that received a letter from the company saying it was ceasing operations.
“Unfortunately, our merchants did not see that value,” continues Rose. “Not only was there reluctance to accept Bling, but in some cases a little arm twisting was needed to get merchants to sign up.”
The greatest resistance within the merchant community came from the large local merchant and merchant chains, according to Rose. “The large merchants either did not want to talk about Bling, told us they weren’t interested, or needed corporate approval to go ahead,” he adds. “With no monthly fee and interchange rates 50% less than Visa and MasterCard there was certainly value to it, especially for smaller merchants that compete with large merchants.”
Although Bling’s immediate future is uncertain, the company said in an e-mail that the “Bling Nation leadership team remains intact and we feel that we have a winning combination that will dominate these areas in the long term.”
Just what Bling’s next step will be is anyone’s guess. George Peabody, director of emerging technology advisory services for Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group says he would not be surprised to see Bling rebrand in order to distance itself from past merchant perceptions.
USA ePay and ThreatMetrix Collaborate to Provide Comprehensive Fraud Prevention Solutions for Online Retailers
“We were experiencing various fraud attempts on our system, particularly with account log-ins and Web payments,” said Ben Goretsky, CEO, USA ePay. “What's happening in the industry is that merchants' computer systems are being phished for user names and passwords while also being infected by Trojan viruses. The problem stems from the fact that online fraud attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated; simplistic solutions no longer work. We need a leading edge solution, from a market leading company, to address this 21st century threat.”
“ThreatMetrix came highly recommended to us by one of the top credit card companies,” continued Goretsky. “There were three other companies in the running but we liked the fact that ThreatMetrix already worked with other companies in our industry, that they can provide us with a flexible, customizable risk scoring solution specific to our needs, and that we could screen for log-in and payment fraud from one integrated platform. We like working with a third-party organization completely dedicated to fraud prevention.”
According to Goretsky, USA ePay also liked ThreatMetrix's out-of-the-box reporting capabilities whereby USA ePay technical analysts can drill down on each device ID to determine the proxy IP address, email address, true IP address and other key data to help determine whether a specific log-in or payment transaction is legitimate or potentially fraudulent.
“The challenge for payment processors today is to provide their customers with fast, reliable and convenient payments while at the same time protect them and their customers from becoming victims of fraud,” said Bert Rankin, vice president of marketing, ThreatMetrix. “ThreatMetrix helps payment processors meet these fraud challenges, making them and their customers more competitive.”
About USA ePay
Since 1998 USA ePay, a GorCorp Inc. company, has been helping merchants process their credit card and check transactions with speed and security. Founded by the Goretsky brothers, the company is family-owned and based in Los Angeles, CA. Currently the USA ePay gateway supports all of the major platforms (First Data, TSYS, Global, Paymentech) in the credit card industry and works with some of the leading check platforms. USA ePay is also pleased to work with many of the larger merchant service banks in the US and abroad.
“ThreatMetrix came highly recommended to us by one of the top credit card companies,” continued Goretsky. “There were three other companies in the running but we liked the fact that ThreatMetrix already worked with other companies in our industry, that they can provide us with a flexible, customizable risk scoring solution specific to our needs, and that we could screen for log-in and payment fraud from one integrated platform. We like working with a third-party organization completely dedicated to fraud prevention.”
According to Goretsky, USA ePay also liked ThreatMetrix's out-of-the-box reporting capabilities whereby USA ePay technical analysts can drill down on each device ID to determine the proxy IP address, email address, true IP address and other key data to help determine whether a specific log-in or payment transaction is legitimate or potentially fraudulent.
“The challenge for payment processors today is to provide their customers with fast, reliable and convenient payments while at the same time protect them and their customers from becoming victims of fraud,” said Bert Rankin, vice president of marketing, ThreatMetrix. “ThreatMetrix helps payment processors meet these fraud challenges, making them and their customers more competitive.”
About USA ePay
Since 1998 USA ePay, a GorCorp Inc. company, has been helping merchants process their credit card and check transactions with speed and security. Founded by the Goretsky brothers, the company is family-owned and based in Los Angeles, CA. Currently the USA ePay gateway supports all of the major platforms (First Data, TSYS, Global, Paymentech) in the credit card industry and works with some of the leading check platforms. USA ePay is also pleased to work with many of the larger merchant service banks in the US and abroad.
2011年6月6日 星期一
A World At Financial War – Analysis
When Greece exchanged its drachma for the euro in 2000, most voters were all for joining the Eurozone. Their hope was that it would ensure stability, and that this would promote rising wages and living standards. Few saw that the stumbling point was tax policy. Greece was excluded from the eurozone the previous year as a result of failing to meet the 1992 Maastricht criteria for EU membership, limiting budget deficits to 3 percent of GDP, and government debt to 60 percent.
The euro also had other serious fiscal and monetary problems at the outset. There is little thought of wealthier EU economies helping bring less productive ones up to par, e.g. as the United States does with its depressed areas (as in the rescue of the auto industry in 2010) or when the federal government does declares a state of emergency for floods, tornados or other disruptions. As with the United States and indeed nearly all countries, EU “aid” is largely self-serving – a combination of export promotion and bailouts for debtor economies to pay banks in Europe’s main creditor nations: Germany, France and the Netherlands. The EU charter banned the European Central Bank (ECB) from financing government deficits, and prevents (indeed, “saves”) members from having to pay for the “fiscal irresponsibility” of countries running budget deficits. This “hard” tax policy was the price that lower-income countries had to sign onto when they joined the European Union.
Also unlike the United States (or almost any nation), Europe’s parliament was merely ceremonial. It had no power to set and administer EU-wide taxes. Politically, the continent remains a loose federation. Every member is expected to pay its own way. The central bank does not monetize deficits, and there is minimal federal sharing with member states. Public spending deficits – even for capital investment in infrastructure – must be financed by running into debt, at rising interest rates as countries running deficits become more risky.
This means that spending on transportation, power and other basic infrastructure that was publicly financed in North America and the leading European economies (providing services at subsidized rates) must be privatized. Prices for these services must be set high enough to cover interest and other financing charges, high salaries and bonuses, and be run for profit – indeed, for rent extraction as public regulatory authority is disabled.
This makes countries going this route less competitive. It also means they will run into debt to Germany, France and the Netherlands, causing the financial strains that now are leading to showdowns with democratically elected governments. At issue is whether Europe should succumb to centralized planning – on the right wing of the political spectrum, under the banner of “free markets” defined as economies free from public price regulation and oversight, free from consumer protection, and free from taxes on the rich.
The crisis for Greece – as for Iceland, Ireland and debt-plagued economies capped by the United States – is occurring as bank lobbyists demand that “taxpayers” pay for the bailouts of bad speculations and government debts stemming largely from tax cuts for the rich and for real estate, shifting the fiscal burden as well as the debt burden onto labor and industry. The financial sector’s growing power to achieve this tax favoritism is crippling economies, driving them further into reliance on yet more debt financing to remain solvent. Aid is conditional upon recipient countries reducing their wage levels (“internal devaluation”) and selling off public enterprises.
The tunnel vision that guides these policies is self-reinforcing. Europe, America and Japan draw their economic managers from the ranks of professionals sliding back and forth between the banks and finance ministries – what the Japanese call “descent from heaven” to the private sector where worldly rewards are greatest. It is not merely delayed payment for past service. Their government experience and contacts helps them influence the remaining public bureaucracy and lobby their equally opportunistic replacements to promote pro-financial fiscal and monetary policies – that is, to handcuff government and deter regulation and taxation of the financial sector and its real estate and monopoly clients, and to use the government’s taxing and money-creating power to provide bailouts when the inevitable financial collapse occurs as the economy shrinks below break-even levels into negative equity territory.
Regressive tax policies – shifting taxes off the rich and off property onto labor – cause budget deficits financed by public debt. When bondholders pull the plug, the resulting debt pressure forces governments to pay off debts by selling land and other public assets to private buyers (unless governments repudiate the debt or recover by restoring progressive taxation). Most such sales are done on credit. This benefits the banks by creating a loan market for the buyouts. Meanwhile, interest absorbs the earnings, depriving the government of tax revenue it formerly could have received as user fees. The tax gift to financiers is based on the bad policy of treating debt financing as a necessary cost of doing business, not as a policy choice – one that indeed is induced by the tax distortion of making interest payments tax-deductible.
Buyers borrow credit to appropriate “the commons” in the same way they bid for commercial real estate. The winner is whoever raises the largest buyout loan – by pledging the most revenue to pay the bank as interest. So the financial sector ends up with the revenue hitherto paid to governments as taxes or user fees. This is euphemized as a free market.
The euro also had other serious fiscal and monetary problems at the outset. There is little thought of wealthier EU economies helping bring less productive ones up to par, e.g. as the United States does with its depressed areas (as in the rescue of the auto industry in 2010) or when the federal government does declares a state of emergency for floods, tornados or other disruptions. As with the United States and indeed nearly all countries, EU “aid” is largely self-serving – a combination of export promotion and bailouts for debtor economies to pay banks in Europe’s main creditor nations: Germany, France and the Netherlands. The EU charter banned the European Central Bank (ECB) from financing government deficits, and prevents (indeed, “saves”) members from having to pay for the “fiscal irresponsibility” of countries running budget deficits. This “hard” tax policy was the price that lower-income countries had to sign onto when they joined the European Union.
Also unlike the United States (or almost any nation), Europe’s parliament was merely ceremonial. It had no power to set and administer EU-wide taxes. Politically, the continent remains a loose federation. Every member is expected to pay its own way. The central bank does not monetize deficits, and there is minimal federal sharing with member states. Public spending deficits – even for capital investment in infrastructure – must be financed by running into debt, at rising interest rates as countries running deficits become more risky.
This means that spending on transportation, power and other basic infrastructure that was publicly financed in North America and the leading European economies (providing services at subsidized rates) must be privatized. Prices for these services must be set high enough to cover interest and other financing charges, high salaries and bonuses, and be run for profit – indeed, for rent extraction as public regulatory authority is disabled.
This makes countries going this route less competitive. It also means they will run into debt to Germany, France and the Netherlands, causing the financial strains that now are leading to showdowns with democratically elected governments. At issue is whether Europe should succumb to centralized planning – on the right wing of the political spectrum, under the banner of “free markets” defined as economies free from public price regulation and oversight, free from consumer protection, and free from taxes on the rich.
The crisis for Greece – as for Iceland, Ireland and debt-plagued economies capped by the United States – is occurring as bank lobbyists demand that “taxpayers” pay for the bailouts of bad speculations and government debts stemming largely from tax cuts for the rich and for real estate, shifting the fiscal burden as well as the debt burden onto labor and industry. The financial sector’s growing power to achieve this tax favoritism is crippling economies, driving them further into reliance on yet more debt financing to remain solvent. Aid is conditional upon recipient countries reducing their wage levels (“internal devaluation”) and selling off public enterprises.
The tunnel vision that guides these policies is self-reinforcing. Europe, America and Japan draw their economic managers from the ranks of professionals sliding back and forth between the banks and finance ministries – what the Japanese call “descent from heaven” to the private sector where worldly rewards are greatest. It is not merely delayed payment for past service. Their government experience and contacts helps them influence the remaining public bureaucracy and lobby their equally opportunistic replacements to promote pro-financial fiscal and monetary policies – that is, to handcuff government and deter regulation and taxation of the financial sector and its real estate and monopoly clients, and to use the government’s taxing and money-creating power to provide bailouts when the inevitable financial collapse occurs as the economy shrinks below break-even levels into negative equity territory.
Regressive tax policies – shifting taxes off the rich and off property onto labor – cause budget deficits financed by public debt. When bondholders pull the plug, the resulting debt pressure forces governments to pay off debts by selling land and other public assets to private buyers (unless governments repudiate the debt or recover by restoring progressive taxation). Most such sales are done on credit. This benefits the banks by creating a loan market for the buyouts. Meanwhile, interest absorbs the earnings, depriving the government of tax revenue it formerly could have received as user fees. The tax gift to financiers is based on the bad policy of treating debt financing as a necessary cost of doing business, not as a policy choice – one that indeed is induced by the tax distortion of making interest payments tax-deductible.
Buyers borrow credit to appropriate “the commons” in the same way they bid for commercial real estate. The winner is whoever raises the largest buyout loan – by pledging the most revenue to pay the bank as interest. So the financial sector ends up with the revenue hitherto paid to governments as taxes or user fees. This is euphemized as a free market.
First Impressions: Eden Eternal
The game also features a crafting system, but it's presented in a somewhat unique manner. You don't actually gather the materials or craft the items yourself. Rather, you purchase (and perhaps find, I'm not certain on that) scrolls, which operate essentially as work orders for particular materials. For instance, you might buy a Mining Map that will yield 20 copper ore and three pure crystals (as seen above). You submit these work orders, along with a small fee, to an NPC, who then goes to work gathering the materials for you. Success is based on chance. Sometimes you'll get all the items listed on a work order, sometimes only part of them (like, say, 10 copper ore when the work order listed 20), and sometimes nothing at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in that it saves a great deal of time, as the NPC will continue to gather your materials for you even if you're off questing or even logged out entirely, but you run the risk of not getting all of the materials from a given work order, forcing you to sink more money into scrolls and gathering fees to get the materials you need.
Item production itself works in much the same way. Once you have your materials, you buy a blueprint for the item you want crafted and take it to an NPC, who crafts it for you. The blueprint is consumed in the process, so you have to buy a new one each time you want something crafted. Clearly, crafting is meant as a means of personal enhancement and not as a money-earning activity, which is somewhat odd but not altogether unwelcome, since at the very least the items you can have crafted are incredibly useful.
You can also use Fortification Scrolls to fortify your items, which essentially increases their defense (in the case of armor) and attack (in the case of weapons) capabilities as well as grants special stats such as +crit to daggers and the like at higher fortification tiers. There is a risk involved, however, as fortification past tier 4 has an alarmingly high chance of failure. Fortification failure results in the piece of equipment you're attempting to fortify being destroyed entirely, so it's certainly not for the faint of heart. There are items available, however, that can keep the item from being destroyed in case of failure in addition to some very rare items that will guarantee success.
Lastly, we come to the item shop. As someone who is militantly against the "pay-to-win" variety of free-to-play titles, I'd be remiss if I didn't cover this at least briefly. While the cash shop is currently incomplete (there are two entire sections listed as "coming soon"), what is currently being sold is far from game-breaking. There are a few convenience items, such as Portal Stones (which allow you to teleport directly to your quest objectives), Safety Stones (which prevent the destruction of a piece of equipment in case fortification fails), Gathering Aids (which increase the chance of success when having materials gathered), and remote bank and auction house access. You can also purchase dyes for your armor, health and mana potions, and larger backpacks.
Still, almost all of these items are obtainable over the course of normal gameplay in one fashion or another. For instance, each player earns some freebie items every five character levels, and dyes, Gathering Aids, and other cash-shop items can be acquired by completing certain quests. Players are also able to sell and trade cash shop items that they've purchased, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility to acquire these items without spending a cent. Of course, it's obviously more convenient if you buy them, but that's ultimately what it boils down to: The cash shop is convenient, but it doesn't unbalance the game. Granted, the game is still in closed beta, so any number of things could be added to the cash shop between now and launch.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised (shocked, really) by how much I enjoyed my time in Eden Eternal, and I urge you to remember that this is by no means a complete account of what the game has to offer. I was unable to delve into any of the group dungeons, partake in PvP, join a guild, get to know the pet system in-depth, or check out guild towns. From what I got to sample, however, the game seems to be incredibly well-polished despite its closed beta status, which means that the team has plenty of time to take care of the small bugs and annoyances that do exist. I can honestly say that I'll be keeping Eden Eternal on my hard drive, at least for now, so that I can see how the game evolves and plays out on the road to launch.
Item production itself works in much the same way. Once you have your materials, you buy a blueprint for the item you want crafted and take it to an NPC, who crafts it for you. The blueprint is consumed in the process, so you have to buy a new one each time you want something crafted. Clearly, crafting is meant as a means of personal enhancement and not as a money-earning activity, which is somewhat odd but not altogether unwelcome, since at the very least the items you can have crafted are incredibly useful.
You can also use Fortification Scrolls to fortify your items, which essentially increases their defense (in the case of armor) and attack (in the case of weapons) capabilities as well as grants special stats such as +crit to daggers and the like at higher fortification tiers. There is a risk involved, however, as fortification past tier 4 has an alarmingly high chance of failure. Fortification failure results in the piece of equipment you're attempting to fortify being destroyed entirely, so it's certainly not for the faint of heart. There are items available, however, that can keep the item from being destroyed in case of failure in addition to some very rare items that will guarantee success.
Lastly, we come to the item shop. As someone who is militantly against the "pay-to-win" variety of free-to-play titles, I'd be remiss if I didn't cover this at least briefly. While the cash shop is currently incomplete (there are two entire sections listed as "coming soon"), what is currently being sold is far from game-breaking. There are a few convenience items, such as Portal Stones (which allow you to teleport directly to your quest objectives), Safety Stones (which prevent the destruction of a piece of equipment in case fortification fails), Gathering Aids (which increase the chance of success when having materials gathered), and remote bank and auction house access. You can also purchase dyes for your armor, health and mana potions, and larger backpacks.
Still, almost all of these items are obtainable over the course of normal gameplay in one fashion or another. For instance, each player earns some freebie items every five character levels, and dyes, Gathering Aids, and other cash-shop items can be acquired by completing certain quests. Players are also able to sell and trade cash shop items that they've purchased, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility to acquire these items without spending a cent. Of course, it's obviously more convenient if you buy them, but that's ultimately what it boils down to: The cash shop is convenient, but it doesn't unbalance the game. Granted, the game is still in closed beta, so any number of things could be added to the cash shop between now and launch.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised (shocked, really) by how much I enjoyed my time in Eden Eternal, and I urge you to remember that this is by no means a complete account of what the game has to offer. I was unable to delve into any of the group dungeons, partake in PvP, join a guild, get to know the pet system in-depth, or check out guild towns. From what I got to sample, however, the game seems to be incredibly well-polished despite its closed beta status, which means that the team has plenty of time to take care of the small bugs and annoyances that do exist. I can honestly say that I'll be keeping Eden Eternal on my hard drive, at least for now, so that I can see how the game evolves and plays out on the road to launch.
2011年6月1日 星期三
Russian mob eclipses Italian Mafia in South Florida, FBI says
MIAMI When the feds busted a syndicate of Russian-speaking nightclub owners and their so-called Bar
Girls, it seemed like just another titillating tale from South Beach.
But the April bust showed that the FBI is taking the Eastern European mob a lot more seriously these days
than the Italian Mafia. La Cosa Nostra is no longer the bureau's Public Enemy No. 1 when it comes to
organized crime in South Florida.
"Eurasian organized crime is our number one priority," said FBI supervisory special agent Rick Brodsky of
the Miami office.
In April, six reputed members of an Eastern European network - along with a Sunny Isles investor and 10
Bar Girls imported mostly from Latvia and Estonia - were charged with conspiring to seduce and fleece
unsuspecting South Beach tourists by running up their credit card bills for booze at private clubs on
Washington Avenue. The prosecution's case has moved so quickly that two of the "B-Girls" girls plan to
plead guilty on Thursday in Miami federal court.
One defense lawyer quipped that they're about to become "G-Girls," as in guilty.
Sunny Isles Beach, where some of the reputed mobsters live, has so many immigrants from the former Soviet
Union that it has earned the nickname "Little Moscow." The high-rise coastal cities of Hollywood and
Hallandale Beach also are home to many Russian-speaking nationals.
The alleged B-Girl scam was hardly the first time the Eastern European mob struck South Florida. In
February, 13 South Florida members and associates of an alleged Armenian crime organization were charged
with extortion and other offenses as part of a series of indictments against more than 100 suspects from
Miami to Los Angeles.
The main extortion charge accused ringleader Aram Khranyan, 41, of Sunny Isles Beach, and others of
threatening "physical violence" against a man if he did not pay a $12,000 debt to a member of Khranyan's
organization.
Despite the nationwide publicity, it didn't quite measure up to the B-Girl scam for sheer amusement.
Consider this tale:
Brett Daniels, a professional magician, had just finished his February show at the Gulfstream Casino when
he and a few colleagues headed down to South Beach.
At Mango's, a lively tourist spot on Ocean Drive, he met an attractive woman clad in a short leopard-skin
dress and her sidekick, who wasn't as pretty. After showing them a few magic tricks, one of the girls
told Daniels it was her birthday and proposed taking him to a private club a few blocks away to drink
Russian vodka.
Four or five shots later - he can't remember exactly - Daniels found himself fighting over an
incomprehensible $1,368 credit card tab with the owner of the Tangia club on Washington Avenue. "Pay your
bill or you're going to jail," the bouncer told him.
What Daniels didn't know at the time was that he had been scammed by the Eastern European mob, according
to the FBI.
At the helm of the alleged South Beach club racket: Alec Simchuk, 44, of Hallandale, who is now a
fugitive. Simchuck and others in his network - including Albert Takhalov, 29, of Aventura - brought in
longtime Sunny Isles real estate broker Isaac Feldman as an investor in Stars Lounge on Washington
Avenue.
Feldman, who lost his bid for a city commission seat last year, plans to fight the charges, including
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His attorney, Myles Malman, said his client was a "minority investor" in
the Stars Lounge, which was controlled by Simchuk and Takhalov.
"He was hardly ever there and he didn't supervise or control the women," said Malman, a former federal
prosecutor. "He did not operate or run this club. The notion that the Russian mob is involved in this
club is farfetched and the ultimate stretch."
Malman then added: "My client lost everything."
That may be so, but for a while, Simchuk's organization ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bogus
bills for booze, wine and champagne on the credit cards of bedazzled male tourists, prosecutors charge.
All together, the B-Girls, who received 20 percent commissions for bringing in customers, ripped off
about 90 patrons, mostly tourists or businessmen with telltale signs of wealth, such as expensive watches
or shoes, authorities say.
One victim from Philadelphia, who was approached by two B-Girls at the swank Delano Hotel, complained he
was taken for $43,000 at Caviar Beach on Washington Avenue. His American Express bill included dozens of
charges for booze. Another victim was charged $5,000 for a bottle of champagne.
Authorities say the case is a sign of the mob from the former Soviet Union reaching deeper into South
Florida to commit "any type of fraud you can think of," said Brodsky, in charge of the Miami FBI's
organized crime squad. Their stocks in trade: credit card fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking,
prostitution, drugs, extortion and arms smuggling.
Brodsky said the Eastern European mob is very different from La Cosa Nostra, known for its "made men,"
"wise guys," and "good fellas."
He held up Simchuk, the alleged leader in the B-Girl case, as a classic example. Simchuk, 44, is accused
of smuggling sexy B-Girls from his Baltic State clubs back home to work in private, leased venues along
Washington Avenue. Brodsky said Simchuk works for a "thief-in-law" in his homeland who acts like a
"general," controls underworld enterprises, and resolves disputes, including using threats and violence.
A thief-in-law, known as a "Vor" in Russian, arose in Stalin's forced labor camps of political prisoners
and criminals. The term now refers to a high-ranking member of a criminal syndicate from Russia or the
former Soviet Union.
"The challenge (to law enforcement) is the hierarchy is overseas and has greater access to political
protection," Brodsky said.
According to court records, Simchuk and five other Eastern European men operated the alleged racket for a
year at Caviar Bar, Stars Lounge, Nowhere Bar, Steel Toast, Tangia Club and Club Moreno.
Today, Caviar, Stars and Tangia are not open for business. Steele Toast plans to reopen as an actual
nightclub, Havana Nights, this weekend. Club Moreno is a scooter shop.
As for Nowhere Bar, it is still operating. General manager Vladislav Salaridze said his business never
conducted illegal activity.
"No, no, no, we are a legitimate business. We do bar mitzvahs, weddings, parties for celebrities and
comedy shows," he said. "But we always were getting mixed up with Caviar (Bar) because we both have
Russian owners."
According to court records, Simchuk and the others leased the private clubs, obtained credit-card
merchant accounts, flew in B-Girls from Eastern Europe or the Baltic States with 90-day visas, rented
apartments for them, and sent them out to hotels like the Delano, Clevelander and others to seduce male
visitors into coming to their private clubs.
An FBI agent who led the investigation said they went "hunting" in pairs, worked between 10 p.m. and 5
a.m., lured "wealthy males" back to the clubs and ordered multiple bottles of booze without telling the
victims the price.
"The clubs are not open to the public, and operate solely as a front for fraud," FBI agent Alexander V.
Tiguy wrote in an April affidavit.
The goal was to jack up the bills, and squeeze the customers to sign off on their credit card slips - no
easy task.
"Some victims are so intoxicated by the drinks forced upon them by the B-Girls that they cannot stand and
are not competent enough to sign credit card receipts," Tiguy wrote in the affidavit. "Those victims are
propped up by the B-Girls long enough to obtain signatures."
In most instances, the bartender or manager explained to the victims that they agreed to purchase the
alcohol, that the bar had surveillance video of them, and demanded that they pay or the police would be
called to arrest them.
On several occasions, the bouncer or Miami Beach police officers would inform the victim about the
state's Innkeeper Law, which requires patrons disputing a charge to challenge the bill with their credit
card company - or risk getting arrested.
At several of the clubs, an undercover Miami Beach police officer was working as the bouncer to obtain
evidence for the investigation.
Daniels, the magician, said he felt like he had no choice but to pay his bill after he called police and
club Tangia's bouncer told him he would be going to jail. The bouncer was an undercover cop, but he did
not know that at the time.
"They had my driver's license and credit card," recalled Daniels, 50, who turned to the FBI. "I couldn't
do anything."
Girls, it seemed like just another titillating tale from South Beach.
But the April bust showed that the FBI is taking the Eastern European mob a lot more seriously these days
than the Italian Mafia. La Cosa Nostra is no longer the bureau's Public Enemy No. 1 when it comes to
organized crime in South Florida.
"Eurasian organized crime is our number one priority," said FBI supervisory special agent Rick Brodsky of
the Miami office.
In April, six reputed members of an Eastern European network - along with a Sunny Isles investor and 10
Bar Girls imported mostly from Latvia and Estonia - were charged with conspiring to seduce and fleece
unsuspecting South Beach tourists by running up their credit card bills for booze at private clubs on
Washington Avenue. The prosecution's case has moved so quickly that two of the "B-Girls" girls plan to
plead guilty on Thursday in Miami federal court.
One defense lawyer quipped that they're about to become "G-Girls," as in guilty.
Sunny Isles Beach, where some of the reputed mobsters live, has so many immigrants from the former Soviet
Union that it has earned the nickname "Little Moscow." The high-rise coastal cities of Hollywood and
Hallandale Beach also are home to many Russian-speaking nationals.
The alleged B-Girl scam was hardly the first time the Eastern European mob struck South Florida. In
February, 13 South Florida members and associates of an alleged Armenian crime organization were charged
with extortion and other offenses as part of a series of indictments against more than 100 suspects from
Miami to Los Angeles.
The main extortion charge accused ringleader Aram Khranyan, 41, of Sunny Isles Beach, and others of
threatening "physical violence" against a man if he did not pay a $12,000 debt to a member of Khranyan's
organization.
Despite the nationwide publicity, it didn't quite measure up to the B-Girl scam for sheer amusement.
Consider this tale:
Brett Daniels, a professional magician, had just finished his February show at the Gulfstream Casino when
he and a few colleagues headed down to South Beach.
At Mango's, a lively tourist spot on Ocean Drive, he met an attractive woman clad in a short leopard-skin
dress and her sidekick, who wasn't as pretty. After showing them a few magic tricks, one of the girls
told Daniels it was her birthday and proposed taking him to a private club a few blocks away to drink
Russian vodka.
Four or five shots later - he can't remember exactly - Daniels found himself fighting over an
incomprehensible $1,368 credit card tab with the owner of the Tangia club on Washington Avenue. "Pay your
bill or you're going to jail," the bouncer told him.
What Daniels didn't know at the time was that he had been scammed by the Eastern European mob, according
to the FBI.
At the helm of the alleged South Beach club racket: Alec Simchuk, 44, of Hallandale, who is now a
fugitive. Simchuck and others in his network - including Albert Takhalov, 29, of Aventura - brought in
longtime Sunny Isles real estate broker Isaac Feldman as an investor in Stars Lounge on Washington
Avenue.
Feldman, who lost his bid for a city commission seat last year, plans to fight the charges, including
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His attorney, Myles Malman, said his client was a "minority investor" in
the Stars Lounge, which was controlled by Simchuk and Takhalov.
"He was hardly ever there and he didn't supervise or control the women," said Malman, a former federal
prosecutor. "He did not operate or run this club. The notion that the Russian mob is involved in this
club is farfetched and the ultimate stretch."
Malman then added: "My client lost everything."
That may be so, but for a while, Simchuk's organization ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bogus
bills for booze, wine and champagne on the credit cards of bedazzled male tourists, prosecutors charge.
All together, the B-Girls, who received 20 percent commissions for bringing in customers, ripped off
about 90 patrons, mostly tourists or businessmen with telltale signs of wealth, such as expensive watches
or shoes, authorities say.
One victim from Philadelphia, who was approached by two B-Girls at the swank Delano Hotel, complained he
was taken for $43,000 at Caviar Beach on Washington Avenue. His American Express bill included dozens of
charges for booze. Another victim was charged $5,000 for a bottle of champagne.
Authorities say the case is a sign of the mob from the former Soviet Union reaching deeper into South
Florida to commit "any type of fraud you can think of," said Brodsky, in charge of the Miami FBI's
organized crime squad. Their stocks in trade: credit card fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking,
prostitution, drugs, extortion and arms smuggling.
Brodsky said the Eastern European mob is very different from La Cosa Nostra, known for its "made men,"
"wise guys," and "good fellas."
He held up Simchuk, the alleged leader in the B-Girl case, as a classic example. Simchuk, 44, is accused
of smuggling sexy B-Girls from his Baltic State clubs back home to work in private, leased venues along
Washington Avenue. Brodsky said Simchuk works for a "thief-in-law" in his homeland who acts like a
"general," controls underworld enterprises, and resolves disputes, including using threats and violence.
A thief-in-law, known as a "Vor" in Russian, arose in Stalin's forced labor camps of political prisoners
and criminals. The term now refers to a high-ranking member of a criminal syndicate from Russia or the
former Soviet Union.
"The challenge (to law enforcement) is the hierarchy is overseas and has greater access to political
protection," Brodsky said.
According to court records, Simchuk and five other Eastern European men operated the alleged racket for a
year at Caviar Bar, Stars Lounge, Nowhere Bar, Steel Toast, Tangia Club and Club Moreno.
Today, Caviar, Stars and Tangia are not open for business. Steele Toast plans to reopen as an actual
nightclub, Havana Nights, this weekend. Club Moreno is a scooter shop.
As for Nowhere Bar, it is still operating. General manager Vladislav Salaridze said his business never
conducted illegal activity.
"No, no, no, we are a legitimate business. We do bar mitzvahs, weddings, parties for celebrities and
comedy shows," he said. "But we always were getting mixed up with Caviar (Bar) because we both have
Russian owners."
According to court records, Simchuk and the others leased the private clubs, obtained credit-card
merchant accounts, flew in B-Girls from Eastern Europe or the Baltic States with 90-day visas, rented
apartments for them, and sent them out to hotels like the Delano, Clevelander and others to seduce male
visitors into coming to their private clubs.
An FBI agent who led the investigation said they went "hunting" in pairs, worked between 10 p.m. and 5
a.m., lured "wealthy males" back to the clubs and ordered multiple bottles of booze without telling the
victims the price.
"The clubs are not open to the public, and operate solely as a front for fraud," FBI agent Alexander V.
Tiguy wrote in an April affidavit.
The goal was to jack up the bills, and squeeze the customers to sign off on their credit card slips - no
easy task.
"Some victims are so intoxicated by the drinks forced upon them by the B-Girls that they cannot stand and
are not competent enough to sign credit card receipts," Tiguy wrote in the affidavit. "Those victims are
propped up by the B-Girls long enough to obtain signatures."
In most instances, the bartender or manager explained to the victims that they agreed to purchase the
alcohol, that the bar had surveillance video of them, and demanded that they pay or the police would be
called to arrest them.
On several occasions, the bouncer or Miami Beach police officers would inform the victim about the
state's Innkeeper Law, which requires patrons disputing a charge to challenge the bill with their credit
card company - or risk getting arrested.
At several of the clubs, an undercover Miami Beach police officer was working as the bouncer to obtain
evidence for the investigation.
Daniels, the magician, said he felt like he had no choice but to pay his bill after he called police and
club Tangia's bouncer told him he would be going to jail. The bouncer was an undercover cop, but he did
not know that at the time.
"They had my driver's license and credit card," recalled Daniels, 50, who turned to the FBI. "I couldn't
do anything."
Water, water everywhere
In addition to high winds, the water that accompanies hurricanes can overwhelm a region. Geology
professor Dr. Venkat Lakshmi, a hydrometeorology expert, can discuss the impact of intense precipitation.
After Hurricane Katrina, Lakshmi conducted a study on flooding along the Gulf Coast and its impact. He
can discuss flash floods and the seriousness of flash-flood advisories, coastal erosion when sediment is
washed away and how the horizontal movement of wind and water changes the landscape.
How a storm changes marine organism health; pollution impacts of hurricanes
Dr. Pamela Morris is a marine microbial ecologist and research professor of the Belle W. Baruch Institute
for Marine and Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C. She can address questions relating to the impact of
coastal storms on microbial community shifts related to changes in marine organism health status, the
identification of human and marine pathogen reservoirs and pollution impacts.
Coastal storm impacts on fish, shellfish and marsh animals
Dr. Dennis Allen is a research professor and resident director of the USC Baruch Marine Field Laboratory
on the coast in Georgetown, S.C. With more than 30 years of experience on the S.C. coast, and
professional interests in the ecology of fishes, shrimps, crabs, and less familiar animals of salt
marshes, estuaries, and the coastal ocean, he is available to discuss issues including threats and
impacts of coastal storms.
Storm impacts on water quality
Dr. Dianne Greenfield is a coastal marine scientist and an assistant professor with the Belle W. Baruch
Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C, and she holds a joint appointment with
the Marine Resources Research Institute in Charleston. She can address questions relating to the effect
of storms on our coast and its ecology, especially water quality, algal blooms and nutrients.
Impact of storms on coastal ecology, salt marshes
Dr. Jim Morris is a coastal marine scientist and director of the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and
Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C. He can address questions relating to the effect of sea-level rise
and storms on our coast and its ecology, especially its salt marshes.
Impact of storm surge, flooding
Dr. George Voulgaris,a coastal oceanographer researcher, studies the wind-driven and tidal currents as
well as wave patterns along the South Carolina coast. He can discuss the effect of hurricanes on coastal
erosion and how a hurricane’s storm surge affects land. Since Hurricane Katrina, Voulgaris has been
studying the resilience of barrier islands along the Gulf Coast. In 2004, Voulgaris and his team of
researchers launched technology off the S.C. coast that provides real-time waves, currents and water
level information. This technology will enable marine scientists and state agencies to determine the
severity of a hurricane’s impact as the storm occurs. He also can talk about the dangers of flooding
during and after a hurricane.
professor Dr. Venkat Lakshmi, a hydrometeorology expert, can discuss the impact of intense precipitation.
After Hurricane Katrina, Lakshmi conducted a study on flooding along the Gulf Coast and its impact. He
can discuss flash floods and the seriousness of flash-flood advisories, coastal erosion when sediment is
washed away and how the horizontal movement of wind and water changes the landscape.
How a storm changes marine organism health; pollution impacts of hurricanes
Dr. Pamela Morris is a marine microbial ecologist and research professor of the Belle W. Baruch Institute
for Marine and Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C. She can address questions relating to the impact of
coastal storms on microbial community shifts related to changes in marine organism health status, the
identification of human and marine pathogen reservoirs and pollution impacts.
Coastal storm impacts on fish, shellfish and marsh animals
Dr. Dennis Allen is a research professor and resident director of the USC Baruch Marine Field Laboratory
on the coast in Georgetown, S.C. With more than 30 years of experience on the S.C. coast, and
professional interests in the ecology of fishes, shrimps, crabs, and less familiar animals of salt
marshes, estuaries, and the coastal ocean, he is available to discuss issues including threats and
impacts of coastal storms.
Storm impacts on water quality
Dr. Dianne Greenfield is a coastal marine scientist and an assistant professor with the Belle W. Baruch
Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C, and she holds a joint appointment with
the Marine Resources Research Institute in Charleston. She can address questions relating to the effect
of storms on our coast and its ecology, especially water quality, algal blooms and nutrients.
Impact of storms on coastal ecology, salt marshes
Dr. Jim Morris is a coastal marine scientist and director of the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and
Coastal Sciences near Georgetown, S.C. He can address questions relating to the effect of sea-level rise
and storms on our coast and its ecology, especially its salt marshes.
Impact of storm surge, flooding
Dr. George Voulgaris,a coastal oceanographer researcher, studies the wind-driven and tidal currents as
well as wave patterns along the South Carolina coast. He can discuss the effect of hurricanes on coastal
erosion and how a hurricane’s storm surge affects land. Since Hurricane Katrina, Voulgaris has been
studying the resilience of barrier islands along the Gulf Coast. In 2004, Voulgaris and his team of
researchers launched technology off the S.C. coast that provides real-time waves, currents and water
level information. This technology will enable marine scientists and state agencies to determine the
severity of a hurricane’s impact as the storm occurs. He also can talk about the dangers of flooding
during and after a hurricane.
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