Whenever a customer reads their card and/or bank statements, they most likely see dates and amounts of transactions, perhaps the account balance after each of them, and – depending on the bank – maybe some additional information as well. But among this data, they surely see transaction descriptors. As the name suggests, a transaction descriptor is meant to describe a particular payment in order to help to identify the transaction.
Nowadays, with constantly increasing number of online transactions and better consumer awareness (which is great!), it is important things are under control.
The cardholders are entitled to invoke a chargeback procedure. This may be carried out in the event their merchant does not perform a contract for the items they have paid for or when their card has been used for a non-authorized payment. While this option is extremely convenient and safe for the cardholders, it is less fun for the merchants to deal with such a request.
Agreed, it is the issuer bank’s duty to take this up, on the other hand, it will be the merchant who will be charged for each procedure. Unless they have strong arguments that the chargeback shouldn’t have been initiated in the first place.
You can try to minimize the risk of chargebacks and it’s surely recommended and worth doing. But it is nearly impossible to completely avoid them. Chargebacks just happen. Even if you never make any mistakes, your deliveries are on time and your policy is absolutely transparent – chargebacks are a matter of time. The good news is that you can defend against them, especially if you have done nothing wrong and the chargeback request was uncalled for.
People often think that providing as many payment methods as possible is good, because customers can choose their favorite one. This should mean that the income will be greater; fewer people get discouraged by the lack of the payment method they prefer. Sounds logical, but it’s actually a minimal plan and there’s no guarantee it will work in every case.
If we try to go beyond the “convince to buy” approach, what is there that we might want to achieve? The first thing that comes in mind is “convince to buy again“. Make your customers become your regular customers. And how is it exactly related to payment methods?
If you want to start selling online, there’s a good chance you’re thinking about opening your very own online store. But how to do it? Should you use a ready-to-go ecommerce platform or create your own system? Or maybe there’s another way and a webstore won’t be the best solution for you. This is easy to say, but if it’s your first time – it won’t be that easy to answer.
Since ecommerce is the most common case, let’s first think how to start an e-shop. Some consider ecommerce systems as just for amateurs, but that is certainly not true. Of course amateurs use them and the biggest brands don’t, but the businesses in between make the biggest part. What should they do?
Have you ever been frustrated with the inaccuracy of touch screens and your own fingers? Drawing isn’t that easy on a smartphone and sometimes even texting causes some troubles. Especially if you have big fingers and devices, let’s say, under 4 inches. Of course there are styluses, but let’s be honest – if a mobile device doesn’t have a dedicated stylus holder, there’s very little chance anyone will carry it around.
However, what we do carry almost all the time, besides the phone itself, are our wallets. And a wallet always has place for credit and business cards. Now the question is how to join these facts. It turns out that it’s quite comfortable to operate precisely with the corner of such a card.
The latest hot topic in Poland is travel agents’ problems, which in fact means also problems of people using their services. First Sky Club went bankrupt, then Alba Tour. And right after that, Africano Travel. The news of these companies surprised thousands clients who were halfway through their vacation, thousands of miles away.
The priority in such a situation is for the tourists to return home safely. One can hope that the trip’s insurance will cover the costs, but, as recent events have shown, the Foreign Office is of great help with organizing and paying for return journeys.
After finally returning home, another thought comes to mind – lost time and money. And although no one will make up for the wasted vacation, is there a way to get back the money spent on the trip?
Whenever we’re explaining one-click payments to our partners or clients, it’s always good to add the “just like Amazon or Apple” phrase. In most cases it says more than any detailed description would and there’s always the “big brand effect”. Of course one of the greatest advantages of one-click payments is that this solution is fast and convenient. That’s why when making a purchase, I was a bit surprised that Apple asked me to provide additional specific documents in order to prove my identity. But, as I wrote recently, confirming my identity is completely understandable in some cases. What struck me was the way it was handled.
Before I tell the story, I have to clearly state that this was a local Apple department (not the US Apple), but after some googling it looked like the same department contacts also, for example, UK customers. We also do not intend to mock or criticize Apple – we just want to present an interesting case study and an example that even really big brands either make mistakes or sometimes do not fully control their representatives.
Have you ever been asked for an ID scan or any other identity proof when making a payment with a credit card online? If not, then this question may seem quite strange to you. After all, paying with credit cards is meant to be quick and easy.
It turns out that many people who experience such additional verification are pretty surprised and suspicious. It’s not what they’re used to, they already provided the CVV number, so why are they supposed to send somebody (even if its a bank) their account statements, passports, driving licences or anything like that.
Whenever we read any news about mobile payments, it seems like it’s always about the same things: smart phones, NFC, Square, Google Wallet and so on. If you have a similar impression, then here’s something refreshing: Moneta – a payment scheme that doesn’t require NFC, attaching anything to your cell phone or installing any apps. Actually, you don’t even need a smart phone – any cell phone will do just fine!
So how does it work? What’s the technology behind Moneta? It’s actually as simple as a phone call. And I mean it literally – data is transmitted over a voice connection!