more on "Your papers please" down at the local mall

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: KRH <krh () gbronline com>
Date: October 24, 2004 8:36:22 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on "Your papers please" down at the local mall
Reply-To: KRH <krh () gbronline com>

The Return Exchange is placing itself and its merchant customers in the
position of having to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The Return Exchange is the consumer reporting agency with the merchant
companies supply and accessing it's data.

If a merchant company denies a customer the ability to return an item, 
then
the Fair Credit Report Act requires that merchant to send an "Adverse
Action" notice.  If they fail to do so within the allotted time frame, 
they
can be sued.

Furthermore, some states mandate that unless otherwise posted at the 
point
of sale, the store must accept a "valid" return.

Ken Hoffman

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
To: "Ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 06:29
Subject: [IP] more on "Your papers please" down at the local mall


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Stephanie <sjwinters3 () hotmail com>
> Date: October 24, 2004 3:42:45 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] "Your papers please" down at the local mall
>
> Dave, in response to the Fortune Magazine article about not being able
> to do
> returns at the mall, one thing that bothers me about this Verify-1
> system of
> The Return Exchange is that people who buy a lot of retail goods like
> myself
> (I am an eBay Power Seller who buys lots of inventory both wholesale 
> and
> retail) actually do many returns/exchanges for all sorts of valid
> reasons.
> For example, when you buy a lot, you get more defective products than
> the
> average person. So there should be a way to allow returns in proportion
> to
> the amount you buy. But since Verify-1 appears to uses a driver's
> license
> number to record how often you return, and that same driver's license
> number
> is not recorded when you do your purchases, they would have no way of
> knowing your returns were not excessive in proportion to your actual
> purchases. They would only be only able to tell that they were 
> excessive
> when compared to the average consumer, presumably. And believe it or
> not,
> there are actually lots of retailers like me, as well as other "power
> shoppers" who buy an enormous amount of products with coupons or
> significant
> rebates for various reasons. And of course, there are people who just
> buy a
> lot. It goes to reason that if you buy a lot, you will also return more
> than
> the average person. I do not know how one could ever consider excessive
> returns as necessarily fraudulent ones, especially if the item is still
> new
> and unused. There just is no way to know for sure.
>
> As a retailer, I applaud organizations trying to take a stance against
> fraudulent returns, but perhaps a better way would be not to issue a
> categorical "return denied" notice, but to allow the customer to offer
> an
> explanation to the store and let each store decide for itself. Of
> course,
> you could also require a driver's license for all purchases and then
> weight
> this against the returns, but then privacy advocates, myself included,
> would
> have a field day. The bottom line is that there really is no way to
> automate
> this process without knowing the full purchasing history of a person.
>
> Stephanie
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
> To: "Ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 2:09 PM
> Subject: [IP] "Your papers please" down at the local mall
>
>
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
> > Date: October 22, 2004 2:00:22 PM EDT
> > To: farber () cis upenn edu
> > Subject: "Your papers please" down at the local mall
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Fortune Magazine has just run a story showing how drivers licenses and
> > the
> > Internet are being used to track "bad" customers who return too much
> > merchandise at clothing stores.  Here is a link to the Fortune 
> > article:
> >
> >    Sorry, Your Return Is No Good Here
> >    http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,710662,00.html
> >
> > Here's how the system works:
> >
> >    http://www.returnexchange.com/about/index.asp
> >
> >    Our signature product, Verify-1, utilizes an ASP model
> >    to provide return authorization services that are
> >    initiated by either a VeriFone or similar type platform
> >    on a retailer's POS system. A driver's license or state I.D.
> >    card is swiped through these devices to initiate a product
> >    return, and similar to credit card or check verification,
> >    the data is transmitted to The Return Exchange's host
> >    server for an approval for return authorization. We detect
> >    fraud through utilization of deterministic rules, statistical
> >    models and a shared return information database.
> >
> > Missing from the Web site is any brag list of customers and names and
> > bios
> > of management personnel of the company.  Looks like the company values
> > its
> > privacy.
> >
> > Richard M. Smith
> > http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
> >
> >
> >
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