Hi,
Just opened an account with Pecunix, and I am very happy to see implemented there some of the ideas I have expressed here 9 months ago, and for which I was called stupid.... Actually I am still waiting for the $100 from jpm for the turingdecoder I made in 24 hours as part of the bet here. (And I taught you cannot do chargebacks with e-gold :-( Actually I am disappointed these same useless turing numbers are still up there at the e-gold site.? Now Pecunix has done a great job. Still I see some possible improvements. 1) All GBC I have seen so far make the same mistake: they insist to offer only non-repudiable payments (no charge-backs possible) Now, I am an online merchant myself and of course I don't like it to see chargebacks, but that's the major innovation that creditcards have brought, and that's what Paypal is banking on to be succesfull (by offering this innovation to the guy in the street who is doing a garage sale on ebay) A succesful gold backed currency should offer both possibilities: reversible and non-reversible transactions, and the choice should be left to the merchant (seller) whether he wants to accept reversible payment or not. (why the payment provider should make that decision?) Non-reversible payment is good for some types of business, like online betting, adult sites, ... Reversible payment is THE way to go for many other types of business, because it brings in many more customers. Who is going to send a non-reversible payment to a website, not knowing if the product is going to be delivered??? A customer is far more easily seduced to hit the "Buy" button if he knows he can claim his money back if the product is not showing up. With reversible payment system even an unknown seller in Tsiroanomandidy, can do business online. With reversible payment the unknown merchant is benefitting from the trust between the client and the payment system provider. In many cases this benefit far outweighs the 4% he looses on commissions.... So you want people in countries from Africa, South America, Asia or Eastern Europe to embrace gold-currencies but they cannot sell anything with non reversible payment because then the trust is lacking. By only allowing non reversible transactions the GBC have effectively thrown out the child with the bathwater. That's the big mistake that e-gold made and all other gold currencies have copied this mistake... A flexible online currency will also offer reversible payment options, which can be set by the merchant. A reversible payment should become non-reversible after a certain period of time (to be set by the merchant), for example 30 days or 6 months. There could also be choice to offer partial reversibility , for example 50% or withholding a fixed amount for shipping costs for example. All these conditions should be clearly shown in the payment screen before the client activates the payment. In the clients screen there should be a button to order a chargeback (until the period expires), and one to release the money prematurely (for which the merchant could even offer a special incentive...) A system like this offers a lot of new marketing possibilities. 2) It is great to see the option to get an email when a payment is done. I would like to add to that an email when there is certain number of unsuccesful login attempts. And an email if my account is inactive for more than a year. I don't like my wife to know about my gold account, but I may suddenly die tomorrow, and then I want her to get the money. That's where this email will come in and then (optionally and for a fee) being contacted by phone, fax or snail mail if there is no response to this email or if it bounces. 3) If you want to grow big, lower the apparent step in cost to 0% People don't like it at all to sign up and deposit $100 only to see $96 or $97 appear in the account. How to do this? Don't make money up front. Offer a starter account with 3 or 4% transaction costs and perhaps a 0.1% monthly storage fee. With such account you can put $100 in the account for each $100 that is deposited. That feels much better for the new customers. Then offer possibility to upgrade to a premium account with only 0.5% or 1% transaction cost and no storage fee. 4) Make sure the new customer can buy the GBC in house. With all respect to market makers, but having to buy the gold currency through a second party only means just another hurdle (trust) for the new customers. And trust is the main issue in online business, and having to deal with more different entities is just perceived (justifiably) as increased risk... Danny --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
