Hi Sidd,
> Danny, you the merchant do have the choice... if you wish to accept > reversible payments you can accept paypal or credit cards. If you > want non-reversible payments accept a gold currency. Of course you > can always accept both. Of course merchants have this choice, and most choose reversible payments because that's what the customer prefers. Accepting both is not practical, because who is going to use the non-reversible payment if you can have the free 'insurance' of the reversible payment?? > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :Reversible payment is THE way to go for many other types of > business, > :because it brings in many more customers. > > No this is not quite right Danny; you are saying that it is better > to destroy the integrity of a currency, than to correct the trading > practices and trust in a merchant. Offering reversible payment does not destroy the integrity of a currency. If a merchant chooses to accept reversible payment, it is his decision. If Paul does not pay back the money he borrowed from Peter, it is not the US dollar that is to be blamed. And there is no such thing as "one correct trading practice". If the merchant prefers to accept reversible payment, then that is correct trading practice for him. > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :Who is going to send a non-reversible payment to a website, not > knowing if > :the product is going to be delivered??? > > The customer needs to trust the merchant. If he does not, it is the > merchant's problem, not the currency's, but there are solutions, > read on. The merchant(seller) can choose to trust the customer, or he can choose to force the customer to trust him. The first option has proved to be far more succesful in (online) business, and the merchant has found out that he can just add the cost. We have to face it, the average guy in the street does not have the guts to trust an online business and take the risk of doing a non-reversible payment online not knowing if the goods will show up. He will rather pay a little more and be sure he can claim his money back if something goes wrong. That's why people rather use Paypal and have 4 or 5% transaction cost, instead of GBC with 0.5% transaction cost. They are willing pay a little insurance. > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :A customer is far more easily seduced to hit the "Buy" button if he > knows he > :can claim his money back if the product is not showing up. > :With reversible payment system even an unknown seller in > Tsiroanomandidy, > :can do business online. > > Yes, and a merchant is far more likely to be ripped off time and > again because theives receive products and then reverse the > payments. Every day there is a news article about how e-commerce is > foundering because of the high level of fraud! Sure and with non-reversible payment you just have the opposite problem. If there was only non-reversible payment, you would have everyday news articles about the high level of fraud, sellers not delivering after receiving the non-reversible payment. With both systems you will always have a potential abuse and fraud, it is the same. Knowing that 90% of the people are full of fear, and with all these stories about internet scams etc.., it is just not realistic to think that non-reversible online payments is ever going to be widely accepted. Yes, the customer needs to trust the merchant. But people don't trust on the net. The only way for the merchant to establish trust is by accepting reversible payment. Then the customer feels ok, because he can have his money back if there is trouble. The merchant trust the customer and then the customer will trust the merchant. The other way round has never really worked well. > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :By only allowing non reversible transactions the GBC have > effectively thrown > :out the child with the bathwater. > > Nope, they have set a path towards honest and reliable e-commerce. > The next step is to encourage the merchants to offer their > customer's the use of escrow services. There are many honest and > effective online escrow agents now. The escrow facility protects the > merchant and the buyer. It's not a realistic path. A street seller turns up on your doorstep. He is going to sell you a nice carpet, but you have to pay him cash now and he will come to deliver the carpet next week.... He gives you his address in the Bahamas. Are you going to buy from this person? This is the live equivalent of online business... Requiring non-reversible payment with this type of business is not going to work. And escrow service is a viable option for very big amounts, but it is utterly impractical for small online purchases. Ever heard about ease of use? If a customer has to go to an online escrow service to buy a second hand book online, you can safely forget about it. > Danny Van den Berghe: > :A reversible payment should become non-reversible after a certain > period of > :time (to be set by the merchant), for example 30 days or 6 months. > :There could also be choice to offer partial reversibility , for > example 50% > :or withholding a fixed amount for shipping costs for example. ..... > > What you are describing here is not a currency, but looks rather > more like a kind of agreement you would see between buyer and > seller... actually, you are almost exactly describing the type of > agreement you would find when using the services of an escrow agent. It is both, a payment system with inbuilt escrow if you want. That's what Paypal and CC are offering, and what the customers want. Just face it. Nobody will use the impractical solution of a third party escrow service for small everyday purchases. You can easily beat Paypal and cc at their own game by offering both non-reversible and reversible payments using a gold backed system. You will not gain a big market by going against the reversible payment system, something which the average consument has already embraced as an improvement in his life. What do you want to do? Create a payment solution that can become widely accepted? Create a payment solution that is useful only for a few types of business? Want to be idealistic, or pragmatic? > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :It is great to see the option to get an email when a payment is > done. > :I would like to add to that an email when there is certain number > of > :unsuccesful login attempts. > > Please explain why exactly? Thanks. I don't log into my account every day, so I would want to know if there is hacking attempt on my account, so I can change the login ID. > > Danny Van den Berghe: > :And an email if my account is inactive for more than a year. > > Pecunix actually has this, but it is after 5 years, not 1 year. See > 14.2 of the user agreement > http://pecunix.com/money.refined...ind.useragreement > Great. > > :...lower the apparent step in cost to 0% > > This is a good point... the Pecunix system makes strong moves in > this direction, but sadly it is not possible to offer costly > services free of charge and stay in business :-( > I wouldn't trust you if you don't make any profit. Offering an apparent step in cost of 0% does not mean you are offering the service free of charge. Here is the catch. The starter account gets $100 in his account for every $100 he deposits. But his transaction cost is 3% (which is still lower than Paypal), so as soon as he uses the currency or he cashes out his balance you get your same 3% profit which you make up front now. People are used to pay transaction fees, but they are not used to pay a fee to make a deposit (that's a put off). Once the customer is more acquainted with the system he will likely upgrade to a premium account (for a fee) and pay only 0.5% transcation costs This is the second big mistake GBC have made. They try to make their profit as soon as the client enters the door. It is much better to make money while he is already in the shop or when he leaves the place. Greetings Danny --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
