WWH education 20-21. Part 16. « Gift & E-Gift Cards»

Lecture#16 Gift & E-Gift Cards 09.12.2020

Lecturer: Lecturer

Greetings. Lecture topic: "Gift & E-Gift Cards".

Gift card, gift certificate, gift voucher or gift token are different names for a prepaid card, the balance (face value) of which can be spent in a particular store or chain of markets. There are two types of gift cards: physical and electronic.

Technically, it is a generated code (sometimes along with a password) for a specified amount for payment in a store. Most often, the desired denomination can be selected when placing an order, there may also be boundaries, for example, from 5 to 1000. After the purchase, it is sent by e-mail or, in the case of physical cards, to a real address.

The idea is simple: money as a gift may be socially irrelevant, and instead of a thing that may be useless, a “Gift Card” is used as a gift and the recipient decides what to buy. Simply put, a ready-made card is a full-fledged, independent payment tool without banking transactions.

As a result, due to its popularity among consumers and the convenience of fraudsters, anti-fraud systems take particular care in this direction. Therefore, to believe that the realm of gift cards - "the promised land" - is wrong and naive.

Characteristics of gift cards.

1. Electronic.

There is an unusually widespread myth: "An electronic gift card cannot be blocked." This is not true, the card balance in this case is nominal; information is stored in a merchant's or bank's database. This means that the cards themselves are returnable and the probability of blocking depends on the material, anti-fraud system, "weather" and so on.

From the buyer's point of view, the financial turnover from ordering and receiving a card to purchasing or transferring to a third party is entirely within the scope of online activity. This eliminates the risks associated with the delivery address and the sale of goods. However, it does not override various client verifications and billing address validations.

2. Physical. In contrast to electronic cards, physical cards also have a material carrier of information - plastic, bar codes, a magnetic stripe. This makes blocking less likely (more difficult for the issuer to intervene) than unambiguously refundable electronic ones, but it all depends on the type of physical card and store.

Since a physical card is an object delivered by courier services, an address with all the ensuing consequences is required to receive a parcel: AVS, a niche for sale, opening hours of shops or post offices, shipping (and many official intermediaries do not accept them).

3. For physical and electronic in general. In theory, the card may have an expiration date or additional commission upon purchase, but these parameters are now regulated by law and are almost never found in the West. It is practiced in the CIS countries, which for obvious reasons are not taken into account.

Also, there are two types of cards: one-time and upgradeable. Unlike one-time ones that burn out after use, updatable ones save the code (or a combination of code-password) with the ability to re-enter the balance - usually via the link leading to the presentation of the card (arrives by mail) or somewhere on the store page.

In addition, maps have restrictions on the regions in which they can be applied, for example: US, EU, Canada, Worldwide / RegionFree. Depends on the nature of a particular store (local, global) and its assortment - in the global, regional maps can also be sold.

As a rule, the details and conditions of use are indicated in the product description, and the region can be additionally marked in the name of the card with a note like “Gift Card Europe / EU”.

Features of gift card shops.

There are four types of gift card shops: standard, intermediary, specialty, and corporate.

1. Standard. Clothing stores or other stores, with the ability to sell cards of your (and only your) brand. In other words, store "A" can only have "A" cards, not "B" or "C". Gift cards are a good marketing ploy, so many people use them to expand their assortment or for advertising purposes.

Standard stores have a generalized anti-fraud system, where gift cards are treated in the same way as orders of other categories, or with slight deviations (preset rules). Thus, this type of store is the easiest to operate.

However, it is important to note that the overall level of the store's anti-fraud system matters - if it is extremely high, the statement “most simple” may become irrelevant.

2. Intermediaries. Continuing the analogy, these are again clothing stores, but in which, in addition to cards "A", there are also "B", "C" and others. If in the first case the cards are marketing, here they are a developed category of goods and one of the items of income, and orders can be considered parallel to clothing.

Due to these circumstances and their result - meaningful statistics, intermediary antifraud systems have a larger set of rules regarding gift cards than standard stores. Naturally, working with the second type is more difficult (all other things being equal).

In some ways, both types are connected: the intermediary can sell standard cards. For example: when it is too tough to buy card "A" in a standard store "A", you can try to enter from the other side - through an intermediary, and buy "A" in store "B". Of course, it makes sense if the anti-fraud system "B" is softer, otherwise it will only complicate everything.

3. Special. They sell exclusively gift cards and nothing else. Specialty stores focus on a single product category that is also fundamentally prone to fraudulent attacks - gift cards. Includes two types:

• Secondary market - selling and buying gift cards from hands. It also happens in intermediary stores, the difference is that except for cards, there is nothing in special ones;

• aggregators. A large number of titles (usually tens or hundreds), while cards of other users are not sold.

Well-tuned mechanisms of anti-fraud systems, well-thought-out scenarios for all occasions and an extensive array of rules are not uncommon here, and the larger the aggregator, the more likely its anti-fraud system is. Consistent work with this species certainly does not go without complications and surprises.

Intermediaries (2) and aggregators (3.2) also have a common, non-obvious feature: in the same store at positions "A", "B" and "C" the anti-fraud system can have different settings. More accessible: let's say that scammers buy "A" more often than "C", therefore, the procedure for confirming the order of "C" can be slightly simplified.

This simultaneously saves store resources (man-hours, checks) and makes life easier for customers, while technically statistics continue to be collected, which allows adjusting settings in real time. This partly follows from the principle of comparing fraudulent orders mentioned in previous lectures, partly from practice.

The system can be called "flexible", however, "situational" too - it all depends on the size of the store, its policy and the total number of orders. Not every store has this feature (and you don't know about it in advance), but as needed, you can try to lower the brand's liquidity.

4. Corporate. Services are not for a wide audience, which are addressed by various companies and organizations on individual terms: bulk purchases, official cooperation procedures, checks. Also, the category can be in any of the types of stores - somewhere on the page you will be invited to contact support or follow the link.

In fact, closer to the transaction from a legal entity, accordingly, you may need bank accounts, shell companies (or their visibility thanks to information), communication with service representatives, verification. In terms of speed and frequency of work processes and financial turnover, it is the most unattractive method, but quite serious.

Work processes.

Once again, we note the importance of all masking components: IP address, digital fingerprints and active session - cookie, warm-up, client data. All this is especially important when working with a direction that is considered risky from the point of view of anti-fraud systems and banks, but in this context the choice of material, stores and structure is no less important.

Between this and then. To a certain extent, the described rules are relevant not only for gift cards, but also for electronic goods in general: activation keys, game codes, virtual balances, and so on. Topics are related, meaningful details differ.

1. Material. The first thing that comes to mind is credit cards. This is the most accessible and understandable way of working, in many respects consistent with the already familiar trends: firstly, it is more efficient to use less famous banks like Chase, BofA, CapOne, CreditOne, WellFargo, Citi, TD and others.

Of course, you should not be categorical, you can work productively with everyone. But such an operation as buying a gift card (all the more, given the availability of history and "habits" of the owner) by default creates additional risks, and with the use of capricious banks, everything only gets worse.

Secondly, the card system (Visa, MC, Amex), type (Debit, Credit) and level (Classic, Platinum, Gold). It is insignificant for the result, except for specifics: for example, fast chargebacks from Amex or balance from Platinum. However, it matters statistically, in the form of permeability of certain bins - this is always important. Let us also recall the lethality of card checkers.

The second most popular method: working with PayPal. Includes brute accounts and self-registrations. In the first case, the most important element of work is gift card shops, because the order most often comes to the email of the PayPal account. The password from the account itself and the mail may not match, therefore, the order will simply be lost.

As a result, there are two options: look for stores with the ability to purchase on an alternative mail or accounts with access to mail. Self-registers (or logs) automatically solve this problem, and all other details of the work are the subtleties of PayPal itself, that is, rocking, trust, payment instruments, cancellations and limits.

The last in popularity and the first in resource intensity method: special material - enroll, bank accounts. There are no obvious advantages, but in some circumstances it can become a lifeline: request for mini-deposits or verifications, work with corporate stores and services (for example PayPal), balance issues and billing.

2. Answering the question about finding stores, there are no fundamental differences between ordinary goods and gift cards: it is enough to use the keywords "E-Gift cards" or "Gift certificate", and if you have an exact goal - to combine with the brand name, you can go to all kinds of shops.

There is an easy way to find the name of a gift card that is guaranteed to go somewhere: assess demand. Services for buying gift cards on our forum are concentrated in the section "VCC, prepaid, checks, gift cards, coupons, vouchers". In their list you can find brands of different liquidity (the more% in your favor, the more liquid).

In addition to private services, there are peer-to-peer financial exchange platforms such as Paxful. This is a site for exchanging cryptocurrencies, bank transfers, payment systems and, among other things, gift certificates between users.

Here and on similar resources, the interest rates for the exchange of certificates can differ favorably, or you can find some interesting name of the store with which the "locals" do not work. Unfortunately, such services usually have extremely unpleasant conditions - various verifications.

Liquidity is determined by the store's product: brand awareness of clothing, electronics, appliances and market demand vary from 15 to 90 percent. In addition, liquidity serves as a kind of indicator of the complexity of a store to work, albeit inferior. The higher the percentage, the at least the "standard" stores are more demanding.

This, however, does not exclude the possibility of finding a simpler "intermediary". So, having chosen the name, a path opens to search for stores that have the necessary certificate in stock: "Buy" A "Gift Card". If the work is still not built using standard means, you can resort to tricks: enhanced warming up, user-agent of the phone, bedding.

In addition, a search by product categories ("notebook", "phone") along with keywords ("Gift cards") or a banal check of the assortment of everyone who is not lazy will notice "standard" stores that are not involved in the turnover of "aggregators" and without "intermediaries". In a word, unpopular.

3. The structure of the work. There are three main strategies when interacting with stores: using someone else's accounts, your own, or using a call. Logs, all sorts of accesses or brute-accounts (with or without their own, saved payment tools) can be referred to as "aliens". To "own" and to work by calling - registered manually.

When touching other people's accounts, you should refer to the information on the relevant topics, since working with gift cards in this case is one of the ways to monetize accounts, and not vice versa. Mentioned for information purposes rather than as a guide to action.

Placing an order by calling (ringing) is built similarly to any other forms of this work: substitution of a phone number, contact with store support. In the context of gift cards, it can be regarded as an alternative “approach” if the usual methods are no longer valid, as well as in the form of tests and information mining.

Then, having defined the goal and strategy, you can move on to work with the store. Basic warming up and masking are absolutely the same as when working with broadcast goods and in order not to repeat themselves, these details will be omitted. On the other hand, the direction of gift cards has distinctive features that are worth considering in detail.

Basket. Gift cards are quite mobile goods, the order with them can be modified. For example, 1 unit of goods with a nominal value of 200, 2 units with a nominal value of 100, 4 units of 50 - in all cases the amount is equal to 200, but each of the orders will be different. Moreover, the order can be placed together with any other product, conditional "socks" to the client's address.

Also, for electronic cards, you can select the delivery date, in other words, timed. All this in different combinations (today "socks", tomorrow a card) is a kind of warm-up, with which you can earn store loyalty. At the same time, it should be remembered: no "socks" in the order will relieve you of the assessment as "order with a certificate"

Logically, dealing with liquid stores is more difficult than dealing with illiquid ones. Sometimes you need to lower the amount of orders if you want to regularly sell only those certificates for which they give from 50%. With illiquid ones, on the contrary, because the work is relatively simpler, you can increase the amounts, thereby leveling the difference in percentage. For example:

A liquid certificate with a par value of 200 can be sold for 50%, minus investments (say, $ 15 - card and socks), the net profit will be: $ 85. In an illiquid store with a lower antifraud level, the denomination can be increased to 400, then at a rate of 25% per certificate, the profit will be the same ($ 85), but the difference in antifraud systems will remain.

The example is formal and does not take into account the performance of the material or losses, but in practice it says that it is not necessary to immediately rush to liquid stores and it makes sense to give preference to illiquid ones, especially being inexperienced in this area.

E-mails. At the stage of registration and then, placing an order, you will need to enter a total of two mails: the client (buyer) and the addressee of the electronic gift card (recipient). Both parameters are included in the array of anti-fraud system rules, which ultimately determine the fate of the order. The priorities, on average, are:

• a decent domain from among @gmail, @yahoo, @ hotmail / outlook, @aol, as a last resort - @ mail.com;

• if technically feasible, then corporate ("@ mysite.com") or specific like @comcast, @cox, @att;

• preferably with a name in the address - johndoe@mail.com. In case the name is taken, you can add numbers - johndoe33@mail.com, but without fanaticism;

• the name of the recipient can be generated on sites similar to this: https://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ or, at least, combine from different;

• undoubtedly, registration of social networks by mail and temporary staying can have a positive effect.

For diversity reasons, you can use a different domain for the recipient's email, such as the gmail buyer, while the recipient is yahoo. This is not to say that mail plays a major role in the evaluation of an order. But there is also reason to believe that these parameters are still taken into account, depending on the anti-fraud system.

In many stores, you can ignore the opportunity to send the certificate directly to the addressee, instead using delivery to yourself or simply entering the buyer's mail in the recipient's field (to then donate in person, use it yourself, etc.). The method is viable, but the concept of “recipient” may well increase store loyalty.

Personal message. A gift certificate is usually accompanied by something like a "postcard" - the text written by the buyer when placing an order in a special field on the product page. There is no need to write in verse or mathematical formulas - it is enough to compose a meaningful, natural message.

It can be birthday greetings, wishes on the occasion of a wedding, anniversary, funeral and other memorable events; a simple thank you or, say, a quote from a book. On the Internet, you can find entire sites on this topic for the request "congratulations on ... in English", which, nevertheless, are already worn up and down.

Leaving the field blank is not a good idea, because the message is somehow part of the whole customer image. Writing the same thing every time, especially in the same store - the idea is even worse for obvious reasons. The solution is simple: to replenish the vocabulary with semantic constructions from the above-mentioned sites and be creative.

AVS & Phone. When working with electronic certificates, it makes no sense to manipulate billing - the order comes by e-mail, unlike physical cards, which require a parcel delivery address. And yet, in addition to the address, billing has a phone number, and a call from a store, as you know, can become a nuisance.

Historically, the number is not a completely accurate billing attribute (having several, separating it into work and home is completely normal), therefore, as a countermeasure to calls, it can be changed. Despite this, at least for electronic certificates it will be better to leave the number correct.

Reasons: firstly, most stores would rather ask to be contacted than call themselves, and if they do call, this is either a small store with a small number of orders, or "error" in terms of statistics; secondly, the correct number is a positive feature through the eyes of antifraud systems. For physical change as needed.

Time orientation: when to work and how long to expect results. With physical cards, you need to take into account the opening hours and dispatch of parcels of the store, electronic ones for the most part do not depend on time, with the exception of manual verification of orders when operators work non-24 hours in small stores.

The typical purchase results for this area are as follows:

• Instant. Execution of the order instantly or within 5 minutes. For electronic gift cards, a positive result, for individuals - conditional, since the order has not yet been delivered;

• Instant Cancel, Decline and Verification. Cancellation immediately or within 5 minutes (Cancel), refusal before ordering (Decline), and request for verification. It does not differ from working with other categories of goods and demonstrates a negative response from the anti-fraud system, problems with a payment method or a store;

• Answer from 20 minutes to 12 hours - either order fulfillment or cancellation. In the case of gift cards, this is the average processing time without taking into account the working schedule, but if the store previously gave an instant answer, it may mean a re-analysis of the anti-fraud system or the operator's check of the order;

• Over 24 hours. Generally a bad sign: manual checking is almost inevitable; attempts to contact the owner of the material are possible. Moreover, it is not uncommon for a prolonged silence to be followed by the blocking of an account in the store if the client has been identified as a fraud.

Important note: some types of reactions may not be foreseen in principle - for example, processing will always take 12 hours. In such a situation, it will be possible to understand the attitude of the anti-fraud system only by the "Yes / No" results. Usually, you can find the approximate frames on the checkout page or in the product description.

For example, if something similar to "Instant Shipping" is written, it seems that there is a technical ability to process orders quickly. On the other hand, this is also influenced by the general condition of the anti-fraud system: at some point in time, due to a “bad mood,” it will not be inclined to compromise, regardless of the actions of an individual client.

Purchase - purchase of a physical product using a gift card. A physical card can be sold at a local store, an electronic card can be paid online. It is not possible to use physical for payment on the Internet or electronic in a local store with every brand.

The craft of gift cards, in particular electronic ones, allows you to use all the advantages of the sphere at once: AVS, completely online activity, a developed economic niche, relative independence from specific stores and services (not counting material suppliers, of course).

With all this, it is not always possible to implement a card in a stingy service or sell it on the forum, for example, due to illiquidity; in addition, the certificate can initially be bought for the purpose of merchandising, for reasons of a specific assortment, brand, store or for other reasons. And if this happens, you should follow the instructions.

First, payment: in stores there are restrictions on product categories, for example, you cannot buy another gift card with a gift card. Then the button for payment with a certificate will be inactive and / or this prohibition may appear in the product description.

A store account can have a top-up balance in order to deposit a number of cards for use at the same time. It looks like this: the position is worth 1000, with two certificates of 500 denomination the total balance for a one-time payment is added.

If there is no balance, then during the checkout process, they may allow the use of several different certificates as a payment method. And on the contrary, these options may not exist at all - there is no balance and payment with only one certificate, and if the product is more expensive - an additional payment.

Second, addresses: stores, especially liquid ones, are biased towards the addresses of well-known intermediaries and forwarding services, and even blacklisted them. A dubious address is a risk factor and it's best not to try your luck if possible. There is a complication on the side of intermediaries: not everyone accepts gift cards or the goods paid by them.

Of course, the order is made with a disguise (IP address, system) of the desired country and location for the addressee of the gift card (it is assumed that the buyer gives the card to a third party as a gift). In this case, it is not necessary that the name coincides with the one entered when purchasing the card - an uncritical indicator and in which case, it is decided by a call.

Third, to check the performance and balance of the card, there is almost always a special column (or button, page) on the store website with the name "Check Balance / Check Gift Card". Check if necessary, preferably from the IP address and masking of the country of the owner of the material, otherwise you can provoke blocking of both the card and the account.

It is better to switch from receiving an order to purchasing after a natural period of time, say, a day or several hours (if you buy on behalf of the person to whom this gift was handed over), but you can transfer the certificate to the services of a stingy immediately.

Reuse of payment methods - credit cards, accounts of payment systems. A cost-saving solution that is particularly effective in this industry. The amount of an order with a card is on average an order of magnitude lower than when working with other categories of goods, which ultimately kills less material and wastes balance.

Two scenarios for material reuse:

• after order cancellation (Decline, Cancel, blocking). It is rational when it is impossible to check the performance of the material with the supplier and subsequently return the money if he turns out to be dead. Non-returnable databases, elapsed time for verification, simple reluctance, etc.;

• after the implementation of the certificate (sale, merchandise). Realization should be considered the receipt of goods "on hand" or a net payment, until then the subsequent activity increases the likelihood of death of the material, and hence the first order. However, these circumstances are influenced by the type of material and the rate of return.

After the cancellation, it is necessary in order to more accurately verify the quality of the material and masking. If the order went to another store (with a different anti-fraud system), it looks like the matter is in the anti-fraud system of the first one and the client; if it is not possible to write anywhere from the word at all, even lowering the liquidity or the amount - there must be a problem in the material.

When used after implementation, it maximizes profits with virtually no additional financial costs if masking elements such as an IP address are still available. Two pertinent questions arise here: which store and the amount of the order to work with.

Firstly, working with the same store is advisable only with minor changes in disguise, otherwise the chance of re-evaluating the client from scratch increases and the loyalty earned by a successful purchase may evaporate. If the IP address is already out of date, you should choose a new store or postpone the case so that the changes are understandable.

Secondly, the amount of the order. In order to avoid the same type of actions, it is better to order in one store for different amounts - more or less depending on the type and level of the card. In different ones - as desired and without kinks, and if there were changes in masking, then you can lower the amount in order to slightly ease the pressure on the material.

Speaking about the time after which it is acceptable to use the material again, the recommendations are as follows: after cancellation, you can not delay and work immediately, warming up a new store, but you can go the other way - do not shake the material with many attempts one after another, since it hypothetically can be alive - waiting, for example, a day will not make it worse.

Once implemented, a balance needs to be struck between the urge to try and the consumerist pattern. Of course, buying yourself with a certificate every couple of hours is at least suspicious, at the same time waiting for months is not an option.

Ultimately, it remains to try somewhere between "immediately" and "sometime in the future", and then adjust the behavior in accordance with the reaction of certain bins and anti-fraud systems. Unfortunately, there are no universal answers.

As for the accounts of payment systems, the health status in most cases is known, because they mostly have access. If the order does not go through, this shows the degree of trust and swing of the account itself. There are no differences in time, except for the characteristics of the payment system (calendar restrictions on expenses, etc.).

When re-ordering, it is reasonable to change the recipient of the gift card. In general, the reuse of material not only brings additional profit and understanding of the work of certain stores, but also allows you to determine the vector of solving problems, to make sure of the material, disguise, bins.

Summing up everything described above, we can safely say that the field of gift cards is rich and difficult. Alas, not the best option for a beginner, but if the choice has already been made, you should not start with the most liquid and complex stores.

That's all. Moving on to the questions, put "?"

htuf_alf

does it make sense to use the card as part of the store warm up?

Yes, but this is a question from the area of warming up, not working with Gift You need to understand that warming up consists of many parameters and one specific indicator in most cases will not play the main role, gift is it or something else.

izolenta

How many "successful" approaches can be done with one ss?

If we take into account only those that have already been implemented once, then from one to three, in the best case - 5, but this is the direct limit of marking.

yarah

as always, great lecture. However, it also mentions "not the best option for beginners" again, okay, could you guys lead us to the best option for us beginners and give us a complete practical step by step method to get started practicing and making money?

thanks

Illiquid for different bill / thorn under the sting; redout - in short, a thing.

goldenbaum

Is it possible to use a flood or some kind of spam on the KX mail, etc. in order to get lost the letter in the KX mail, so as not to change the mail and not load the AF?

Yes, flooding is used quite often.

yarah

if you can say it in English that would be great, because the translation came out a bit out of shape: p

Reroute, illiquid staff on a different bill / shipp.

pana-cashe

How quickly do I need to redeem a certificate after purchase?

riba12

Did I understand correctly - that almost any shop has a gift system, and that it is easier to beat the gift (at the beginning) than to try to beat things with a problem by changing the beat / spike, etc.?

No, not every shop has Gift, and it is not even the simplest sphere to call it. Plus, things are a very broad concept: both ballpoint pens and hours for thousands of cu. e. - things.

ibintegral

Will we have online driving gifts or clothes?

Gift.

The same as in the case of clothing: the larger the amount, the more likely additional vigilance may arise. The average bill in gift boxes is from 50 to 500.

Since there are no more questions, thank you for your presence and wish you luck.

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