Archive for Riley Poole

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Google Adwords Chargeback Fraud?

It seems that fraud at Adwords has reached such epidemic proportions that Google (NASDAQ GOOG) has resorted to random calls to verify order activity. While Google would typically take the stance that a small amount of fraud is warranted when you consider the number of Google Adwords advertisers, it appears that this is no longer [...]

11Feb2008 | Riley Poole | 16 comments | Continued
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Google Checkout A Ghost Town

In line with our prediction that nearly 90% of the transaction activity decreased from Google (NASDAQ GOOG) Checkout from a holiday high a year ago, The Google Checkout Merchant Forum is proof positive that the program is all but dead.
As Google struggles on many fronts, including its ailing stock price, there are many causalities including [...]

10Feb2008 | Riley Poole | 14 comments | Continued
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“I’ll pay you in 21 days for a Hamburger today” says Paypal

eBay (NASDAQ EBAY) has really not been scoring points on the merchant front for the past few weeks. Ever since Meg decided to abandon the sinking ship, seems the entire business has been hurting, right down to the golden goose. The problem now, of course, is that many recent changes to their cash cow have [...]

9Feb2008 | Riley Poole | 19 comments | Continued
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The Jig is Up, Guys!

Seems that a long kept secret is out. Seems like Wachovia (NYSE WB), Wells Fargo (NYSE WFC) and many other banks have gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. While banks have often been once removed from “illegal merchants” it seems regulators have wised up to the practice of looking the other way [...]

8Feb2008 | Riley Poole | 9 comments | Continued
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Google Plans to Discontinue Google Checkout?

It wouldn’t be the first time Google (NASDAQ GOOG) caved in to competition, anyone remember Google Answers? As Paypal sees impressive growth numbers, rumor has it that nearly 90% of merchants have dropped the use of Google Checkout after the discontinuation of their “free” processing period.
With Google’s stock in tanking now, rumor has it that [...]

4Feb2008 | Riley Poole | 19 comments | Continued
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The Perfect Scam

What happens when you mix credit card fraud and click fraud? You get the perfect scam. It seems fraudsters have been hard at work at milking Google (NASDAQ GOOG) and other PPC networks such as Microsoft AdCenter (NASDAQ MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ YHOO) out of valuable click traffic but what’s most shocking is that these [...]

30Jan2008 | Riley Poole | 10 comments | Continued
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Is Verified by Visa Toast?

Visa spent over $100MM in marketing and developing the service. In 2007, they fired the person in charge of the Verified by Visa Program and in 2008, they are going to push back on the program even further. While at one point over 100 service providers supported it, today fewer than 5 of them actively [...]

30Jan2008 | Riley Poole | 6 comments | Continued
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Why Merchants Choose Amazon over eBay

Ironically, the reason merchants choose Amazon (NASDAQ AMZN) over eBay (NASDAQ EBAY) is the same reason merchants choose Paypal over a regular merchant account. Some people will tell you it’s the complex listing process which funny enough has become so bad it’s created many secondary companies over the years. Others will tell you it’s the [...]

30Jan2008 | Riley Poole | 8 comments | Continued
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Why AVS Is Bad for Merchants

AVS, otherwise known as Address Verification Service, just doesn’t work. Banks know it, merchant service providers know it, and merchants should know it. Too often, AVS misleads merchants into thinking an order may be valid when it’s not. I’ve heard merchant after merchant say the same thing “but AVS said it was valid!” only to [...]

28Jan2008 | Riley Poole | 4 comments | Continued
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Is PCI A Fool’s Game?

The challenge with PCI certification is simply that it is reactive instead of proactive. Virtually every rule set created is based on some previous bad act to create the ultimate in a false sense of security. The challenge becomes when you mandate that millions of merchants worldwide spend billions of dollars to become “compliant” you [...]

26Jan2008 | Riley Poole | 4 comments | Continued
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