I'm interested in getting your opinions on this new survey 2checkout will send to your customers through email:

[From the 2checkout forums]

This function was added in order to build up statistics regarding merchant fullfillment, increase buyer confidence, reduce chargebacks and increase your customer's satisfaction with you, our merchants.

The survey looks like this (links are not viewable):

--------------------------
Dear [CUSTOMER NAME],

We are contacting you about your purchase from [YOUR COMPANY NAME] ([YOUR
WEB SITE URL])
on [DATE OF PURCHASE].

In an effort to better
serve you, we would like you to indicate your level of happiness with this
order.

IF SATISFIED with the order (i.e. received product/service as expected),
[UNIQUE LINK TO REGISTER THAT CUSTOMER IS HAPPY]
(Click or copy into address bar)

If NOT SATISFIED with the order,
[UNIQUE LINK TO REGISTER THAT CUSTOMER IS NOT HAPPY]
(Please allow up to 2 weeks for goods to be delivered by postal mail)
(Click or copy into address bar)

PLEASE NOTE: This order will appear on your credit card statement as
a payment to "2CheckOut Inc."

This order was processed by www.2CheckOut.com on behalf of [YOUR COMPANY
NAME].

----------------------------
We've kept the survey very simple. Information returned will be viewable. A future enhancement will enable you to provide a viewer link (similar to eBay's "Seller Rating") that will enable any potential customer to see how your previous customers have rated you.

Any negative responses will be forwarded to you in order to provide you with an opportunity to respond to the customer directly.

Is their an option for you to chose if you want this done or not? If not, I think that it should be a choice, not mandatory.

It is defaulted to on, and a few merchants with good selling track record can opt out by request. They need to send an email to 2checkout, and 2checkout will review their account to decide if they qualify to opt out.

In other words, it is more or less mandatory, especially for new accounts.

Wow, that really sucks.

It will not be sent to recurring billing clients, only 1 time purchase customers, so this will not effect my business as mine are all recurring, but this still does not make it right. Spam is spam is spam.

Many companies already so their own surveys, so I have to say it would be quite annoying for the customer to receive yet another survey. :rolleyes:

I totally disagree with this whole survey thing. If the 2checkout service was free then I will have no problem with this. But since its not free then I feel that there is no reason for 2checkout to contact the customers. They should just do what they are paid for which is process credit cards send receipts out and thats it. 2checkout should have no other type of comunications with the client unless their is a charge back or anytype of creditcard problems. In the event that this becomes mandatory I will be looking for another provider.

I personally think this sucks.. as said above spam is spam is spam is spam.. I feel like this is a very cheap shot and will do nothing but annoy customers maybe even make some want to cancel.. This should be an opt-in thing where you are asked if you are willing to do it or not and beleive me if it is only setup for single transactions I am sure its on its way for recurring..

It smells a lot like PayPal to me, maybe worse.

2checkout is just a credit card processor and should have no right to contact your customers about anything.

I don't use 2checkout myself but I feel that 2checkout should not be allowed to contact any of the merchants customers unless there was a issue. Has anybody looks at there terms if this is mentioned?

As a third party processor, 2checkout assumes a certain level of risk. The charges on the customer cards are 2checkout charges. IMO, they have evey right to poll the customer regarding the quality of service as it is their name attached to the sale. In fact, I'd say this is a very positive thing indeed.

If I were a 2checkout merchant, I wouldn't have a problem at all with this. If you don't want that level of interaction from your card processor, get your own merchant account. These days they're cheap as dirt.

What some people didn't like is the fact that 2checkout abruptly activated this without asking anyone's opinion on it, and without giving a warning that such a thing would be done.

If they want to stop fraudulent sellers, they should do a verification of the clients bank account - not use stupid surveys.

If someone is wanting to defraud 2checkout, they will hit and run. So the survey, which occurs weeks after a sale - and a payment settlement - won't help.

Further, this is just spam, something most customers don't want to receive. The buyers have never agreed to receive such survey emails. Why should they be opted in to it without their consent?

Many buyers want their information kept anonymous. Receiving an unsolicited email from 2checkout doesn't increase the buyers confidence in the company they purchased from. This email is not a receipt or anything directly associated with the sale, thus to me it is unsolicited and spam. Maybe after six months they will decide to send another survey to ask if the product is still working. Maybe after a year they will write again to ask if they are still satisfied. Non of this is acceptable for someone who is supposed to just be processing the credit card transaction.

If you are concerned with fraud, then stop your "accept payments in five minutes without any verification whatsoever" advertisements! 2checkout is just begging cheaters to sign up with them.

1) They don't verify any contact information.
2) They don't verify any bank information.
3) They payout up to $1,000 in the first settlement (which may be just one day after signing up.
4) They let you change your payment details within a matter of seconds just prior to a payment being made.

All of this must certainly encourage cheaters to sign up. Its easier than paypal and not traceable or accountable. Here is an example.

A person could theoretically sign up for a 2checkout account one day before the payment cycle. He could have a friend make a purchase from him for $1,000 (the payout limit for the first cycle). He could have the money wired to a foreign bank account. After one week his friend can do a charge back, and he can claim his money has already been spent on office expenses and he is unable to repay 2checkout. If an intelligent person pulled of 10 such procedures at one payment cycle, using different bank accounts in different cities, he can get away with $10,000 in a matter of days. And there is nothing to prove that he has broken any law. Legally he just owes money to 2checkout which he doesn't have to pay.

Thus I personally feel 2checkout is really inviting cheaters to sign up with them, and then punishing the rest of the legitimate customers with this survey.

There was some discussion on this on another thread in Running a Web Hosting Business forum where it was implied that 2CO would reverse charges if the customer responded that they weren't satified with the transaction - also for service business where it may take 2 months for the service to be completed it would be a nuisance.
I'm looking for another option besides 2CO for this reason.

You guys should check out the post on the 2checkout forums they are getting alot of responses from employees there.. As far as it goers for me certain companies which have good standing with 2CO and been there a while are allowed to be opted OUT of this survey. All you need to do is email them and find out if you meet the opt-out requirments. I did and got a response in less than an hour saying I did meet them..

Read on...

http://support.2checkout.com/forums//thread.php?threadid=265&boardid=3&styleid=1&sid=0c4c32a4c5ccad5ef211183b4007074c