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serinemolecule · 7 years

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How to credit card

Using a credit card is like paying with cash, except you also get free money and other benefits.

"But Serine, there's no such thing as a free lunch! [1] Where does the money come from?"

I'm glad you asked. When you buy something with cash, the seller gets 100% of what you pay. When you use a credit card, the seller gets around 97% of what you pay, and the credit card company gets the other 3%. [2] The credit card company is of course very willing to give you money and other benefits if you let them have that 3%. [3]

Sellers are willing to give up 3% because handling credit cards is so much easier than cash. You don't have to count change, and you have a computer record of who paid how much, so it's easy to figure out who's lying when the customer said they paid. Not to mention it eliminates the problem of cashiers stealing money by pocketing customers' money [4]. Also not to mention the store wants the customer to be happy (happy customers spend more) (customers hate having to pay a fee to use a credit card).

Anyway, in the general case, credit cards are basically always a good thing, and you should basically always use them. [5] So I’m going to teach you how to pick one!

When not to credit card

If you are irresponsible with money, and are afraid you will spend more money than you have, you should not use a credit card. If you have good reasons not to want a bank account, you probably don’t want a credit card for similar reasons.

Never carry a balance on a credit card (pay off less than the total amount you owe every month), it piles up and ruins your life. You should spend money on getting things you want, not on paying off interest.

“Forgetting to pay” is never a concern. All modern credit cards have an auto-pay feature to take money from a bank account. As long as you don’t spend more money than is in your bank account, you don’t have to worry about accidentally going into debt.

What benefits you get from using credit cards

Most credit cards will give you 1%-2% cash back (for each dollar you spend, you get a certain percentage back in free money).

Basically all credit cards give you the ability to chargeback. This means that if some business steals your money (charges you more than you owe, etc) and you can prove it, you can call the credit card company and tell them to take your money back. Note that this is a last resort (only to be used after you contact the business and they don't give you your money back), and will generally result in the business completely cutting off contact with you (for instance, if you chargeback Steam, you'll lose access to all your Steam games etc).

Credit cards also act as a short-term loan. If you ever need a payday loan, a credit card will give you significantly less interest than an actual payday loan. You never want a credit card as a long-term loan (the rates are horrible), but they actually give you close to the best possible rate for a loan of a few days. Just remember that debt is evil and never to fall into it.

Other benefits vary wildly and are specific to the card, but common benefits include various forms of insurance (car insurance on any rental car you rent with the credit card, warranty on anything you buy, etc).

Which card to get

It's actually really easy to choose a credit card. If you're in the US, here is Serine's One-Step Guide:

Do you spend more than $2500 per year in travel (hotels, flights, Ubers, etc) and restaurants, and do you have the free time to screw around with flyer miles?

• No ➡ Get the Citi DoubleCash

• Yes ➡ Get the Chase Sapphire Reserve

In some extremely obscure situations, you might want other cards, but I'll cover those after I cover these two cards.

The Citi DoubleCash

The Citi DoubleCash has no yearly fee, and gives you 2% cash back, effectively. This makes it better in every way than most other cards.

Some cards give 1% cash back and a rotating 5% category. They will give you a headache trying to optimize them and you will still get less money back compared to the Citi DoubleCash, in the end.

Some cards give you points that you can spend using a complicated procedure, which will be worth approximately 2% if you can spend them perfectly. Just use the Citi DoubleCash, and skip the complicated procedure.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has a $550 yearly fee, and gives a huge number of benefits that are totally worth it if you spend a decent amount of money. Also it looks really cool because it's metal and black. [6]

It comes with $300 of travel credit per year, which you can blow through in, like, a single flight, or like a few days of hotel, or like a normal amount of Ubering (anyone who's even considering this card should have no problem spending that much). So the yearly fee is effectively $250.

It gives you 3 points per dollar on travel and restaurants, and 1 point per dollar on anything else. "Points" can and should be converted to frequent flyer miles, at which point they're worth 2-4 cents each if you put them towards international flights, especially international first-class flights.

It also comes with a pile of side-benefits, like free Priority Pass membership (gives access to a bunch of airport lounges), free TSA Global Entry (lets you basically skip airport security and customs), free DoorDash DashPass, free Lyft Pink, and a lot of other exclusive discounts.

Assuming you spend enough and you're willing to spend the effort optimizing flyer miles, it basically pays for itself and the other benefits are free. If you don’t want to optimize flyer miles, the other redemption options are worth 1¢/point or less, and you’d be better off with the Citi DoubleCash.

Honorable Mention: The AmEx Platinum

I know I didn’t mention the AmEx Platinum at all, but if you have lots of money and want the best benefits on a card (or you take a lot of flights), the AmEx Platinum is probably the card for you.

The AmEx Platinum costs $550 per year, and is a luxury card pretty similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Its biggest advantage is that it has much better airport lounge coverage in the US.

Priority Pass (which comes with both the Chase and the AmEx) gives you lounge access for most international flights, but the AmEx Platinum also gives you lounge access for US domestic flights.

It gives 5 points/dollar for airfare and AmEx Travel hotel purchases, and 1 point/dollar for other purchases, and its points can also be turned into flyer miles.

Other advantages include Gold membership status at Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz-Carlton hotels. Mostly this means usually-free late-checkout, and, like, free bottled water sometimes.

Instead of the $300 travel credit, though, the Platinum has a $200 airline fee credit (abusable to buy gift cards) and a $200 Uber credit (spread out across 12 months, so hard to maximize unless you use Uber all the time). It’s harder to max these out, but if you do, it’s effectively $150/year.

Overall, the main reason you’d actually want the Platinum over the Sapphire Reserve is if you fly a lot in the US and really want the additional airport lounges.

Extremely obscure situations

So the most common one is: If you have a ton of free time and spend a decent amount of money, you might be interested in churning. I don't really want anything to do with churning so you're going to have to learn how to do it from someone else (google it, I guess).

If you travel internationally, be aware that the Citi DoubleCash has a foreign transaction fee. It's still worth it (2%, which is still less than the fee you'll be charged by most money exchangers – Wells Fargo takes like 5%), but it's also not very hard to just get a credit card that doesn't have that fee. The Amazon Prime card and the Costco credit card are good options (these two are pretty good cards to have in general, honestly; they have no yearly fee and a few specific uses, just don't use them as your main card because they don't have the 2% base rate the DoubleCash has).

If you have a lot of very specific foreign transactions you need to make that isn’t just taking vacations internationally, the Capital One Quicksilver has 1.5% cash back and no foreign transaction cost (the Amazon and Costco cards are better for travel).

That's it

I haven't actually taught you how to spend money wisely (maybe that'll be a different post), but at least you can get more value out of the money you do spend now.

There aren’t links to any of these credit cards because I don’t want to get accused of earning money through affiliate links or something. You can find all of them on Google.

[1] In a way, there's no such thing as a free lunch, but in a way, there totally is. Like, think about breathing (but not too hard – I don't want you to start manually breathing – ...I'm sorry). There are some minor trade-offs (you have to use energy) and situations where you shouldn't (do not breathe while underwater unless you have special equipment) but overall, it's basically always correct to choose "breathing" over "not breathing".

[2] The 3%ish is split kind of complicatedly, in terms of who gets what. The credit card company definitely gets most of it, though.

[3] And also to get your late payment fees and interest and stuff, but honestly, credit card rewards come out of the processing fee.

[4] It's easiest for cashiers to steal money if you're selling something hard to track, like french fries. A cashier can give a customer some french fries, pocket the customer's money, and the store owner would never know. This is why a lot of fast food places say "free food if we don't give you a receipt". The receipt makes sure the cashier gives the store owner the money.

[5] Some stores don't accept credit cards. These are very very rare in the US, and mostly restricted to, like, certain vending machines, and tiny stores that hate the 3% transaction fee. Also, a lot of service workers prefer you to tip in cash, because that makes tax evasion easier (it's up to you whether you consider this a good thing or a bad thing).

[6] People who’ve seen mine have totally thought it’s "the black card" because it’s black and metallic (it's not, it’s a lot easier to get than the actual AmEx Centurion).

#how to money #credit cards

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ahmedsalmanmagento-blog · 4 years

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Will What Is The Future Of Ecommerce? Insights On The Evolution Of An Industry Ever Rule the World?

With headless trade and innovative web applications (PWA), the planet has grown a storefront since brands allow trade via clever mirrors, video games, video games, and live streams.

Legacy producers and CPG organizations are reinventing themselves by promoting direct-to-consumer (DTC) to hasten expansion.

Yes, an estimated 12,000 retail locations were anticipated to shut annually, But do not allow the headlines hamper your view --what dies from the mall has been reborn on the internet, and that which was created online is crossing over to the physical world.

Ecommerce carries share but expansion coolsDirect to the customer and private-label selling hastensAutomation abilities productivityDigitally indigenous manufacturers go offlineVoice recognition varies the road to BuyMarketers aim at new stations and apparatus

Ecommerce takes share but expansion cools

Although the line between physical and electronic trade is blurring, the gap in growth trajectories between retail and eCommerce remains stark (although not as crude as it was.) But, growth has slowed substantially versus the previous five Decades and Isn't anticipated to pick through 2023:

On the flip side, worldwide eCommerce earnings topped $3.5 billion, an estimated increase of about 18 percent from the year earlier. Ecommerce is predicted to almost double by 2023 to over $6.5 billion.

Even though eCommerce is growing considerably quicker than retail, it is still a rather small part of this pie. In 2019, eCommerce share of overall global retail revenue was 14.1percent and analysts just expect it to grow 2% per Year through 2023:

Much of e-commerce expansion is based on Amazon, which will be growing in above-market prices and has been anticipated to account for 37.7percent of online U.S. earnings in 2019. While in-store sales still account for almost 90 percent of total retail revenue, the entire market share of internet U.S. retail revenue is currently higher than overall merchandise sales for the very first time.

Direct to the customer and private-label selling hastens

With 16.1percent of retail sales expected to occur online in 2020, producers and conventional brands are bypassing retail partners and promoting DTC. It is eCommerce expansion that's aiding legacy producers to counter stagnant in-store earnings expansion.

Selling direct returns three Important advantages:

Have the client relationship

With immediate client connection brands no longer need to rely on retail partners to safeguard and market your brand. Establishing a direct connection with the end-user additionally enables you to continue to provide support after the purchase.

Gather and utilize customer information

Selling direct permits you to collect first-party information that you can use to customize the customer experience and finally monetize that connection.

Provide personalized goods

Promoting direct places brands to provide experiences that can not be obtained in conventional retail stores. DTC manufacturers are allowing shoppers to style custom packaging, mix and match custom assortments, or take part in competitions while getting brand evangelists.

An integral driver of this DTC trend is the growth of private-label brands. Private label manufacturers now account for roughly 20 percent of their consumables market. Driving much of the market share expansion would be the retail spouses on which heritage manufacturers have relied on for supply. They are increasingly supplying their brands that compete against those made by heritage makers. Selling direct is a response to greater competition from retail partners supplying their particular DTC private-label brands.

Private-label products will be the newest challenger brands because customers are eager to abandon brand devotion for what they perceive as superior value. Significantly, private-label manufacturers are taking talk in the online and at brick-and-mortar shops. Almost one-third of Costco's earnings are private-label, as are 19 percent of Walmart's.

Significantly, consumers are not just turning into private-label manufacturers to save money--they are turning into premium private-label brands. Premium private-label Goods, or the Ones That are perceived as high quality compared to branded products that sell at higher price points, today accounts for 7.2percent dollar share of US private-label Goods, up from 5.9percent three years ago:

From 2021, analysts estimate 53.9percent of eCommerce earnings will take place on mobile devices. Worldwide, mobile trade is anticipated to more widespread:

But only because your eCommerce platform motif provides a responsive website does not mean that you're supplying a fantastic mobile experience. Mobile conversion prices are less than half of those of desktop computers. Research suggests 53 percent of customers will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. Research indicates cellular bounce prices are 10--20 percent greater than desktop.

To offer you an optimal mobile experience across, many manufacturers elect for an innovative web application (PWA), which may live to a user's home display and therefore are supposed to load immediately regardless of if the consumer is online. PWAs might be a part of a headless trade strategy that allows teams to operate on the front- and - backend systems concurrently to further enhance cellular functionality.

Rothy's, that sells women's shoes made with recycled metals, relaunched its cellular site as an innovative web program (PWA):

"Like most other manufacturers, we see nearly all our visitors from mobile devices--a tendency that spiked throughout the holiday season as customers were off from their laptops," says Gigi Teutli-Vadheim, Rothy's Website Experience Supervisor. "With the consumer experience, we are shifting our attention to be mobile-first and assigning rate to make sure users are happy."

One step farther combining a PWA having an accelerated cellphone page (AMP), which will be mobile-first stripped-down HTML copies of internet pages that load immediately. AMPs will be the base of Google's mobile-first indicator, which prioritizes cellular optimization at lookup results. The mix could yield better search results, more top-of-funnel visitors, and enhanced conversion rates on-site.

Over 2.1 billion shoppers are expected to buy goods and services on the internet by 2021. More importantly, these online shoppers reside outside the U.S. Ecommerce as a whole has shifted away from the West and will keep doing so much as China's formerly hot consumer market cools a little.

Retail eCommerce sales increase globally, by area

But expansion rates simply tell part of this narrative --that the king of international eCommerce in China. In Reality, China's share of this International eCommerce marketplace is 54.7percent or almost twice the following five countries combined:

Localization will be important when expanding globally. Offering clients local payment procedures, local monies, and distributing content to local languages is enhancing the odds of cross-border victory.

By way of instance, 100% genuine sells cruelty-free merchandise directly to Chinese clients through Tmall International and provides them through a third party logistics partner. 1 reason that the company exerts sales year-over-year, is its own choice to localize.

"You do not wish to advertise in China how you advertise from the U.S., therefore I wanted local folks to assist," states co-founder, Ric Kostick. "You need to get it done locally."

Automation abilities productivity

Firms will increasingly place operations on autopilot in the upcoming year. Automation will be especially valuable to manufacturers expanding globally which necessitates operating many stores and bigger inventory and satisfaction networks. Typically, global companies ship to 31 nations and manufacturers are using eCommerce automation to climb faster and better.

Simplifying cross-border trade, reducing the risk of human error in handling multiple shops, and supplying a best-in-class shopping encounter are 3 manners eCommerce automation is powering productivity:

Pre-load storefront varies for important eventsAutomate your following flash sale or merchandise fallList fresh goods on multiple channelsLabel and department clients for retentionStreamline monitoring and reportingSchedule stock alarms for reordering and promotion

Integrate third-party programs to activate workflows out your eCommerce ecosystem such as email win-back sequences

Significantly, eCommerce automation can be protecting brands out of an increasing danger: fraud. Rather than manually cross-checking orders with shopper buy histories to find out if person orders are fraudulent, manufacturers are relying upon automatic fraud coverage embedded inside their eCommerce development. Automation can stop risky orders from being satisfied and protect against costly chargebacks.

Brands working their warehouse will progressively consider robotics to lower costs and be more effective. Worldwide, there are more than 3,200 robot-enabled satisfaction centers.

While price remains a leading barrier to implementing RPA, 48 percent of the companies which use new technologies such as automation anticipate it to help lower their workforce.

Grade 5 automation, or automation that handles itself with no people involved, will probably require the maximum degree of machine learning how to generate artificial intelligence that could replace human intellect. Businesses expect to invest largely in AI-powered automation.

Author Bio:

Salman Ahmed is a Business Manager at Magneto IT Solutions – an eCommerce development company in Bahrain that offers quality b2b eCommerce solutions, Magento development, android app development, Magento support, mobile app development services. The company also offers eCommerce solutions for the grocery store at a very affordable price. He is a firm believer in teamwork; for him, it is not just an idea, but also the team’s buy-in into the idea, that makes a campaign successful! He’s enthusiastic about all things marketing.

#eCommercedevelopmentcompany #b2beCommercesolutions

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thebitcoinscode-blog · 5 years

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What is Crypto and How to Invest in it?

Cryptocurrency is a sort of advanced money that utilizes cryptography for security and hostile to falsifying measures. Open and private keys are frequently used to exchange cryptocurrency between people.As a counter-culture development that is frequently associated with cypherpunks, cryptocurrency is basically a fiat money. This implies clients must achieve an agreement about cryptocurrency’s esteem and use it as a trade medium. In any case, since it isn’t fixing to a specific nation, its esteem isn’t constrained by a national bank. With bitcoin, the main working case of cryptocurrency, esteem is dictated by market free market activity, implying that it carries on much like valuable metals, similar to silver and gold. You can know more about it here : https://thebitcoinscode.com/what-is-bitcoin-code.phpThe History of Cryptocurrencies:The first run through the vast majority tend catch wind of digital currencies will be when going over the principal cryptographic money made, Bitcoin. Be that as it may, when Bitcoins baffling organizer, Satoshi Nakamoto, made the world’s first practical digital currency, he wasn’t really expecting to imagine a money by any stretch of the imagination.Computerized cash is an idea that has since quite a while ago existed before Bitcoin. The prime precedent being an organization called DigiCash Inc. established in 1989 endeavoring to make the world’s first broadly utilized computerized money. DigiCash was an electronic cash company, making a mysterious installment convention based on cryptography. Be that as it may, subsequent to neglecting to pick up standard reception, among a few different issues, DigiCash was compelled to petition for financial protection in 1998.Investing in CryptoCurrency:To put resources into Cryptocurrency you first need a spot to purchase digital money. There are various approaches to do this. Digital money trades like Etoro, Bittrex, LocalBitcoins, and Coinbase are famous trades where you can purchase cryptographic forms of money and money out into neighborhood cash.Another extraordinary choice for fiat buys is Luno.com a rising Coinbase elective serving critical districts in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Luno sells Bitcoin and Ethereum. They have an incredible web stage and versatile application, both with full usefulness. Indeed, even in countries like the US where the administration isn’t accessible, the Luno wallet is still advertised.Confirmation and Validation:Contingent upon the trade and the principles and guidelines for whatever nation you live in, you may need to confirm your personality before you can exchange on a trade. This can take anyplace between a couple of hours to two or three days. Peruse and comprehends the check procedure before focusing on a trade. Some will request that you transfer ID, similar to a drivers permit, and others will even have their client bolster call you before expelling your exchange limits.Payment Methods :Another critical thought when purchasing digital currency is if the cryptographic money trade will acknowledge your prefered installment strategy. It is famously simple to start a chargeback for Mastercard installments, so trades are hesitant to give you a chance to purchase digital currency with them.In the event that you are utilizing a dark installment strategy, you generally have the alternative of neighborhood exchanges or Localbitcoins.com. You can purchase cryptographic money on the trade stage from different brokers, and this implies you can purchase Bitcoins including direct bank stores to Amazon blessing vouchers.

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nancygduarteus · 6 years

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I Spent $925 on a Fake Canada Goose Coat

My old winter coat was a joke. I bought it on sale at a discount department store five years ago for around $70, and it has never really done what a winter coat is supposed to do. The wind whipped through it. The shell soaked up snow. The thin feather insulation constantly poked out.

Up until a few months ago, I’d never had the extra padding in my writer’s budget to dream of extra padding in my coat, let alone to purchase a new one. But then I had some unusual luck selling words. So when I came down with a cold one particularly chilly December morning, I boiled a cup of tea, blew my nose, wrapped myself in a blanket, and decided enough is enough. I’m 52 years old. If I’m lucky, I have another 30 years or more on this periodically frigid rock. Amortized over the course of what’s left of me, a well-made, long-lasting winter coat made both economic and health sense, I told myself.

I did a little research. Time and again, the Canada Goose Kensington came up as the 2018 editors’ choice for the best winter jacket for women. Yes, that Canada Goose—one of the most expensive coats out there, costing more than twice my first weekly salary in New York. There’s even a tumblr called “Canada Douche.” Normally, I scoff at the absurd excesses of luxury goods. But a Canada Goose jacket was not, I reasoned, a $250 Supreme sweatshirt that hipsters line up behind police-guarded barricades to purchase or a Birkin bag that starts at the price of a Nissan Versa. This was a quality winter coat made by a no-frills company whose first jackets, back in 1957, were meant for Canadian government employees who work outside in extreme temperatures. It remains the outerwear of choice for researchers working in the Antarctic.

I divided the price tag—$925, good lord!—by 30. It came out to a little less than $31 a year. I could always bequeath it to my daughter, who wears the same size, if I croaked before 82. The first outdoor-gear site I tried didn’t have my size. The Canada Goose site was sold out as well. So I did what almost any internet-connected American consumer would do: I went on Amazon and typed in “Canada Goose Kensington.” There I found the motherlode of Kensington jackets in many sizes, all available through a seller listed as “by Canada Goose,” which I assumed was the company itself.

This is where my story goes from wild Goose chase to goosed.

I chose dark green (“volcano,” they called it) in size small, placed it in my cart, and then spent two more days debating whether or not to pull the trigger. Aside from my children’s college educations, monthly rent, various medical procedures, and a few pieces of long-lasting furniture, I don’t generally spend that kind of money. I don’t own a home. I’ve never owned a car. Could I really walk around with that white Canada Goose patch on my arm? Maybe I could just cut it off.

One of my favorite activities is crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan on foot, a windy journey on even the sunniest day. The coat would be an investment in my own warmth and physical well-being, even if I never travel to the South Pole.

Click! Buy.

The author’s counterfeit Canada Goose Kensington jacket (Deborah Copaken)

I had zero buyer’s remorse until the next day, when I got the confirmation email with the tracking information. My new Canada Goose coat was on its way from Singapore, by way of Hong Kong. Wait, what? Wasn’t the whole point that the coats were made in Canada? I checked the small print, and the seller of my coat was no longer listed as Canada Goose, but someone called Greg Adamserft. I clicked on the name, which took me to an Amazon seller’s page. At that point, Adamserft had only three reviews, all with five stars. (Now, weeks later, the page is riddled with one-star complaints.)

When the coat arrived, it was army green instead of the forest green I ordered. It was heavy, not lightweight. It didn’t fit. It smelled of chemicals. And the white Canada Goose patch? It looked off; it’s the patch on the right at the top of this article. On Canada Goose’s website, a page dedicated to the dangers of counterfeiting explains that every one of their products has a hologram label with a polar-bear image, a proof of authenticity. With a $925 pit in my stomach, I checked my coat. It had a hologram sewn into the seam but, sure enough, no polar bear.

[Read: Amazon may have a counterfeit problem]

Canada Goose’s website also had a search tool where you could type in the url of an online retailer, to check if it’s an authorized dealer. I typed in “amazon.com.” Immediately a big red X appeared: “This is not an authorized online retailer.”

I should have expected this. Amazon is rarely an authorized retailer of any specific brand. Instead, the platform allows individuals and companies to sell whatever brands they carry, a practice that makes the site largely the modern-day equivalent of a pneumatic-tube system through which sellers can zip off their products to buyers. By U.S. law, e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay are generally not responsible for what’s inside those whizzing cylinders, so long as they have procedures in place for dealing with complaints of counterfeits.

A glaring downside to this arrangement is that it has has inadvertently provided cover, in plain sight, for bad actors worldwide to create multiple digital storefronts selling counterfeit goods. When these people are caught and shut down, they can often pop up again under a different name. Today’s Greg Adamserft can easily become tomorrow’s Adam Gregserft in an endless game of online whack a mole. Often, the victims are people like me: those who might have been around long enough to use a pneumatic-tube metaphor, but who are generally unfamiliar with how sites like Amazon work in the first place.

A representative at Amazon I contacted for this story seemed surprised I would not know that the site itself is rarely the seller. I was surprised that she would not know I would not know this. Or that I would not understand that when a coat appears to be sold “by Canada Goose” itself, it’s not. And therein lies the rub. While plenty of consumers understand the rules of online engagement and are wary of fishy-looking third-party sellers, there are still many of us who once shared our first email addresses with our spouses—because why would you ever need your own email?—and fall right into the traps the counterfeiters leave for us.

The Canada Goose counterfeit page included a link to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center along with an email address that lead me to Barry Elliott of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Criminal Intelligence Analytical Unit. I sent him photos of my coat, and he sent me a new email the next morning at dawn: Canada Goose had confirmed my jacket was a fraud. I contacted the account for Greg Adamserft (I assume that’s not the account holder’s real name) via Amazon’s messaging system with Elliott’s findings, and Adamserft refunded my money. Adamserft did not respond to a later interview request.

The tag on the author’s counterfeit jacket has an incorrect hyphen in Canada Goose’s web address. (Deborah Copaken)

I wish I could say that was the end of it, but my Kafkaesque attempts to safeguard others from my misstep reflected just how difficult fraud monitoring can be online. Shortly after receiving my coat, I wrote a one-star review titled, “Do not buy a coat from Greg Adamserft!!!! He's selling counterfeits!!!!” This was was rejected for not adhering to Amazon’s guidelines. So I wrote another with fewer exclamation points: “Canadian police confirm this man is selling fakes.” This one was allegedly accepted on January 8, but it still has not appeared on the product page. (An Amazon spokesperson explained that, regarding the first review, Amazon does not accept reviews on product pages that are critical of sellers, only of products. As for the second review, the team says it is still looking into why it has not been posted.)

Meanwhile, between the time I received my counterfeit coat until the day I presented myself to the company as a journalist, Adamserft was still selling coats, even as the other one-star reviews flooded his seller’s page warning of fraud. Now, Adamserft’s privileges have been revoked, according to Amazon. The page associated with the seller’s name is still up, as is the page with the coats, but when you try to buy one, a note appears in place of the “Add to Cart” button: “Currently unavailable. We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.”

In a statement, Amazon said it has many processes in place to combat counterfeit products, including machine learning, automated systems, dedicated teams of software engineers, research scientists, program managers, and investigators. According to the company, more than 99 percent of Amazon pages customers visit have not received notices of potential infringement.

[Read: Knockoff appeal: counterfeits can boost sales of the real thing]

Counterfeiting is far from an Amazon issue alone. Elliott, who helps run Project Chargeback, a collaboration between the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center, credit-card companies, and banks, calls the fakery not only of luxury goods but also of strollers, tools, generators, and so much more a “huge problem worldwide” across e-commerce sites. “We have assisted over 40 thousand victims mainly from Canada and recovered approximately $15 million since January 2013 when we started Project Chargeback,” Elliott says. He reports that his team has also identified about 12,000 merchant accounts linked to four banks in China, one of which just lost their VISA privileges permanently.

That’s all on top of plain old credit-card fraud—scams that charge you multiple times or simply don’t deliver what you ordered. On the plus side, Elliott notes, if you use a credit card to pay for counterfeit goods, you should be guaranteed a refund when a product is verified as fake. “Only a small percentage of the public is aware of this,” he says.

According to Elliott, his office for Project ChargeBack in Ontario and the London City Police are the only criminal investigators in the world working directly with defrauded customers and banks to combat the online sale of counterfeit goods. There are some organizations, such as the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center in the United States, that help various law-enforcement agencies work with companies themselves to protect their intellectual property. But that’s not the same as having a dedicated anti-counterfeit agency dealing directly with consumers and banks to recoup their losses. “Other countries have shown interest, but have not started up, including the U.S.,” Elliott says.

Earlier this month, on an unusually cold and windy day, I walked across the Williamsburg bridge in the new $126.98 coat I purchased to replace my fake Canada Goose, after a friend who owns one told me that it was “warm enough.” After crossing into Manhattan, feeling both snug and smug over having saved $800 that can now go to my youngest’s college fund, I wandered through SoHo, where I came upon a long, police-guarded line to get into a store. Must be another Supreme store, I thought. But upon closer inspection, no. It was Canada Goose. Because of course it was.

The store was packed. The line to get in was at least 40 minutes long. The temperature was hovering in the high 20s with gusty winds. For a moment, I was tempted to wait in that line and try on a real Canada Goose. To ask them if I might take that coat outside, if only for a minute, and feel what it would be like, on a frigid January day, to be completely enveloped in Arctic Circle-tested, super lightweight, wind and snow-resistant goose down.

But no, I said to myself. This is not Antarctica. Or even Canada or Chicago. It’s New York City. And in the new coat I’ve bought—on Amazon, of course—I’m warm enough to keep walking.

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/counterfeit-canada-goose-amazon/581041/?utm_source=feed

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ionecoffman · 6 years

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I Spent $925 on a Fake Canada Goose Coat

This is where my story goes from wild Goose chase to goosed.

Click! Buy.

The author’s counterfeit Canada Goose Kensington jacket (Deborah Copaken)

[Read: Amazon may have a counterfeit problem]

The tag on the author’s counterfeit jacket has an incorrect hyphen in Canada Goose’s web address. (Deborah Copaken)

[Read: Knockoff appeal: counterfeits can boost sales of the real thing]

But no, I said to myself. This is not Antarctica. Or even Canada or Chicago. It’s New York City. And in the new coat I’ve bought—on Amazon, of course—I’m warm enough to keep walking.

Article source here:The Atlantic

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bigscammers-blog · 8 years

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From Shopping online to Fraud Reporting

The instances of online shopping fraud have become so frequent that while filling their virtual shopping carts, shoppers need to be conversant in fraud reporting as well, in order to ensure timely reporting of fraud and a speedy recovery, if affected.

Ways by which online shoppers are conned

Online shoppers are beguiled by various novel techniques, all of which invariably lead to financial fraud. Few types of online shopping scams include:

● Illegitimate shopping sites that are a sham in disguise

● Non-delivery of goods

● Late delivery regardless of extra payments made for express delivery

● Inferior quality goods

● Dubious shipping and return policies

Fraud Reporting in case of online shopping frauds

Fraud reporting depends much on when the shoppers detect the fraud and also on the locale of the shoppers. The issue with e-commerce stores is that, illegal entrants get themselves listed by providing fake credentials and it becomes difficult for cyber cops to nab them. Upon discovery of fraud, the following options are available:

● Having parted with sensitive details like credit card number, it becomes an immediate priority to prevent further financial damage by calling the card issuing company and start fraud reporting. The card has to be blocked immediately.

● There are sites which also resort to taking all identity details like SSN, address, Date of Birth, etc. It is better to attach fraud alerts on financial reports, as a proactive measure.

● Approach the cybercrime protection bureau in your immediate vicinity and lodge a physical or online complaint with as much of details as possible.

● Ensure and make use of chargeback option. Chargeback is the way to protect oneself when his credit card has been used illegitimately or irregularly. The card issuer, upon receipt of complaint, proceeds to sue the fraudulent retailer in a move to restore funds to the innocent consumer. This can used to dispute an unauthorized transaction or to sue for refund if the goods are not in order.

The role of different law enforcing bodies for fraud reporting

The legal machinery against cybercrime may differ from country to country. However, every Government has enacted various cyber laws, the provisions of which lay down in copious detail, the procedure to take action. The following organizations can be approached as well:

● Federal Trade Commission and the FBI

● Consumer Protection Agencies and Courts

● Cyber Crime Prevention organizations like Action Fraud, Better Business Bureau etc., which can provide vital links with the Police and the Government for swifter action

● Legitimate e-commerce organizations like Amazon, eBay and Flipkart provide clarity and direction to fraud reporting by informing shoppers on the various recourses available when fraud has occurred.

Nevertheless, nothing is as worthwhile as being proactive when it comes to online shopping. Insisting on secured payment methods, checking the track record of the online retailer and a thorough scrutiny of the shopping terms and conditions will assuage online shopping frauds.

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