If you sell domains through your own website, do you've a lot of fraud/chargebacks/customer refund complaints?

The following email from my hosting preference keept me thinking:

Hello,

The default account that we set you up with through eNom is a 'retail' account. Most of our resellers choose this option because the only advantage of having a 'domain reseller' account would be that you can use eNom's automated registration scripts/API.

The downside of a domain reseller account as opposed to retail, is that there is a $100 deposit required. There are many fraudulent domain purchases, and unlike other things, there are no refunds on domain names through eNom or any other registrar.

We choose to do every domain registration manually, and therefore highly suggest you do the same and forgo the automation.

It is up to you, however, so if you would like the reseller status, just let us know.

Sales/Billing administrator

--------------------------------

Mmm. But how much fraud are we talking about? I really wanted everything automated, but what are the averages if you can add some numbers here. 30/1 - for every 30 orders 1 fraud/chargeback/refund complaint etc? Either way, how much time does it take to register domains name manually?

Thoughts?

We have been selling domains for some time and we have never received a fraud order on a domain. On hosting all of the time.

- Daniel :)

It is always best to register domains manually like your host advised. Many fraudsters will take advantage of the automatic setup and then cancel or file a chargeback, making you lose money.

It is always best to register domains manually like your host advised. Many fraudsters will take advantage of the automatic setup and then cancel or file a chargeback, making you lose money.

They can make me lose money, but the domain will then be mine, right? If they hit a chargeback, I can revoke the use of the domain and keep it. Presto? Perhaps a stupid answer on my end?

There have been quite a few hosts that were hit with fraudulent purchases or at the very least, attempts.

Something like MaxMind fraud protection would help lower the chances of having a fraudulent order go through. It's been working wonders for us and it's caught some fraudulent orders. So far we've received no chargebacks or "unauthorized transaction" claims. If you use 2Checkout, that's also a good option as they have an additional fraud checking system in place for AFTER the transaction.

There have been quite a few hosts that were hit with fraudulent purchases or at the very least, attempts.

Something like MaxMind fraud protection would help lower the chances of having a fraudulent order go through. It's been working wonders for us and it's caught some fraudulent orders. So far we've received no chargebacks or "unauthorized transaction" claims. If you use 2Checkout, that's also a good option as they have an additional fraud checking system in place for AFTER the transaction.

That is absolutely truth. We had the same situation last summer and installing fraud filters helped us

Phone verification should stop almost 99.9% of fraudulent domains.

If you really want to automate everything, than go ahead. However, I wouldn't suggest it. Once scammers figure out you've done that, they'll start hitting you hard.

And I wouldn't be surprised if people get a domain with you, and then transfer it away, getting 2 years registration, for 1, or even 0 if they find someone that does free transfers.

I wouldn't suggest automation, although domain registrations can be cancelled by your registrar within 3 days of purchase.

And I wouldn't be surprised if people get a domain with you, and then transfer it away, getting 2 years registration, for 1, or even 0 if they find someone that does free transfers.

New domains are nontransferable for 60 days from registration.
Considering the fact that most chargebacks take place from 1-4 weeks after the purchase, such an attempt would fail.

I wouldn't suggest automation, although domain registrations can be cancelled by your registrar within 3 days of purchase.

New domains are nontransferable for 60 days from registration.
Considering the fact that most chargebacks take place from 1-4 weeks after the purchase, such an attempt would fail.

Good, it certainly means that the person attempting to fraud upon your wallet, won't get the domain nor the transfer whatsoever. Confirmed with my hosting company and Victor...my man! You're CORRECTO!

Godaddy.com automated system not too sexy for newbies in my opinion, certainly a sexy and profitable for the one that can mimic such outstanding business system. Chop, chop.

Let's get to work, thanks Victor.

I wouldn't suggest automation, although domain registrations can be cancelled by your registrar within 3 days of purchase.



New domains are nontransferable for 60 days from registration.
Considering the fact that most chargebacks take place from 1-4 weeks after the purchase, such an attempt would fail.

Or you could be like me and require either payment for the domain or you stay for 4 months, otherwise the domain is ours lol. :D (only for free domain registrations.

I have had a lot of fraud domain registration sign ups, and since you do not get refunds, it is better to be careful.

We have a fairly comprehensive anti-fraud system and once in a while we get chargebacks. But not from all the scammers that other posters seem to be talking about. They're typically from people who didn't pay attention and registered multiple domains, thinking that even though they were presented a list of all the domains they were buying and a total amount, they were only getting the .com -- or so they say.

Manually reviewing your larger ticket sales (more than, say, three years) and implementing a system that takes advantage of address verification, requiring the three-digit code from the back of the card, and paying attention to the circumstances surrounding the purchase (a card with a Texas address being used in India, for example) will catch the truly fraudulent transactions. You can also simply deny transactions from countries where the fraud rate is unreasonably high. For example, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, etc.

Notwithstanding, once a transaction is charged back, the registrant loses the domain(s). Period. They didn't pay for them, you did. Our registration agreement includes that stipulation.

But when you get a chargeback, if you've been diligent about trapping the fraudulent transactions you'll more often than not be able to reverse the chargeback if you have good records and just take the time to respond to the chargeback in the first place.

The whole point of automation is to free up your time and the time of your employees. Processing every registration or renewal yourself isn't typically a good use of your time. Just watch transactions with strange characteristics or larger amounts and the rest will take care of themselves if you think about the anti-fraud in advance.

We have been selling domains for years now and have never had any fraud or chargeback problems.

Processing credit cards with "verified by Visa" guarantees a 0% chargeback, even if the card is stolen, Visa guarantees you that you are getting paid.

The system doesn't allow rebills, all customers have to make each payment manually, signing every payment at their's bank website.

The best, very low comission, 1.15% or better and 0% chargeback makes it my favorite payment method :D

Hello,

To be honest.. the fraud they are talking about is about people signing up for "automated" eNom reseller accounts.

eNom changed their policy so that now you can't automatically create a new reseller account using the API.

It is created as a RETAIL account, and must be converted manually, by the person who created the account, to RESELLER status.

This is because eNom was getting a lot of fraud, by people signing up under some company for a free reseller account, purchasing $100 of credit using a stolen card, and then getting a bunch of domains, etc...

So they changed their system.

Now only a select few (hee hee) trusted eNom resellers can automatically create reseller accounts. Everyone else has to convert manually from a retail account to reseller.

So this is most likely why you received that notice from your reseller.

(Note: We also do not automate the reseller account creation, even though we *can*. This is for the same reason.. because many people who sign up under us simply do so to try and get a free account which they will use for bad purposes.

So we screen our new reseller applicants, using pretty much the same email you received.. you have to contact us with a real email address and request your account be changed from retail to reseller.)

I hope that helps to explain the situation.

I wouldn't suggest automation, although domain registrations can be cancelled by your registrar within 3 days of purchase.


I tried to do that within an hour with ipower, and they outright refused to cancel the misregistered domain.

Well there are always some fraudsters outs there but most people are reasonable and if you treat them fairly they will too. You just have to make sure your prices cover the losses due to any fraud.

We have been selling domains for years now and have never had any fraud or chargeback problems.

Lucky Guy!!

It's been a renowned problem of chargeback on the orders.

We can adjust in shared hosting. But it becomes difficult in case of domain name / dedicated server. You don't get refund and your money goes back. So double loss! Very old question - how to fight this chargeback?

I tried to do that within an hour with ipower, and they outright refused to cancel the misregistered domain.

Well, this really depends on the registrar/reseller you chose. Not all provide you the refund. I think this is going to be phased out now as ICANN/registries has got the no refund policy.