Product of the System

Ok. I have to vent a little.

I am so incredibly sick of fraud that I cannot even begin to describe my frustration. It’s been building for years inside me and seems to grow greater and greater, exponentially each year.

I own a website that basically pays members to view advertisements. For that site, the fraud comes into play when people make an ad buy from me. They pay me and then I deliver their advertisement to the members -at which point I am obligated to pay the members. This all takes place over the course of a week or two.

Lately, it seems that more than 50% of my sales are fraudulent. Eventually, the buyer will claim to paypal or their credit card company that they were not the ones who made the purchase. However, some of these people made purchases more than six (6) months prior! I even verified many of my buyers by phone. I have detailed records and proof of delivery, but Paypal nor the credit card companies give even a second look at my proof (sounds a lot like how the government has treated me over the years). In these cases, the buyer always gets their money back. It’s really unfair to me.

Ok, so that’s one side of things. I get ripped off by the buyers.

Now, I also buy advertising from a number of sites from time to time and I test different sites to see if they perform. In most cases, they are one of those “buy traffic scams,” but sometimes the advertising does actually pay off. However, with several of my recent purchases (not just for online stuff either!), I am being told that I cannot have a refund for whatever reason. In one case, it’s because Paypal has a policy of not refunding for services (i.e. online advertising), but then WHY, pray-tell, do all of the buyers for MY site get THEIR money back?!? Why is the system in their favor and never in mine? I tell you what. It is very tough not to think the whole world really is against me.

So, anyway, I even get ripped off by the sellers.

I can’t win and I certainly cannot continue to run my businesses while incurring these kinds of loses due to fraud. Something has to give. Somebody, somewhere has to stand up and do the right thing by giving me my money back and quite giving back the money to all the liars stealing from me.

</rant>

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