Would you send money to this website???

[Twokids]

Hi

I have noticed that on a large percentage of websites that UKBF members have asked for feedback on, there is little or no contact information – i.e.;

No postal address
No phone numbers ( landline )
No names
No email address other than info@ or sales@ - or worse – just a contact form to fill out.

Now I know that the dream of a virtual business would be a trading site with e-commerce that would run itself and need no input. I also realise that a lot of people have ‘ spare bedroom’ type businesses and they do not want to reveal that they are running everything from their home.

However, I for one would never send credit/debit card information to a site that was uncontactable ( what if they are based abroad and just want to copy my details ) .

If not that I would not want to send a penny of my money when I had no contact details if something went wrong / item never arrives / is not as described etc.

I would always think 'what are they trying to hide?' , and then move on to another vendor.

What do you think?

[Rob Holmes]

My personal choice is that I never pay on a website unless it has a high credibility rating (e.g. I've never checked ebays address) or I'm really desperate.

Actually I believe it's illegal for a commercial business in the UK to sell online and not provide a physical address.

Rob

[Eagle]

*
I don't provide any contact details other than my name and email address. I rely on my reputation, referals and feedback to gain business in the first instance. (And it works! ;))

Full contact details are always given to interested parties on enquiry. This is because no transaction takes place 'on site'.

Designers and others in the service industries have a (fairly) unique advantage in that the extended period of time they have dealing with a client's project means that we can garner trust long before any money changes hands.

I can see the problem though if you have a site where people buy products from and the purchase is 'instant'. Then, you would need to supply contact details on site in order to gain a certain level of trust. :)

[Amber]

We have full contact details on the Hot Igloo website (phone, email, address, IM, contact form) but just the email, form and address on WritingWorld.org.

The only reason I don't have a phone number on WritingWorld is that it has a couple of hundred members at the moment; if we made a phone number available, they would call us day and night and I wouldn't get any work done for constantly answering the phone.

I don't have a problem with contact forms, personally, or with "info@" type email addresses, but I do look for a mailing address at the very least if I'm handing over money.

[Twokids]

Fair points above.

I can see that where you have been recommended into a site and/or know who you are dealing with you wouldn't need much extra contact info.

Also I accept the point that you may not want to give a telephone number if you expect it to be ringing off the wall with unecessary queries. If an address is provided that would be enough.

Jim

[Richard Conyard]

Just a quick point for those selling online - I thought UK regulations *require* them to post an address and contact details?

[Eagle]

*
I think they do but the rules aren't exactly clear as to what "selling online" is defined as...

Sure, I have a web presence but it's just a portfolio. The actual sale (transaction) doesn't take place there - that's done weeks/months down the line after initial contact.

[coxadmin]

Not only would I be unwilling to send money to a website with little or no contact information, I would be unwilling to employ the services of that company.

[Cornish Steve]

My personal choice is that I never pay on a website unless it has a high credibility rating

Rob,

Can you explain the term high credibility rating? Is this something formal that can be measured?

[Rob Holmes]

My personal choice is that I never pay on a website unless it has a high credibility rating

Rob,

Can you explain the term high credibility rating? Is this something formal that can be measured?

Actually I shouls have added the initial context which was a website with no contact details..

It's more gut feeling - but as an example I would rank ebay in there in terms of not checking where the ebay head office is before making a bid.

I just trust them. I would say however I don't trust sub domains and am VERY reluctant to purchase anything from a sub domain with or without a Secure Cert on it as this is real risk. As a web hosti I come across vulnerabilities in the web occasionally and subdomains is one of them. If people really knew how insecure and easily faked they were then they wouldn't use them at all let alone buy from them.

Rob

[MinuWeb]

If people really knew how insecure and easily faked they were then they wouldn't use them at all let alone buy from them.

Rob

we stopped using sub-domains along time ago, https://ourdomain.com/directory gives alot more security to clients

[Twokids]

As before, good points raised.

I can only see three reasons why a site would hide its contact details

1) The transaction will take place at a later date and the site is for contact only, to build a business relationship.

But to be fair I am only talking about sites that require money immediately in response to services or goods - i.e. the site 'sells off the page' - as opposed to brochure or ' inquire for details' type sites.


2) The site is a recent start-up – and the owner doesn’t want to reveal their address (as they are based at home) for two reasons a) They want their home address to be kept private and b) they want to appear as if they are well established and have premises, staff and all the paraphernalia of a trusted vendor. A home address would (they feel) make them look like a ‘fly-by-night’ organisation.

Reason (a) is understandable – but won’t make me trust them (who are they afraid will knock on their door – the fraud squad?). Like cheap tacky business cards or having a rusty old van it also tells me they don’t want to invest very much in their business – paying for a business mailing address is no big outlay and would solve this problem instantly.

Reason (b) is again understandable – but starts the client relationship with a tinge of dishonesty (especially when there are comments like “email info@etc and one of our team will be glad to help you!”).


3) The site owner wants to run that elusive Holy Grail of web business sites – the high income – zero maintenance site (don’t we all?). They want to log on for two hours at weekends – just to count the transactions that day, calculate their income and (life’s a bummer isn’t it?) mail out a few parcels to pesky customers.

Well sorry mate – if I pay for something I want service and I want to contact you at any time during business hours to check on my order etc.


3) The website fronts a scam.

As mentioned above I wouldn’t even associate my business with a with any surreptitious site – let alone send money to them.

Any know of any other reason why real contact details would be hidden?

[Green trader]

Well, I must admit, that I never considered putting address contact details on my websites. I can see now from this poll that this was very foolish so I am going to change that right now!

(www.rentpcs.co.uk and www.bookdemon.co.uk are my two, couldn't resist ;)

I am really glad I saw this post, are there any other factors that would put people off buying from a website?

Graham

[Twokids]

Graham - like your site by the way, glad to have helped.

It still seems that 10% of respondants would still send money to an aknown website with no contact details ( and I'm not talking about Ebay or Sainsbury's here but real unknown, unqualified sites offering a cheap deal).

I am amazed, anyone care to explain to me why you would confidently do it?

I can't think of a good reason so I'm dying to know what would convince you.

Jim

[gary]

I'm pretty sure it's a legal requirement for any site accepting payments online to provide the full company name, address and telephone number, though it seems a number of even large companies don't do so, for example eBay and Amazon. I can understand why they wouldn't want thousands of people phoning them, but they also have the luxury of being big, well-known brands which gives them some credibility.