At least in Canada, a vendor is required to have a signature *per
transaction*. Regardless of other documentation, if the transaction
does not have its own signature, then the transaction does not have a
signature. And if the transaction does not have a signature, the
customer can *very* easily call up VISA and have the charge reversed.
The bank will not consider "blanket" authorizations; if they provide
any protection, it's in the vendor's (OpenSRS) ability to litigate,
thus incurring additional costs to be borne by the other RSPs.
So taking unsigned VISA opens OpenSRS up to one kind of fraud, whether
for regular payments or an "instant topup". And accepting PayPal makes
OpenSRS subject to PayPal's refund policies, which (though I haven't
reviewed them) I suspect are not as firm as the bank's policy of a
signature per transaction as the proof of payment authorization.
So, as I said in my previous email, does anyone see this as a business
opportunity? A risk-managing "proxy payment" company for OpenSRS RSPs,
providing an interface between faster less-secure payment methods and
the safe methods provided directly by OpenSRS? Would RSPs be interested
in paying a premium for such a service? Frankly, I don't think so, but
heck, it's a biz-op.
On Sun, Mar 25, 2001 at 06:18:31PM -0700, Dave Warren wrote:
>
> > The second reason is the bank. OpenSRS currently requires *signatures*
> > for credit card transactions. This presumably gives their bank
> > confidence that despite the fact that OpenSRS' customers are from all
> > around the globe and do Internet things (which is about as technical as
> > most banks get in their understanding of this business), there is at
> > least some physical document that OpenSRS can pull out in case of a VISA
> > chargeback and say "But look, he signed this!"
>
> How about a one time form you'd fax in, with a credit card, expiry,
> signature, yadda yadda, that would allow future transactions on that one
> credit card to be processed via the web automatically.
>
> That should help with the protection side, but allow an instant midnight
> topup when you realize your RSP account is out of credits.
>
>
>
> And no, this isn't the right list. Not sure if attempting to move a thread
> is useful/possible though.
>
>
> ========================================================
> Dave Warren,
> Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Pager: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ========================================================
>
--
Paul Chvostek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Operations / Development / Abuse / Whatever vox: +1 416 598 0000
IT Canada http://www.it.ca/
