[ic] blocking customers

[Paul Jordan]

> On Thu, Jul 18, 2002 at 03:35:59PM +0100, Kevin Walsh wrote:
> > > I have a client who has asked for something that I haven't seen
> > > discussed here and did not find via searches on the web site or
> > > mailing list.
> > >
> > > He has some customers that he would to prevent from being able to
> > > order due to having to constantly go after them to get them to pay.
> > >
> > > Has anyone come up with a simple (!!!) way to do this.
> > >
> > > Note: He does not use any of the standard interfaces that comes
> > > with Interchange.  The site is very simple and is exactly what
> > > he wants.  (www.captemo.com, if interested).
> > >
> > The simplest way is to just not process orders from those customers;
> > just mark them as 'cancelled', 'denied' or whatever when they come in.
> >
> > If they actually provide a credit card and pay then the goods can be
> > sent.  If they don't, and they are on your blacklist then just cancel
> > the order.
> >
> > It doesn't get any simpler than that. :-)
>
> Yes, I agree, that is quite simple.  However, how do you recognize
> them as the bad guy?
>
> Address?  "1234 Main Street" "1234 Main St." and "1234 Main St" are
> all valid but are also all different to a computer!
>
> email?  How many email addresses do you have?  I have about 10 that
> I check daily.  And that doesn't count hotmail, etc....
>
> A lot of customers that use this site do not have credit cards as
> they are "kids", so we had to allow for "money orders".  This is
> where the trouble starts.  We usually give the person two weeks to
> send in the money.  Then a couple of nagmails.  Then the item is
> returned to available status.  This is a month or so of time that
> the item can not be sold to someone that will actually pay for it!
>
> Thanks.
>
> jaime


First off, I am pretty sure most bad guys live on Primrose Ave. So it
shouldn't be so hard.

Actually, I think you are fighting an uphill battle. To do what you want
with above 60% accuracy is impossible.

First thing you could do is break it down by state. They most likely won't
lie about state. So if they enter CA, then query an index of state=CA. The
compare fname and lname and possibly using an OR for their email address.

>From that point, you can check what you need... city, zip, a substring of
the address like the first 4 digits or somehting (not very accurate)

Something like that I think would be the extent of what you could do.
However, maybe you can require a deposit, to be able to bid on items without
a credit card. So when they sign up, they have to send 50% of what they
"can" purchase in the future. you know. not the cleanest, but at least it
weeds out the "never buys" type.

I say that it is a battle not worth fighting. Maybe you can have a business
model of, "if payment is not recieved in 2 weeks, the items goes back on
sale". If you receive payment after that, then keep 25% of it.

Maybe you could have a page with a big black box, then have it flash white
for a millisecond, then say, "we just took your picture, so don't screw with
us". "never buys" will believe that :)

Paul