Monday, February 1, 2010

The Paypers - despre plati online

The Paypers Reprezinta o sursa independenta de stiri si analize de catre si pentru profesionisti din comunitatea de epayment internationala.

Produsele si serviciile acestora sunt create pentru a acoperi dezvoltarile semnificative din domeniul platilor folosind cardul cu orientare speciala catre

* plati online
* online banking
* plati de pe telefonul mobil
* facturari electronice precum
si Zona Unica Euro.

Suna bine si pare o initiative interesanta. Pot fi gasiti si pe twitter.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Pot plati online? Da - ba nu, stati sa vedeti ca...?!

Haideti sa schimbam putin topicul blogului.

Pana acum a fost gandit drept ceva pur informativ insa desi
sunt urmarite subiectele interactivitatea este putina.

De aceea, imi propun sa ma adresez in special cititorilor din Romania
abordand teme locale.

Care sunt bancile pe care le recomand, calitatea in baza careia le recomand, ce probleme intalnesc si cum pot fi rezolvate.

Cea mai recenta este de ieri. Un domn m-a rugat sa il ajut sa efectueze o plata de
250 EUR pe un site strain. Omul nostru a fost la banca proprie si anume Carpatica
si a fost sfatuit sa faca un exchange.

Practic banca l-a determinat sa schimbe cei 250 EUR in RON. Echivalentul in RON
a fost depus in contul aferent unui Mastercard debit.
Buun! Omul nostru a intrebat reprezentantul bancii pot folosi acest card pt a plati
un bun pe care intentionez sa il achizitionez de pe siteul acesta [...]?" Sigur, normal ca
puteti!

Ca sa ajunga la ora 1 noaptea in urma unui proces complex de signup sa ii fie refuzata tranzactia de catre siteul respectiv.

Mentionez ca e vorba despre un site destul de cunoscut iar problema era legata de cardul folosit. Anume cardul nu este activat pentru tranzactii online. De aici drama. Du-te schimba banii, depune-i in cont, nu poti folosi cardul respectiv pt ce iti trebuie, scoate banii, depune-i in alt cont si in final faci plata de acolo.
Este vorba de timp pierdut, de nervi consumati si de energie irosita. Si de ce?

Pentru ca unii agenti nu au know how, unele banci nu investesc in training si efectiv mentin oameni cu putina competenta cand vine vorba de operatiuni mai complexe.
Ati patit ceva similar? Aveti o poveste de spus? Haideti sa haidem, poate schimbam ceva in modul in care suntem vazuti in calitate de client!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tools forex trading

One of the News tools I was using back when trading. It represents the economic calendar with to the point insight on what moves on the Forex Market.

If you are interested in the GDP moves for one specific country it can be found on http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/ that or any moves in the interest rates both past and estimated.

Another tool that I was combining was the msnbc.com news feed. This is mainly useful when there are factors such as tornado`s approaching the Gulf of Mexico. That usually affects speculation on the USD due to its threat on the oil prices.

That is about enough to track news. Have a happy Non Farm Payrolls Friday when it comes around, this month is past already.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

what epayment usernames to follow on Twitter?

I could put up a list of twitter accounts worth to follow when it comes to e-payment.
It`s the ones related to PayPal developer central and Ukash by Ukash.com.

There should be a post following soon on this. At the same time I`m thinking of hooking up a blog for more fun stuff. This was initially meant to be a professionals alone site, I get a lot of visits worldwide but the information herein is consultative.

Here are the twitter users to follow for ePayment news:
* PayWithUkash
* ukashbusiness
* PayPalx

Ukash has a very aggressive marketing policy for expanding their payment method worldwide. They became active in 26 countries according to the 11-06-2009 Newsletter to Merchants:
"Whether it’s in-store at one of 300,000+ global locations, from online wallets/bank accounts or via ATMs/kiosks, Ukash is now available in 26 countries:

UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Cyprus, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Uruguay.
"

Did anyone get a $1 charge from PayPal

I just saw a $1 charge on my statement coming from PayPal. Now I don`t know if there`s something I did wrong or it happened to others as well.

Can someone please answer this for me? Thanks in advance.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Where do I get the PayPal Expuse Code from? There must be a reason why this post rates number 1 in Google searches - it`s because it`s the right one

Where do I get the PayPal Expuse Code from?

Well that is simple as switching the kitchen lights on or off.
All you need to do is identify what bank has issued the respective Credit or Debit card
that you had just used. The $1 or EUR 1 charge is reflected withing a couple of days
on your online statement.

Simple enough so far. However there are still Cardholders or owners of
credit cards that don`t have online banking. For that event what you
would need to do is go to the bank and ask the bank teller to look for that charge.

The charge should be like mentioned above of a small amount and it would
necessarily have EXPUSE next to it and a 4 digit number such as 1022.
Please don`t use 1022 as an Expuse code to PayPal as this number is just an example.

Then with the 4 digit code log in to your PayPal Account and put it in there. That should
add the respective Card to your PayPal Account as an authorized Card.

Hope this helps better.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Is the time back to do Forex trading?

For quite a while now, looking back I would say 1 year the Forex currency market has been in turbulence. It`s not the case for everyone to have made fortunes in this specific timeframe.

One thing I can say for sure is not even dealers/traders at confirmed trading platform providers, 2 of the biggest names have been making trades. Meaning from an average of 3-4 trades per day suggested in August 2008 down to 2-2 per week in December of 2008 and complete no suggestions for couple of weeks during January.

That is because the market did not allow for it. So unless you were a hedge fund or something similar in size you had to stay out. Any move could have swiped your Account.

But what happens now? I say that since interest for the USD has remained unchanged the crisis is just bottoming up. I don`t plan on being just another analyst therefore I`ll say no more.

One book that I would highly recommend though is Millionaire Traders by Boris Schlossberg and Kathy Lien.

That book provides the guidelines for when to go for it and when to stay out of it. It contains interviews with significant traders that turned few digits Accounts into 6 zero`s Accounts. In order to do so you need practice, disciplin and not look at the money as what it is but as means of a game.

Good luck and make sure you do the homework well before launching into trades. Most Accounts do not make it to 3 months and that is an average that should say how serious you need to be when starting it in the first place.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Should I change name to stay safe?

It`s a really big world out there in epayment. Sometimes messy pretty messy..So how do we stay safe while still doing what we like such as shopping online, paying bills, transferring money, renting videos or paying for music?

It`s not such big of a deal mainly common sense should do in almost 95% of the cases. Common sense, as a definition in epay should include not sharing computers with other users/ people, watch out for your cards don`t leave them on the front desk at gas stations, make sure when it`s used that the front office person only swipes it through the authorized POS. Stay alert but don`t freak out or become paranoid.

Other than that you can use and increasingly common payment method that transforms cash into credit card almost instantly. It`s the technology that can be found on Smartvoucher.

That or their UK based parent company Ukash.
Paying by vouchers is another way to stay safe only downside is the respective vouchers are valid at one online shop at a time meaning the one they have been issued for.

The benefit would be the large amount of stores that accept voucher payments.
I can`t believe how many people are interested in finding the answer to a simple question like what is the PayPal Expuse code.
There is an answer I gave back 2 years ago I guess and can be found here.
Nothing major has changed since back then except maybe the fact that the Expuse Code Practice is now available in more countries worldwide. And that is actually a positive thing as more choice is coming towards the user.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Will there be an end to this crisis?

The so called crisis has initially hit the US coming from the housing market. Now it has been a while since it hit EU as well affecting the newly integrated countries.

These countries such as Polang, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria are emerging markets therefore their currencies weaker in front of a magnitude shake such as this.

As the saying goes what comes up must come down, so is this crisis. Estimates from investment banks such as UBS say June will be turnpoint for the US economy and with a desync-ed timeframe EU will follow the outgoing from the current economic downturn.

This post is actually about what I feel to be closer to reality that being an even sooner recovery. I base this affirmation on the fact that the development was at a higher pace than any similar past event. We would have then to judge and evaluate this based on its own current model not based on past models that rendered its prediction inefficient already.

So I think that just as fast as it grew it`s going to go back the same way. And we will see the spending back:)

So dear crisis, please go away.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

My recent visitors by location (country or city)

It`s amazing to see the content on PayPal, expuse code, credit cards, mastercards etc. posted in this blog get read by real people across the world.

Here are some Stats by location within the last 3 months:

Philippines
Washington D.C.
Austin TX
Los Angeles CA
Santo Domingo Distrito Nacional Dominican Republic
Mumbai, Maharashtra India
Johannesburg Gauteng South Africa
Brazil
Varna, Bulgaria
Bratislava, Slovakia
San Rafael, California
Italy
Tokyo, Japan
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Calgary, Alberta Canada
Hanoi Ha Noi Viet Nam
Lubbock Texas United States

at010.dhcp.ttu.edu - Texas Tech University - 4 visits and an average of 1:57. That is something right? I mean I guess so...

I am proud of this last one the most: having served content to a University.

14% conversion rate increase with PayPal and BillMeLater

According to a Merchants review report by CyberSource you can get more conversion if you have more payment options.

The reason is simple: the more options for payment you offer your Customers the more likely you are them to buy from you.

As to what extent that is questionable. Also other concerns include availability of Merchant Accounts provided by PayPal and Bill Me Later. Both are services purchased by giant eBay Inc. and currently restrict to US only based merchant Accounts or/and banking relations.

Truth is it`s worth trying to add it to your site as an Add On to credit card processing as you can stop it at any time.

Fees are slightly higher 1.9 to 2.9% of each transactions with PayPal and $0.30 per transaction standard as opposed to $0.35 per Authorization with regular Merchant Acc. providers(bankards).

Sunday, February 1, 2009

website review www.419eater.com

A couple of months ago we came across this website that has a collection of documents from scammers.

The name comes from article 419 from the Nigerian Penal code that refers to online crime.

It`s interesting that the scam-baiters collect and post pictures from fraudsters all over the place. Here is a very funny one called IBE Lowgoats

Browse through the Hall of Shame as they call it and enjoy yourself.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Visitors from all over the world - welcome!

It`s been a while since I haven`t posted to my blog and the reason for that is due to an opportunity that has recently become a reality.

I am referring to the Forex market and to what it means. I`m talking about all the research you need to do in order to win in this game. To all factors to be taken into account when dealing currency.

That was the reason I was away from my blog; however the passion for Forex is not in against the blog`s theme.

This post however is about something else, it`s about you, visitors that spent time reading about paypal and about the things enclosed. I don`t know exactly whether it really helped anyone in improving their life but I certainly hope for the best. I see stats showing that people from as far a Thailand to Arkansas, Brazil to Bulgaria, South Africa to Denmark and the Netherlands take interest in my blog.

I only refer to visits that last for at least 1 minute.

I invite you to an open talk, a dialogue about your interests or objectives in this field and wish that I can answer to as many people as possible.

There will be no concern unaddressed and hopefully I can be of help.

Anyways, a big thank you to all my visitors!!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What is the cross border fee?

Usually a percentage out of a transaction ranging from 1 to 3. Say for example you have a purchase of $50 and an additional $0.5 next to it showing related to that purchase then that $0.5 is the cross border fee.

It is something supposed to keep processing costs low but in fact it`s a fee that goes straight into the banks pockets.

Stoping this fee seems to be a major hassle since both Merchants and Customers don`t appreciate it yet banks often don`t admit to being the ones that actually charge it.

It`s incorrect to believe that it is a fee charged by the Merchant e.g. Flight Tickets Company but it also is incorect to be billed on against your Account.

A good idea is to ask your issuing bank to stop it or use a bank that doesn`t charge this fee. After all, during a 1 yeatr period you might end up paying a lot more than you should.

If you are a Merchant the same applies, business might be negatively impacted and need to take it with the banks as Customers don`t have anything to do with it.

Currency trading at Saxo Bank


A currency market that is fluctuating is an opportunity as opposed to when the market doesn`t fluctuate. The reason for that being in currency trading one trader could only make profit when the pair is moving.

As an example I would like you to imagine the EUR>USD pair. A country`s currency is never quoted in itself. It always gets a quote - or a value - in report to another country`s currency. In this case, the EUR>USD has recently reached a 1,6000 range and above.

That was from 1,4000 some 6 moths ago. At the same time the GBP>USD has reached the $2 per 1GBP.

The question that comes to mind is how can someone take profit in a moving currency market? The beautiful thing about it is that a pair can go both UP as well as DOWN and you can still make money on it. Why would that be?

Take this as an example you have a "lot" of 30 000 EUR USD that you invest. Meaning if you have proof/ reasons/ strategy to indicate the dollar will gain strength against the EUR then you should BUY the dollar. That is actually done for the EURUSD pair by SELLING the Euro which at a rate of 1.6000 will mean 18750 EUR paid for 30000 USD. Say the dollar gains and gets to be 1.5000 then you would buy back the EUR but 30000 USD would now buy 20000 EUR meaning you got a profit of 1250 EUR.

Caution please as this kind of move (1000 pips) does not happen over night - it takes months and this should probably be a long term position.

A really interesting experience is with Saxo Bank as they provide a really good platform and good leverage too. Plus their positioning in Denmark leads to the conclusion that Saxo is a pretty safe option to go with.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

A decent explanation of why oil price rose today

Apparently the rise in the oil price as well as the fall of the USD is to be explained through the so called long range missiles tests shown on Iranian national television.

It`s geo - strategical location close to the Hormuz strait enables Iran to impact oil prices. It is believed that 40% of the world`s crude oil passes through that area. Having control over it or posing threat to it would lead to impact on the oil prices and currencies attached to it (almost all, mostly USD).

The full story can be previewed here.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

UK House of Lords committee blames banks

Very interesting decision coming from a ruling body such as the UK`s Lords commitee. Someone eventually realized that in order to fight this phenomenon is better to start by adding some ownership to it.

After all it involves money - everybody`s money so they basically stress on two things:
1) Banks should be liable for all electronic fraud;
and
2) Reports to the police need to be made for e-fraud rather than the banks.

Examining these two points of view I would consider that the second is very appropriate while the first is a little bit exaggerated.
Banks cannot and will not be made fully liable for e-fraud as 90% of the loss in fraud related activities would have to be supported by them. While right now 90% of the e-fr is supported by the merchants.

The second would be reporting to the police which is happening in increasing numbers as opposed to previous years is a very good point the House of lords has made. This way police would be invested with the necessary power to investigate and eventually prosecute cutting down this invisible mafia that is the 21st century type of organization.

You can see the nice clip by clicking here here.

Monday, July 7, 2008

What should I do when I don`t recognize a charge? ...or a practical giude to chargebacks

Most people check their charges only once a month or once every 3 months (3 months is not recommended however as it`s way too long and you might end up abused by fraudsters). Some other people check it online before the statements are being issued which is more adequate as one could thus see potential multiple billing, fraudulent charges so on..

Then the next thing that is advisable would be to check for the contact phone number next to the charge. The reason for that is simple - in over 40% of the cases the charges are legitimate just that showing under a different brand than what you are used to call the store. Say for example you had a charge for $7.55 showing from COFFEE RET. 888-555-2343 but you don`t remember having paid it to Coffee anything but do remember a $7.55 charge from STARBUCKS. It is just an example of how charges might show - I`m not by no means implying that`s how Starbucks charges show.

Considering it helpfully for Consumers and Companies both to be aware of this misunderstanding I have put together a list of merely suggestions on how can things get straightened out before any of the parties ends up with loss.

Step 1) Look for the phone number next to the charge.
Why would you do it? One good reason is because sometimes the Merchant that shows on your statement and the name of the store (online or not) may be different.

Step 2) Call the number in case you are having doubts on the legitimacy of a charge. Once you call that number ask for what that Company sells or what their area of business is. This way you ensure you will not dispute/ chargeback a legitimate charge.

Step 3) Once you know what the Company does or sells decide whether you or some secondary cardholder (usually family members) used it to pay for the respective Goods or Services.

Step 4) Check with your family (if you have a spouse, child or another member as authorized user of your account) if they purchased the respective product or if they know/ recognize the respective charge.

Step 5) If you do recognize the charge eventually than everything is clear and you don`t need to chargeback anymore. Usually chargebacks raise tension between a company and the respective chargeback account holder. The reason for that is the chargeback fee on top of the Amount. Companies cannot accept overlooking the chargeback fees as these come included in the monthly loss Amount. You might find yourselves in the situation that a Company will deny future business from you on the basis of a irresponsible chargeback.
Overall
is nothing but loss of time and money for both parties involved if you chargeback a legitimate charge that you temporarily don`t recognize and rush to report it to the bank.


Step 6) If neither you nor any other authorized user of your account recognizes that charge then go ahead and fill in the corresponding forms with your bank. The banks usually respond quick to chargeback requests and issue it without to much investigation solely upon Card holder`s request. Some other banks actually encourage their Customers to check with the Merchants before a credit card dispute.

Step 7) Even if a chargeback is filed that doesn`t make it final. The whole process entitles the Merchant to provide evidence that the respective person actually participating in the transaction. If pertinent proof is provided then it gets reversed and the Card owner gets billed again for the Amount of the Conditional credit he or she had previously been given.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Expuse Code from Paypal - a definition

There is sometimes hard to find a correct answer to a simple question. For this reason alone I consider this article would make sense.

PayPal Expuse Code = A 4 digit Code that reflects on a cardholder`s statement (or even online statement) that shows next to a TEST Charge from PayPal. The charge is usually a small Amount of $1 or for cards issued in Euros is 1,5 EUR. The purpose of this test charge is that PayPal Validates or links the Cardholder to their bank and to the actual credit/ debit card.

The PayPal Expuse code is a smart choice for online validation of a person. The main reason behind it is that a bank will not release you this Expuse Code over the phone, or is not supposed to do so at least. Thus it consolidates the link between a bank and it`s Customers. A cardmember/ cardholder usually gets or obtains this code by paying their bank a visit in person rather than waiting for a whole month for the statement to be issued and sent out.

This practice is actually valid worldwide, it`s meant to increase responsible usage of online payment means and reduce fraudulent attempts.

No matter where a specific card is issued (be it San Diego, California or Johannesburg, South Africa) the Expuse Code will be the same - a four digit code next to a charge that is called Expuse Code.

Hope this is a satisfactory explanation and if more info is necessary on the matter please leave a comment and I will try my best to obtain pertinent answers.