Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records, and had a significant market presence in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) or cardholder preferred currency (CPC) is a process whereby the amount of a credit card transaction is converted at the point of sale, ATM or internet to the currency of the card's country of issue. DCC is generally provided by third party operators in association with the merchant, and not by a card issuer. Card issuers permit DCC operators to offer DCC in accordance with the card issuers' processing rules. However, using DCC, the customer is usually charged an amount in excess of the transaction amount converted at the normal exchange rate, though this may not be obviously disclosed to the customer at the time. The merchant, the merchant's bank or ATM operator usually impose a markup on the transaction, in addition to the exchange rate that would normally apply, sometimes by as much as 18%.
A chargeback is a return of money to a payer of a transaction, especially a credit card transaction. Most commonly the payer is a consumer. The chargeback reverses a money transfer from the consumer's bank account, line of credit, or credit card. The chargeback is ordered by the bank that issued the consumer's payment card. In the distribution industry, a chargeback occurs when the supplier sells a product at a higher price to the distributor than the price they have set with the end user. The distributor submits a chargeback to the supplier so they can recover the money lost in the transaction.
A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in multiple ways, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions. In some cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant agreement. Whether a merchant enters into a merchant agreement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator, the agreement contractually binds the merchant to obey the operating regulations established by the card associations. A high-risk merchant account is a business account or merchant account that allows the business to accept online payments though they are considered to be of high-risk nature by the banks and credit card processors. The industries that possess this account are adult industry, travel, Forex trading business, multilevel marketing business. "High-Risk" is the term that is used by the acquiring banks to signify industries or merchants that are involved with the higher financial risk.
classmates.com is an American social networking service. It was founded on November 17, 1995 by Randy Conrads as Classmates Online, Inc. and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It currently is the leading online social network service in the United States for bringing high school alumni together, with over 90 million members.
Vertrue Incorporated, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American consumer services marketing company. The company again received an "F" from the Better Business Bureau for making unauthorized charges to its customers' credit cards. In 2007 it was acquired by a trio of investment firms, including Rho Ventures. In 2010, Vertrue and two of its subsidiaries were found guilty of defrauding nearly 500,000 of their customers in Iowa.
CXLoyalty is a private company based in Stamford, Connecticut that provides customer engagement and loyalty programs. Affinion designs, markets, and services programs that deal with customer relationships for other businesses. The company says it reaches 250 million consumers in 20 countries. In 2006, Affinion Group was cited by Forbes as number 321 on its list of largest private companies.
Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It provides information services, including people and property search, background checks and reverse phone lookup. Users also have the ability to perform reverse address lookups to find people using Intelius’ services and an address. Intelius, founded by former InfoSpace executives, was started in 2003. It is owned and operated by PeopleConnect, Inc.
Internet fraud prevention is the act of stopping various types of internet fraud. Due to the many different ways of committing fraud over the Internet, such as stolen credit cards, identity theft, phishing, and chargebacks, users of the Internet, including online merchants, financial institutions and consumers who make online purchases, must make sure to avoid or minimize the risk of falling prey to such scams.
Credit card fraud is an inclusive term for fraud committed using a payment card, such as a credit card or debit card. The purpose may be to obtain goods or services or to make payment to another account, which is controlled by a criminal. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is the data security standard created to help financial institutions process card payments securely and reduce card fraud.
A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
ILD Teleservices, is a clearing house for LEC billing and alternative payment options, such as e-checks, ACH and micro payments. ILD performs payment processing services for communications companies, digital content providers, and other online vendors in North America. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Ponte Vedra, Florida. In recent years, the company has been the subject of many consumer complaints as well as legal action brought by at least two states and the Federal Trade Commission. In 2003, ILD settled with the Federal Trade Commission.
QuinStreet, Inc. is a publicly traded marketing company based in Foster City, California.
MyLife is an American information brokerage firm. Founded by Jeffrey Tinsley in 2002 as Reunion.com, it changed names following a 2008 merger with Wink.com. MyLife gathers personal information through public records and other sources to automatically generate a "MyLife Public Page" for each person. These pages can list a variety of personal information, including an individual's age, past and current home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, employers, education, photographs, relatives, political affiliations, a mini-biography.
Webloyalty is an online marketing company, part of Affinion Group, that runs reward programmes 'Shopper Discounts & Rewards' and 'Complete Savings'. These programmes require a monthly subscription in return for access to discounts similar to those on a cashback website. Previously, Webloyalty's marketing practices have attracted significant controversy and substantial lawsuits.
A surcharge, also known as checkout fee, is an extra fee charged by a merchant when receiving a payment by cheque, credit card, charge card or debit card which at least covers the cost to the merchant of accepting that means of payment, such as the merchant service fee imposed by a credit card company. Retailers generally incur higher costs when consumers choose to pay by credit card due to higher merchant service fees compared to traditional payment methods such as cash.
Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver must live in the United States. Venmo also operates as a small social network, as users can observe other users' public transactions with posts and emoticons. In 2021, the company handled $230 billion in transactions and generated $850 million in revenue. Users can view transactions on the Venmo website but cannot complete transactions on the website.
Card transaction data is financial data generally collected through the transfer of funds between a card holder's account and a business's account. It consists of the use of either a debit card or a credit card to generate data on the transfer for the purchase of goods or services. Transaction data describes an action composed of events in which master data participates. Transaction focuses on the price, discount and method of payment interaction between the customer and the organization. They are based on volatility as each transaction data changes every time a purchase is made, one time it could be $10, the next $55. Since debit and credit cards are commonly used to pay for goods and services, they represent a strong percentage of the consumption expenditure in the country.
Chime Financial, Inc. is a San Francisco–based financial technology company that partners with regional banks to provide certain fee-free mobile banking services. The company offers early access to paychecks, negative account balances without overdraft fees, high-yield savings accounts, peer-to-peer payments, and an interest-free secured credit card. Chime earns the majority of its revenue from the collection of interchange fees on debit card transactions.
