The State of Merchant911

There is no question that on-line merchants are becoming more aware of the need for fraud screening. I’d like to think that Merchant911 has had a small part in that, but the reality is that our membership growth has slowed down in the past year. We’ve educated less new members this year than we have since we started in 2001. Even more interesting is the fact that only 55% of the members that signed up in 2009 have logged in to the member area where the good stuff is. Those folks that haven’t logged in wasted their time and mine filling out an application.

Why did they bother? Members tell me there is good stuff in there. I get comments like:

… awesome resource for business owners and merchants.
Merchant Solutions

I spent weeks looking for the information you have here and still came up short
Drew – DigitaEye Designs

… awesome resource for business owners and merchants.
Merchant Solutions

We joined Merchant911 in 2003, and haven’t had a single charge back since we have followed their excellent tips, enabling us to negotiate lower fees from our payment service provider.
Martin-Pierre Frenette – President, Cablan.net

Of course, from the end of January until March, new memberships will surge when e-Commerce merchants are hit with the Holiday chargebacks. Sorry folks, you’re too late. You have to prevent fraud because if you’re the victim as a merchant, you loose. You have about a 10% chance of recovering what you lost. In 2008, merchants lost $4 Billion. That’s billion with a B.

It takes time to look through the member pages and use what’s there. I know, we’re all busy. Tell me about it! I hold a full time job as a network manager and I maintain Merchant911.org and Cardholder911.info in my “free” time. Now and then I also help out with my wife’s Brick and Mortar store and three on-line stores. I also have a family, although my wife sometimes wonders if I know that.

It’s your hard-earned money that’s at risk. If you are an on line merchant, don’t think about joining Merchant911, just do it while you’re here. And if you can find a cheaper than free resource let me know.

Similar Posts:

• Chargeback Survey Results
• Friendly Fraud Isn’t!
• Merchant911 Celebrates 8 Years
• iovation Partners with Merchant911 to Educate Online Retailers About Device-based Fraud Prevention Solutions
• Preventing E-Commerce Credit Card Fraud: Protect Your Business – Make More Money