Model Forum / General / Rockets / March 2005

I'm glad Visa was helpful. I've had good experience with them from the
standpoint of a vendor who accepts their cards.

When I set up ecommerce on the Pratt Hobbies web site last April I had
the option to automatically process credit cards as the orders came in,
but elected not to. Instead, the order form with the cc information is
sent to a secure server, and I log in several times a day, print out
the orders, and erase the files. At that point your cc information only
exists on a piece of paper, and if a hacker can get that off my desk,
they're pretty good. I process each card manually through a computer
that is used for that purpose only and has only dial-up access to the
Internet. Once the order is completed the paper is shredded. Many
customers ask why I don't have their credit card number on file when
they want to reorder, but I think the inconvenience is a small price to
pay. If a customer of mine got ripped off and it turned out to be my
fault, I'd be humiliated.

For other small businesses, I would like to recommend that you become a
real, gen-yoo-wine credit card merchant rather than going through
Paypal or similar services. I have worked with ECHO Inc. as my
clearinghouse for the last eight years and their service is
outstanding. They send regular security alerts and newsletters (a few
months ago they said to never accept ANY credit card order from
Thailand or the Phillipines, as there is better than 80% chance it's
fraudulent). When something shows up that raises a red flag, they call
me. I can do address verification through them and accept checks. I
don't need a swiper, just a PC with web access; could do it on the
field with a PDA if I wanted. And their rates are excellent. Check them
out at www.echoinc.com, and tell them Pratt Hobbies sent you. It is not
easy to get a new account, they will check you out thoroughly...and
that's a good thing.

Doug Pratt
dad-at-pratthobbies-well-you-know