Begin forwarded message:
From: Stephanie <sjwinters3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 24, 2004 3:42:45 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] "Your papers please" down at the local mall
Dave, in response to the Fortune Magazine article about not being able
to do
returns at the mall, one thing that bothers me about this Verify-1
system of
The Return Exchange is that people who buy a lot of retail goods like
myself
(I am an eBay Power Seller who buys lots of inventory both wholesale
and
retail) actually do many returns/exchanges for all sorts of valid
reasons.
For example, when you buy a lot, you get more defective products than
the
average person. So there should be a way to allow returns in proportion
to
the amount you buy. But since Verify-1 appears to uses a driver's
license
number to record how often you return, and that same driver's license
number
is not recorded when you do your purchases, they would have no way of
knowing your returns were not excessive in proportion to your actual
purchases. They would only be only able to tell that they were
excessive
when compared to the average consumer, presumably. And believe it or
not,
there are actually lots of retailers like me, as well as other "power
shoppers" who buy an enormous amount of products with coupons or
significant
rebates for various reasons. And of course, there are people who just
buy a
lot. It goes to reason that if you buy a lot, you will also return more
than
the average person. I do not know how one could ever consider excessive
returns as necessarily fraudulent ones, especially if the item is still
new
and unused. There just is no way to know for sure.
As a retailer, I applaud organizations trying to take a stance against
fraudulent returns, but perhaps a better way would be not to issue a
categorical "return denied" notice, but to allow the customer to offer
an
explanation to the store and let each store decide for itself. Of
course,
you could also require a driver's license for all purchases and then
weight
this against the returns, but then privacy advocates, myself included,
would
have a field day. The bottom line is that there really is no way to
automate
this process without knowing the full purchasing history of a person.
Stephanie
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Farber" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ip" <ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 2:09 PM
Subject: [IP] "Your papers please" down at the local mall
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 22, 2004 2:00:22 PM EDT
To: farber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: "Your papers please" down at the local mall
Hi,
Fortune Magazine has just run a story showing how drivers licenses and
the
Internet are being used to track "bad" customers who return too much
merchandise at clothing stores. Here is a link to the Fortune
article:
Sorry, Your Return Is No Good Here
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,710662,00.html
Here's how the system works:
http://www.returnexchange.com/about/index.asp
Our signature product, Verify-1, utilizes an ASP model
to provide return authorization services that are
initiated by either a VeriFone or similar type platform
on a retailer's POS system. A driver's license or state I.D.
card is swiped through these devices to initiate a product
return, and similar to credit card or check verification,
the data is transmitted to The Return Exchange's host
server for an approval for return authorization. We detect
fraud through utilization of deterministic rules, statistical
models and a shared return information database.
Missing from the Web site is any brag list of customers and names and
bios
of management personnel of the company. Looks like the company values
its
privacy.
Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
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