It’s number 23,239 in a series of outrages…
Hi All, Not a problem for Snuff Store, but this and has been bubbling for a while. Fortunately Snuff Store has an understanding, if a little strict processor - there’s only a few UK based processing companies left that we can use, it’s all very ‘big brother’ with processing companies telling us what’s best for our health! PayPal is not an option Snifs, they banned tobacco sales on their processor ages ago, long before the others got on their high horse about it. I think a couple of stores fell foul of this when it happened, had their accounts frozen and a real fight to get money back - it may have pushed a few ‘under’. Ta-Ta TimSnuff Store
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Dave - the only trouble wwith that I have found is them putting a limit of 1 non-US transaction per 30 days. I had to call and yell at them to make them take it off.
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This is terrible news. I was planning a big order from My Smoking Shop. I went ahead and made the online order anyway just in case but it doesn’t sound good. I did put in a Toque order tho and got e-mail confirmation right away. One would think that with the CC companies reeling from the recession they’d be eager to allow as much business as possible. Hopefully this will get cleared up soon.
Yes, because of the card processors, NickKick. Visa and MC are telling the vendors what they can receive payment for and what they can’t.
I would guess, as I stated before, that these companies could accept an IMO(International Money Order), and take orders like that. It would suck a bit, but it’d be better than nothing. Though from what others have said, it’s not affecting all shops, and my main concern is it doesn’t affect the US distros like MrSnuff and Nicotinerush, etc., as I usually always buy from a US distro.
Sadly, I received the e-mail back from Simon at My Smoking Shop today. No more U.S. orders. What a terrible shame. Looks like Toque is still in the game for now. Any other UK vendors still able to sell. How about Rajek’s? Did they get hit by this too?
I can see two sides of this. First the Credit card companies feel they don’t want to be attached to the purveying of tobacco products. But do they still let one buy porn off the internet? and pay for prostitution? I don’t know this. I don’t want to come over as a goody goody, but I’m not in the market for the last two, so I don’t know. Having said this, I do feel, as with bank notes and coins, that you should be able to buy what you want.
What about alcohol? The bottom line is this is your money, and a legal item you wish to buy with it. It’s simply an infringement on your rights as a private citizen. Is it the actual credit cards? Or an inbetween? As other shops said they are fine. And Spyro, you could ask them if they’d accept an IMO, or US cash even. Sure the mail time, is a drag. I have done both with non snuff pruchases overseas, and it was OK.
Someone ought to sue them for restaint of trade. I mean some BIG company with a lot of money.
Going back a few threads… It’s not a new problem, nor is it a specific UK / European problem, nor has it effected all sites - as Roderick said, he’s fine. Snuff Store hasn’t a problem with accepting international orders - although our processor is a little strict. I think the problem was first encountered in the US, it’s now making it’s way round the globe. Hence why some US sites who’ve had their processing facility removed use Canadian companies to process orders. Or manually process the card through a terminal after the order has been made on site - which is a big ‘no-no’ as far as security of card details / terms of use of terminal is concerned, but perhaps a different story. In the UK, as long as we use a processing company instead of a bank, we seem to be fine. The problem this causes is there’s another ‘slice of pie’ being taken by the processing company… But that’s better than not being able to accept any card orders! International Bank Transfers are another option. I don’t think any store would have a problem accepting these, so why not ask the store in question if this is a viable alternative? I certainly don’t have a problem with accepting this method of payment and a number of Snuff Store’s international customers use this option - if you want Snuff Store’s Swift Bic details, then drop me a line. International Money Orders - do you mean like Western Union? There’s very few locations for these in the UK and they had a bad reputation for money laundering a few years ago… But I’m not sure about the viabilty of accepting payment using this method as I’ve never been asked, I could enquire if it was the preferred route of a customer and there was an office local enough to make the journey to pick up worthwhile. Strangely there’s now a few ‘new’ online payment methods available - such as paying at a outlet like a petrol station, like what people do with pre-paid gas and electric meters and getting a code to enter on the online store, although I think these are still localised to the ‘host’ country. If enough people wanted this method, then I’d look into that too. Ta-Ta TimSnuff Store
Its a mockery of capitalism and free trade. Since this isn’t coming directly from a government agency but rather businesses then its simply a matter of flexing our consumer muscles. Unfortunately, I think some merchants, including Simon, have probably just thrown in the towel for now out of frustration and maybe to initiate an uproar. I actually try to spread my purchases around between shops to help keep the snuff business healthy but some varieties are only available via overseas purchases. (Kudos to NicotineRush, Mr. Snuff, and others for doing their best to make our US selections as optimum as possible.)
IMO is just like an MO, it’s not a check, but you take an amount of money and get an IMO for it, and it’s a piece of paper, like a check, but it’s not from a bank account, it’s like actual money(the amount on it, that you already paid for). And then that is mailed. And then, what about personal checks? I know they have to be held to clear. But I guess that’s an option too, even for non-US stores? I don’t know. There is another pay format, ebay users used to use it alot… I have/had an account, but haven’t used it in years… I can’t even remember the name of it now, but it was popular a while back, as an alternative. But could’t one also just email the shop with one’s CC info? I am not having these problems with my purchasing, just wondering what options would be available if I did.
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Regarding a back up plan incase big brother shuts us completely down- let me ask this: Why couldn’t a smoke shop sell gift cards (kind of like Amazon or Ebay), use your credit card to purchase a gift card for that store, then use the gift card to purchase the product? The card could be an e-card (like Amazon) or it could be credited to your account. I would love to get Tim’s take on this
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