Andy Roberts wrote:
 AR> 12-Mar-98 12:55:08, Kim Forwood wrote to Steve Stacher
 SS> On 11-Mar-98, Kim Forwood was avidly discussing Re:
 SS> Registration with Steve Stacher
 KF> In the last year that I've been signed up with them I've had a
 KF> total of four sales... three of which were made immediately
 KF> after my software was first released, and the last just a
 KF> month ago. Unfortunately, I have only seen one of those
 KF> registrations to date. I'm supposed to be paid my registration
 KF> fees once every three months, but by the time I get them (or a
 KF> report on sales), there has been what they call a
 KF> chargeback... where the purchaser has supposedly purchased my
 KF> software with a bad credit card and so my fees aren't
 KF> forthcoming yet my software was still delivered. Now this may
 KF> sound plausible, but how do I know that I'm not being duped by
 KF> Albert's Ambry and they're keeping my registrations?
 AR> Have Albert's Ambry send you a copies of the official chargeback
 AR> statements they received from their credit card processor.
No, but now that I know I can I've asked for a copy of them. They
said that it will take a full day to locate and photocopy them, but
to ensure that I'm satisfied they'll take that time out. I said to
do it, since I have no other way to assure myself of their integerity
on this matter.
 KF> So you see, it's just as hard on the authors in this business.
 KF> We are for the most part people without a lot of money or
 KF> means to do business with people in other parts of the world,
 KF> other than to put our trust in someone else's honesty in order
 KF> to make this work for everybody. But when experiences like my
 KF> own show that using a third party to handle money transactions
 KF> may be a bad idea, there is little more we can do as
 KF> individual authors.
 AR> IMO you have not shown trust in Albert's Ambry.  Authors can help or
 AR> hurt their Reg-Sites in many ways.  You could have asked them that
 AR> question I answered above, instead of risk ruining their reputation
 AR> by mentioning their name in this public echo in what seems to be
 AR> part of your learning curve about normal business practices.  What
 AR> business do you think will make any effort to sell your product when
 AR> so few have sold previously and you act against them?  How much is
 AR> their or your reputation worth?  From what you've said they are not
 AR> exactly getting rich off of you.  If they hear of this they will
 AR> probably dump you.
I told them when I signed on with them that I would be letting people
know about my experiences with them, good or bad. They were glad to know
that, and I'm fullfilling that promise. I have not said anything here
or elsewhere that isn't true or shouldn't be a concern to authors such as
myself. If companies like them have real integrity then they won't mind
and will actually work to satisfy me (and others) that they are on the up
and up. If they don't want to cooperate in that capacity then I don't want
them handling my merchandise any more. If they can't understand the risk I
take in giving a relatively unknown company the ability to sell the
registered versions of my software without my knowledge then they don't
understand their own business or their position in it.
 KF> P.S. If anybody else out there has ever dealt with Albert's
 KF> Ambry, please contact me.
 AR> I have not had any experience with Albert's Ambry nor even heard of
 AR> them.
 AR> But after 3 years of being a US Reg-Site for a couple of different
 AR> ShareWare and offering to accept 4 different credit cards, I know
 AR> from experience that there is IMO an extremely high percentage of
 AR> chargebacks.  Not usually 75% as in your case, but easily 10-25% on
 AR> the average with a much higher percentage around Christmas time. It
Well, in speaking with the people at Albert's Ambry, they themselves
stated that 75% was extremely high. I know you might want to suggest that
my software must be of poor quality, but if that were the case it would
still only affect the number of sales and not chargebacks, since anyone
who purchases it should have already seen it's performance in the
unregistered version and would have been satisfied enough to purchase it.
 AR> Thus it is totally useless to attempt to refute a chargeback.  I
I am not refuting anything. I am questioning the safety that authors
have against such companies who might say that the credit card sale
was made and then cancelled before payment was collected. How do I know
that this doesn't go on regularly as an excuse to keep some of the
registration fees? Why should my concern for my software sales affect
their view of me as a client? Any company with any integrity would want
to satisfy me and help to make this concern disappear as much as possible.
You seem to be saying that I shouldn't question it, or I may end up
losing the little bit of business I get through Albert's Ambry, at the
cost of the sales I'm curretly losing. I tend to think otherwise, and that
by voicing my opinions and concerns, both here and to them, I let them
know what I don't like about their business, and I let others know what
they should be aware of when dealing with such businesses. Do you think I
should just shut up and let this sort of thing be the order of the day, or
should I make it apparent that there is a concern here that needs to be
dealt with so that others can get their registration fees for the software
that has been delivered? I can't help but feel that you're telling me to
put up and shut up.
 AR> once spent the better part of a day organizing documents and logs
 AR> and sending dozens of Fax to Novis in a futile attempt to refute a
 AR> chargeback when it was obvious that it was not stolen and the real
 AR> credit card holder was wise to the fact that he could rip off any
 AR> merchant by simply denying he made the purchase.  I lost my money,
 AR> I lost my time and I lost paying LD phone bill to send Faxes and
 AR> verify real names, addresses and phone numbers.  Most merchants
 AR> will not go to that much effort.  In fact most merchants won't even
 AR> bother to verify the purchaser beyond the minimum required
 AR> approval.
Thanks for telling a million people how to rip me off. :(
 [ much snipped ]
From all you've said, it would appear that credit card handling companies
really aren't a safe way to go for software authors, and I may just give
up on them altogether until digital sales can be done safely and
inexpensively, if that'll ever be possible (which I don't see in my
lifetime).
 AR> Although you might suspect the Reg-Site of fraud, they can provide
 AR> proof as I mentioned above.  And in any event I suggest you not
 AR> accuse them of any wrong doing unless you are very sure.  From my
 AR> discussions with Reg-Sites in other countries, I am led to accept
 AR> that the US has what must be close to the highest rate of frauds and
 AR> stolen credit cards.
I have not accused anyone of anything. I have merely expressed a concern
regarding dealing with such companies. Albert's Ambry knows of my concern
and now it's up to them to show their integrity before I do further
business with them. Simple as that. I can always stop writing software
for anyone but myself since as it stands I wouldn't be losing as much as
I am now.
Kim Forwood
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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