International orders require extra fraud screening, lots of extra paperwork, and a host of other issues. So yes we have rules. Im listening if you have ideas but what I sometimes hear is we should just process orders blindly then I would lose a lot of money for so many people unfortunately try to pass fraudulent orders off internationally.
As someone who orders quite a lot of EE stuff globaly (both personal and for business) I wonder then how your competition is able to sell internationally without such nonsense like asking for images of both CC sides, and still make money.
We have had orders with credit card copies that come back fraud. So yes we have to screen orders. And yes we are always open to ideas. Constructive ones. I like to understand so I can evolve and grow. In 10 years we have gone from 4 people to 48. I am always willing to learn something new and improve.
Then one of the first things you should learn is that banking in the US is not necessarily the same as in other countries, as the US system is a bit backward in comparison with the rest of the world (which is probably one of the reasons why CC fraud is higher in the US than in most other Western countries). For example, in Europe most CC providers prohibit customers giving away scans/photo copies of your CC in their terms & regulations (the stuff that most people don't read), and if a customer does so then he acts in gross negligence and is liable for the losses. Then there's the fact that most CC providers have settled for paperless statements years ago, so sending a scan of a paper statement simply isn't possible if there is none.
In addition (and please don't take this personally), I have to say that asking customers to send sensitive data (which is what CC data is) over unencrypted email is highly unprofessional and quite frankly, simply plain stupid as it defies even the most basic information security principles every business should follow (and may even open yourself up to liability). The least you should have done is offering a secure upload facility where customers can upload their CC scans, and which runs on a certified backend which, after the legitimacy has been verified, securely erases all scans. But that would still only address the issue of transferring scans you at the end of the day should never ever have requested in the first place.
If you're afraid of fraud, then what you can do is put in place a rule that the first order from a new international customer is subject to a 10 day holding period, and then ask your CC provider to check the specific CC data as suspicious. This would trigger a request to the customer's CC provider to check with their customer that the transaction is genuine. That would be a simple, common sense approach, which would not put your customer and yourself in a situation you both may regret later on.
Another alternative would be taking out insurance against loss through fraud. I'm sure even in the US such policies are available, if you believe the risk is worth it.
I have never bought from you (I did check your LeCroy offerings on your website, but most of the stuff that is listed is way outdated and no longer available, and quite frankly conveys a very poor first impression) but quite frankly I would never buy from a reseller that asks me to do dodgy stuff like sending images of my CC via unencrypted email, as this would make violate the T&C with my CC provider and invalidate my fraud protection, and I would advise anyone against to shop with a store that has such a lax and unprofessional attitude towards sensitive customer data.
I know you're not the only US seller that does that, and maybe from a US point of view this all looks sensible (like many other things). But I can tell you that from an international point of view this puts you in a huge disadvantage and only serves you to harm your reputation. It certainly did that with me.
Just my 2 British Pence.
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