Is this legal?

Is it legal to make an ebook site and then put in small print *Plus a fee of $500
at the bottom so I can make a lot of money? I mean, it would say it. Kind of like this

Buy this ebook
Only $14.99*

Credit card number:
city:
email:
address






*Plus a fee of $500

 

I believe each transaction would become a chargeback and then you need to show that you where authorized to charge the card $514.99 (which you were not).

So everyone would get your eBook for free and you get to pay the credit card companies $25-$35 for every charge.

Sound like a plan!

 

In the US, it's not legal of you don't clearly disclose the information before purchase.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus28.shtm

 

lol you clown... this is a horrible idea... forget whether it's legal or not, you won't make ANY money deploying this plan. As another said, you'd be riddled in chargebacks. No one is going to accept being 'tricked' into thinking they're paying 14.99 when they have to pay an extra 500$ on top of it.

Any merchant processor I'm sure, makes sure to display the ACTUAL price tag of any online purchase clearly, on the order page.

 

Whaaaaat? Are you tripping or? What kind of meds they got you on man? I gotta get some of those.... This is a joke/spoof thing right?

 

Yah I better not do this...

 

u think??????

 

I really hope this is a joke...
You would get a boatload of chargebacks, and possibly be sued if you tried to pull this off.

The only thing you can do, which is commonly used by the "Earn Cash with Google!" CPA offers, is to make the price low, something like "Pay only $4.95!* for instant access!" and at the bottom say "* If you dont cancel your membership in 15 days, you will be charged $49.95 a month, etc". Those companies are making money, and sure theres still some chargebacks and complaints and whatnot, but at least many people would accept being "had" for $49, then for $500.

 

Anything is legal until you get caught or you blow it out of proportion on a big forum like this. All scams are accepted until they aren't. People make a living running this kind of nonsense all the time - God Bless 'em.

 

Hate to say it but BadBoyz is 100% correct on this one!

 

whether true or untrue... you can't get or keep merchant services for fraudulent activity.

A person believing they paid $14.99 will certainly dispute a $514.99 charge... then it is up to the merchant to show proof of authorization (like a signature that they agreed to pay and authorizes you to charge $514.99)...

All CC companies have a 1% dispute rate that if you go above you are investigated... so at best you get $1029.98 that you got to give back... it worse you ensure you never get merchant services in your name ever again.

 

Very true... Like I said, you would get a ton of chargebacks and lose your merchant account quickly. And chances are, you wont even get paid by your merchant account provider if you engaged in such fraudulent activity.

 

found a way around: have them scroll to the bottom b4 they can press "I agree".walla. even though i probably wont be doing this at all, just an idea

 

Whether or not you attempt this doesn't matter. "I agree" isn't a suitable authorization for any credit card company (which includes PayPal).

Who agreed to what? You as the merchant must prove that the card holder was the person that agreed and you can only do that with their signed endorsement... everything else is a fraudulent transaction.

There is no way around this... all other forms of payment method cash, check, money order or debit requires the customer to know what the precise charge was and be dumb enough to ignore the $500 overcharge... in fact, even with a credit card - you must provide them a receipt at the value of the paid fee... it would be a criminal offense to provide a receipt of $14.99 and charge $514.99.

 

That is ridiculous. Getting caught is NOT the test of whether something is legal. Some people commit murder and never get caught. That doesn't mean it was legal.

 

The whole assumption to think that this can fly is absolutely waste of time and on top of that the consequences, one for example charging an attorney extra $500 without disclosing it, may be really bad. The chargebacks are usually processed with an extra $15-$20 fee from the merchant. Also, all merchant accounts have some delay time before transferring the funds.

If you really want to make some money than get a better idea.

 

Just so y'all know, I am not a scammer. I'm too lazy to set up those crazy schemes

 

It's extremely unethical, and along with that, how would you justify a $500 extra charge? I mean most people check the asterisks now, and even if you were successful with scamming a few people this way, think of the amount of negative reputation they'd spread about you and your sites, along with potential hate mail they may send your way. In my opinion, keep ethics in mind... i mean would you like it if someone did that to you?

 

Just so you know... it matters not what you class yourself as... you have provided a reason for DP members not to trust you...

A single look at your post history now shows that you prefer to think about scamming people over providing them a real product or service...

If you now came along with a genuine idea for a commercial product or service... how can you expect anyone that read this thread to trust your new motives?

That's the real problem... you tainted your trust all because your weren't interested in doing it anyway. (what a fool)

That's a really, really dumb thing to do.