Orderbox - 14% off at Amazon and $.88 S/H per title (formerly....25% and $.01)
09-24-01, 06:36 PM
#151
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Originally posted by Numanoid
How many of us actually use the links from DVDTalk? When I shop, I manually go to the sites and look up prices, and order from the cheapest (well-respected) site. Or I use dvdpricesearch.com (aren't they related to DVDTalk?) and get the info I need. I still generally don't use their link, though. Maybe someone should let us know how it works to benefit DVDTalk as much as possible. (But they must realize that we're going to go for the cheapest price, in general.)
How many of us actually use the links from DVDTalk? When I shop, I manually go to the sites and look up prices, and order from the cheapest (well-respected) site. Or I use dvdpricesearch.com (aren't they related to DVDTalk?) and get the info I need. I still generally don't use their link, though. Maybe someone should let us know how it works to benefit DVDTalk as much as possible. (But they must realize that we're going to go for the cheapest price, in general.)
Order Box is different because you actually buy using their links instead. DVDTalk collects no commission on the sale. The reason it is a tough decision is because there is no discount using the affiliate links but there is/(was
) a sizable discount using OB.
09-24-01, 06:41 PM
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The ******** executives must have been whacked upside the head. Why do they reduce discounts if their membership grows? And with sites like deepdiscountdvd that offer free shipping, with only a 10% discount, their prices are not that much different from DDD.
09-24-01, 06:44 PM
#153
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Whoa, I didn't know the actual word ********. was blocked out.
Also this is part of the response I got from one of the Order box CS people:
CDNows prices are also frequenltly below the wholesale cost. Unfortunately we cannot post a list in advance since we determine the discounts for these items on an individual basis. I can tell you that ddd and bestprices will be the sites most affected by this policy
I had asked why Buy.com and CDNOW have lower discounts on them since they are relatively big companies. He said Buy.com is/might go out of business. I don't believe a word of their crap. CDNOW does not 'frequently' sell below wholesale, their prices aren't that great to begin with.
Also this is part of the response I got from one of the Order box CS people:
CDNows prices are also frequenltly below the wholesale cost. Unfortunately we cannot post a list in advance since we determine the discounts for these items on an individual basis. I can tell you that ddd and bestprices will be the sites most affected by this policy
I had asked why Buy.com and CDNOW have lower discounts on them since they are relatively big companies. He said Buy.com is/might go out of business. I don't believe a word of their crap. CDNOW does not 'frequently' sell below wholesale, their prices aren't that great to begin with.
09-24-01, 07:53 PM
#154
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Even though I am trying to be patient with OB, I am growing rather tired of (and even angry at) their constantly changing policies and not living up to the promises they made when we joined up. I don't think getting a bunch of people to sign up and then promptly and drastically reducing all of the discounts is very ethical. This smacks of "bait and switch" to me.
I was going to stick with them for a year but now I will probably cancel (especially after already receiving 2 incorrect items out of about 7 orders). I rarely can get a CSR on the phone and my e-mails have gone unanswered. I also have many, many "bids"that have been "processing" for a long time without action. I keep having to resubmit them. I was told by a CSR that bids for DVDs are never declined due to the fact that they are set by OB, yet now some of my bids are showing as "declined".
This company had better get their act together or they will go the way of Mobshop and other similar business models...
I was going to stick with them for a year but now I will probably cancel (especially after already receiving 2 incorrect items out of about 7 orders). I rarely can get a CSR on the phone and my e-mails have gone unanswered. I also have many, many "bids"that have been "processing" for a long time without action. I keep having to resubmit them. I was told by a CSR that bids for DVDs are never declined due to the fact that they are set by OB, yet now some of my bids are showing as "declined".
This company had better get their act together or they will go the way of Mobshop and other similar business models...
09-24-01, 07:57 PM
#155
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Woah, thanx for all the posts here about 0rderBox. I had been thinking my imagination was getting the better of me when the 0rderBox discounts were in the 9% to 12% range for all the "better" choices of DVD websites. Now, where is that archived message saying 25% discount till the end of the year? Oh well, in their terms of agreement, it says they can change their minds and terms as they see fit.
One other observation, 0rderBox price changes weren't retroactive to previously saved selections in the shopping cart. I have duplicate items saved in there with member prices that are in the 22 to 25% off range, but if I tried to add the same selection from the website, it would come up with 10% off. At 10% off, it is not too hot due to the added shipping (because for just a little more cost, I could buy it directly and give the referral fee to dvdTalk).
At first, I thought it was my bad imagination about 0rderBox price drift, so I started an experiment. Well, I had been saving duplicates as a way of seeing how prices were changing on a day to day basis at 0rderBox. Generally, the discounts were getting smaller and smaller and you could see this happen with each passing calendar day. The place this affected first was Buy.com followed by BestPrices and CDNOW later in the day. 1 day later, DDD was affected along with DigitalEyes.
Anyways, it is too bad I can't "transfer" an item in my archived 0rderBox shopping cart to someone else.
Oh well, how many people here have been ordering the WalMart GiftCards? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) They are good at Sam's Club as well. Wouldn't it be the absolute paradox if you were allowed to get a cash refund of the balance on the card at the customer service desk?
One other observation, 0rderBox price changes weren't retroactive to previously saved selections in the shopping cart. I have duplicate items saved in there with member prices that are in the 22 to 25% off range, but if I tried to add the same selection from the website, it would come up with 10% off. At 10% off, it is not too hot due to the added shipping (because for just a little more cost, I could buy it directly and give the referral fee to dvdTalk).
At first, I thought it was my bad imagination about 0rderBox price drift, so I started an experiment. Well, I had been saving duplicates as a way of seeing how prices were changing on a day to day basis at 0rderBox. Generally, the discounts were getting smaller and smaller and you could see this happen with each passing calendar day. The place this affected first was Buy.com followed by BestPrices and CDNOW later in the day. 1 day later, DDD was affected along with DigitalEyes.
Anyways, it is too bad I can't "transfer" an item in my archived 0rderBox shopping cart to someone else.
Oh well, how many people here have been ordering the WalMart GiftCards? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) They are good at Sam's Club as well. Wouldn't it be the absolute paradox if you were allowed to get a cash refund of the balance on the card at the customer service desk?
Last edited by Startide; 09-24-01 at 08:07 PM.
09-24-01, 07:57 PM
#156
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Yeah, I've been lied to before and I'm sure it will happen again. These guys got me to sign up by telling me that the 25% discount was going to continue until the end of the year. They just don't have their ducks in a row. They still claim that you get a $100 credit and we all know that is a load of crap. I'm going to collect my other pre-orders and cancel as soon as I get them. Then I'm going to insist upon a refund of my membership if/when they charge me because they lied to me about the terms of service.
09-25-01, 02:24 AM
#157
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Since the first month has a membership fee of $6.95+$2.95 which rounds out to ten bucks, I looked over all the pre-orderable titles for anime and the pre-orderable non-anime items. I assumed that the best best discount in the future would be 10% with a $0.89 S/H fee per title. If I bought one or more DVD through 0rderBox that was normally priced $18 at DDD, I would save an effective 5% on those titles.
I picked $18 DVD at DDD because that is about the right size for an average cost there. YMMV. Obviously, 0rderBox is better if the DVD are more expensive because your net percentage savings will go up per title. Simply comparing percentage savings (without considering the base price of the DVD) is not good due to the fixed S/H fee per title.
However, there is a catch. Do we really save by using 0rderBox or is the cost shifted? Okay, using the $18 DVD average DVD cost at DDD, if we save a net 5% on these DVD, you still have no savings until you've paid off the $5.27 monthly membership fee. This fee represents an annum 6.95 plus 2.95/month averaged across the remaining months in 2001. To breakeven on all costs of ordering at 0rderBox for year 2001, you have to buy about $105.33 per month for the remaining 3 months. Hmmm. Obviously, $18 DVDs are not a good deal through 0rderBox due to the S/H fee; higher priced criterions and the like are the way to go.
** typo fixed
I picked $18 DVD at DDD because that is about the right size for an average cost there. YMMV. Obviously, 0rderBox is better if the DVD are more expensive because your net percentage savings will go up per title. Simply comparing percentage savings (without considering the base price of the DVD) is not good due to the fixed S/H fee per title.
However, there is a catch. Do we really save by using 0rderBox or is the cost shifted? Okay, using the $18 DVD average DVD cost at DDD, if we save a net 5% on these DVD, you still have no savings until you've paid off the $5.27 monthly membership fee. This fee represents an annum 6.95 plus 2.95/month averaged across the remaining months in 2001. To breakeven on all costs of ordering at 0rderBox for year 2001, you have to buy about $105.33 per month for the remaining 3 months. Hmmm. Obviously, $18 DVDs are not a good deal through 0rderBox due to the S/H fee; higher priced criterions and the like are the way to go.
** typo fixed
Last edited by Startide; 09-25-01 at 04:03 PM.
09-25-01, 12:35 PM
#158
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Wouldn't the title of this thread be more accurate if it was changed to "14% off at Amazon and 0.88 S/H per title"?
Anyways, even CDUniverse/VideoUniverse prices have jumped up. I have one anime bid that is $17 from VideoUniverse, and the new VideoUniverse bid would be $20.99. Ugh.
I can see why so many of my older bids are not being accepted by 0rderBox. It seems that 0rderBox will "wait me out" until I submit a new fresh bid at their higher price.
Is it the end of 0rderBox deals? Not quite yet, but it's almost there. Ha, ha, I'd better save the shortcut for cancelling membership before they remove it. If they remove it and require cancellation through a phone call, I can see where it would be impossible to call them in time to give them time enough to process my request of membership cancellation to avoid that $7.95 + $2.95 fee in October.
----
Did anyone catch my math error in the prior post. I averaged the $6.95 membership fee over 12 months instead of 3 months because year2001 only has 3 months left before you have to pay the annual fee again. I define 0rderBox's term of "annual" to be 'annum', so I could be wrong.
Anyways, even CDUniverse/VideoUniverse prices have jumped up. I have one anime bid that is $17 from VideoUniverse, and the new VideoUniverse bid would be $20.99. Ugh.
I can see why so many of my older bids are not being accepted by 0rderBox. It seems that 0rderBox will "wait me out" until I submit a new fresh bid at their higher price.
Is it the end of 0rderBox deals? Not quite yet, but it's almost there. Ha, ha, I'd better save the shortcut for cancelling membership before they remove it. If they remove it and require cancellation through a phone call, I can see where it would be impossible to call them in time to give them time enough to process my request of membership cancellation to avoid that $7.95 + $2.95 fee in October.
----
Did anyone catch my math error in the prior post. I averaged the $6.95 membership fee over 12 months instead of 3 months because year2001 only has 3 months left before you have to pay the annual fee again. I define 0rderBox's term of "annual" to be 'annum', so I could be wrong.
09-25-01, 01:01 PM
#159
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Originally posted by Startide
Wouldn't the title of this thread be more accurate if it was changed to "14% off at Amazon and 0.88 S/H per title"?
Wouldn't the title of this thread be more accurate if it was changed to "14% off at Amazon and 0.88 S/H per title"?
Done.
Feel free to use the "Report this post to a moderator" function to guarantee a moderator sees comments such as this. Or, e-mail me directly.
-stevevt
09-25-01, 01:18 PM
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stevevt, thanx!
It seems that the trick of saving items in your archived shopping cart is now GONE as well. 0rderBox has adjusted the bid prices in my archived shopping cart ("Save For Later") items to be 10% off instead of their previous 18% to 27% off. At 10% with $0.88 S/H fees, it's much harder to save when you consider that you can use coupons elsewhere or give the referral fee to dvdTalk instead of splitting just a fraction of the referral fee with 0rderBox.
It seems that the trick of saving items in your archived shopping cart is now GONE as well. 0rderBox has adjusted the bid prices in my archived shopping cart ("Save For Later") items to be 10% off instead of their previous 18% to 27% off. At 10% with $0.88 S/H fees, it's much harder to save when you consider that you can use coupons elsewhere or give the referral fee to dvdTalk instead of splitting just a fraction of the referral fee with 0rderBox.
Last edited by Startide; 09-25-01 at 01:24 PM.
09-25-01, 02:01 PM
#163
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Originally posted by buskerdog
So is everyone cancelling their accounts? At least I got a bunch of stuff at 25% off and 1c shipping. Oh well. Another one bites the dust.
So is everyone cancelling their accounts? At least I got a bunch of stuff at 25% off and 1c shipping. Oh well. Another one bites the dust.
09-25-01, 02:07 PM
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Do they have monkeys in their program changing prices randomly? Last night, I could only get a 10% discount at every site that I went to except for cduniverse which was still at 25%. Needless to say, I loaded my cart up with about 20 titles, but saved the items for later...After reading what Startide wrote, I'm afraid to look at it when I get home.
Just doing some quick browsing at work, I'm now seeing discounts in the 18-20% range...
Just doing some quick browsing at work, I'm now seeing discounts in the 18-20% range...
09-25-01, 03:39 PM
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******** is the absolute worst. I have about 15 items that I ordered on 9/21. Although all of my other in-stock purchases were quickly turned around, these all still show as "processing". I went to ******** Live Help to inquire, and was told that they have a backlog that should be corrected in a few days.
When I pointed out that these offers would expire, they told me to resubmit them. I sent another message to confirm that the original discount would still apply, but was told only the new discounts would be in effect. When I flat out asked them if they were delaying my orders so they could be processed at the higher price, they told me I "could order them somewhere else".
No one is going to pay a yearly and monthly fee to save a few pennies on an order. ********'s discount for Idle Hands at DDD was 89 cents. Of course you have to pay 89 cents for shipping, so why bother paying a monthly/yearly fee to pay the same price. I'm just looking forward to the day they padlock that place.
When I pointed out that these offers would expire, they told me to resubmit them. I sent another message to confirm that the original discount would still apply, but was told only the new discounts would be in effect. When I flat out asked them if they were delaying my orders so they could be processed at the higher price, they told me I "could order them somewhere else".
No one is going to pay a yearly and monthly fee to save a few pennies on an order. ********'s discount for Idle Hands at DDD was 89 cents. Of course you have to pay 89 cents for shipping, so why bother paying a monthly/yearly fee to pay the same price. I'm just looking forward to the day they padlock that place.
09-25-01, 04:14 PM
#166
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Sorry for the typo in the price. I've updated the post from the incorrect $7.95 to be $6.95. If the membership is only for 2001 (annum) instead of being one full year from the date you joined (annual), then it is not so hot a deal as explained in my prior post. If your average DVD purchase at DDD is $18 per DVD, you would have to buy a little over $1OO per month at 0rderBox just to break even as compared to buying them from DDD through the dvdTalk affiliate link.
From the past several days, my bids had not been accepted until about the last day or the actual day the bid was going to expire. I wish I could shorten the bid duration because after I renewed a bunch of them, the new expiration date on many of my renewed bids will fall outside of the 3O-days free membership limit. If 0rderBox has the habit of letting bids ride until a certain quantity builds up, then I guess I'll lost the bids when I cancel the membership.
---
I guess I've saved a lot at 0rderBox (4O bid items, about 2O accepted), so I shouldn't bellyache too much. *wry grin* Anyways, there was one item on my invoice listing marked "shipping" but it was replaced with "back ordered" status. So, things can quietly change. Otherwise, no nefarious changes or discrepancies between the website and my printouts and paper markup copies. What is annoying is that all of my remaining bids are not being accepted by 0rderBox because they were at the lower prices prior to the infamous price rise. The items are in stock and shipping, so the refusal to accept the bids must be on 0rderBox's end.
From the past several days, my bids had not been accepted until about the last day or the actual day the bid was going to expire. I wish I could shorten the bid duration because after I renewed a bunch of them, the new expiration date on many of my renewed bids will fall outside of the 3O-days free membership limit. If 0rderBox has the habit of letting bids ride until a certain quantity builds up, then I guess I'll lost the bids when I cancel the membership.
---
I guess I've saved a lot at 0rderBox (4O bid items, about 2O accepted), so I shouldn't bellyache too much. *wry grin* Anyways, there was one item on my invoice listing marked "shipping" but it was replaced with "back ordered" status. So, things can quietly change. Otherwise, no nefarious changes or discrepancies between the website and my printouts and paper markup copies. What is annoying is that all of my remaining bids are not being accepted by 0rderBox because they were at the lower prices prior to the infamous price rise. The items are in stock and shipping, so the refusal to accept the bids must be on 0rderBox's end.
Last edited by Startide; 09-25-01 at 04:37 PM.
09-25-01, 04:51 PM
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Originally posted by Startide
stevevt, thanx!
It seems that the trick of saving items in your archived shopping cart is now GONE as well. 0rderBox has adjusted the bid prices in my archived shopping cart ("Save For Later") items to be 10% off instead of their previous 18% to 27% off. At 10% with $0.88 S/H fees, it's much harder to save when you consider that you can use coupons elsewhere or give the referral fee to dvdTalk instead of splitting just a fraction of the referral fee with 0rderBox.
stevevt, thanx!
It seems that the trick of saving items in your archived shopping cart is now GONE as well. 0rderBox has adjusted the bid prices in my archived shopping cart ("Save For Later") items to be 10% off instead of their previous 18% to 27% off. At 10% with $0.88 S/H fees, it's much harder to save when you consider that you can use coupons elsewhere or give the referral fee to dvdTalk instead of splitting just a fraction of the referral fee with 0rderBox.
09-25-01, 04:59 PM
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For anyone thinking of sticking with OB for the shipping savings, please note. It is listed as a "promotion" on the site. This means that it can and probably will change as everything else has since I "joined".
Based on poor customer service, incorrect shipments, constantly changing policies, "bait and switch" discounts, and having to babysit each bid to make sure they finally act on them; I cannot see sticking with OB and definitely would NOT recommend anyone join. I can only hope I finally get credited for the mis-shipments and return shipping costs and manage to escape this place with my sanity intact.
The miniscule savings from OB are definitely NOT worth the trouble
!!!
Based on poor customer service, incorrect shipments, constantly changing policies, "bait and switch" discounts, and having to babysit each bid to make sure they finally act on them; I cannot see sticking with OB and definitely would NOT recommend anyone join. I can only hope I finally get credited for the mis-shipments and return shipping costs and manage to escape this place with my sanity intact.
The miniscule savings from OB are definitely NOT worth the trouble
!!!
09-25-01, 08:05 PM
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Updating my previous post, I called XXXXXXXX to make sure that I received accurate info from the Live Help. Unfortunately, the previous info is correct. Specifically, once an offer expires, only the new discount applies. Here's the sneaky part, though. If you click the "Resubmit" button that accompanies an expired offer, you have just submitted an offer at the new price. Again, this was confirmed by phone by XXXXXXXX customer service.
When I pointed out that the backlog convienently coincided with the new pricing structure, the CSR told me that the only reason for a bid to still be pending is because the item isn't popular and the ability for XXXXXXXX to buy in bulk was not yet available. This is a total load, because not only do I have 4 or 5 of Amazon's top selling DVD preorders pending, but the top selling book at Amazon also. After making that point, I was reminded that I can always close my acct and go elsewhere; which is exactly what I'll do once I've received all 30 DVDs that I managed to sneak in at the old discount.
When I pointed out that the backlog convienently coincided with the new pricing structure, the CSR told me that the only reason for a bid to still be pending is because the item isn't popular and the ability for XXXXXXXX to buy in bulk was not yet available. This is a total load, because not only do I have 4 or 5 of Amazon's top selling DVD preorders pending, but the top selling book at Amazon also. After making that point, I was reminded that I can always close my acct and go elsewhere; which is exactly what I'll do once I've received all 30 DVDs that I managed to sneak in at the old discount.
09-25-01, 08:17 PM
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Well, now I am completely confused. I have re-submitted many expired bids and they always show up as the same price. If they charge me anything different you can bet I will be screaming about it.
There is a randomness about this site that is really baffling. I am now getting the 25% off discount again. Can't figure this out but once I can get my current orders to go through I am GONE!!
There is a randomness about this site that is really baffling. I am now getting the 25% off discount again. Can't figure this out but once I can get my current orders to go through I am GONE!!
09-25-01, 09:20 PM
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Sounds like a lot of you guys are having problems but my experience has been great. I've ordered like 20-25 things from them, gotten them all for 25% off (mostly from alldirect's super low prices - I think I'll be buying from them in the future), and I received them promptly (usually within a day or two after I was charged). Four of my bids were declined but they were immediately accepted when I went to place them again. Actually, there has been one slight problem. I ordered Blood Simple and both Cape Fear's, and they are still listed as back-order/pre-order. At least they haven't charged me for them, but the reason I placed the order in the first place is because I would eventually like to receive them.
But based on everything I'm hearing, and common sense which says they'll have to raise prices even more or quickly go out of business, I'll be cancelling my account before my 30 day period ends (10/8). It was fun while it lasted.
But based on everything I'm hearing, and common sense which says they'll have to raise prices even more or quickly go out of business, I'll be cancelling my account before my 30 day period ends (10/8). It was fun while it lasted.
09-26-01, 11:59 AM
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huzefa, they may have gotten to my archived cart because it was so very big and attracted their attention. If they didn't get to your cart, that suggests that it is a manual process for them as opposed to them running a routine that swept their database to change everyone's archived cart values to have only 10% discount.
HINT: I remind people that once all their purchases are received, to change the CC number on file with their account to an expired or 4111 guard number. Change it several times in case there is a buffer that remembers the three most recently entered numbers. Then, if invalid charges appear, they will be submitted against a bad number, thus forcing them to talk to you. So, no more of this "take it or leave it" attitude from them in that case, hopefully.
HINT: I remind people that once all their purchases are received, to change the CC number on file with their account to an expired or 4111 guard number. Change it several times in case there is a buffer that remembers the three most recently entered numbers. Then, if invalid charges appear, they will be submitted against a bad number, thus forcing them to talk to you. So, no more of this "take it or leave it" attitude from them in that case, hopefully.
09-26-01, 12:05 PM
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Startide, what do you mean by "4111 guard number"? I would like to change mine before I cancel, but I'm afraid if I make one up and it ends up being somebody else's number then I could get it trouble. Can I just change the expiration date to one that has already passed?
09-26-01, 06:03 PM
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Originally posted by Matt925
Startide, what do you mean by "4111 guard number"? I would like to change mine before I cancel, but I'm afraid if I make one up and it ends up being somebody else's number then I could get it trouble. Can I just change the expiration date to one that has already passed?
Startide, what do you mean by "4111 guard number"? I would like to change mine before I cancel, but I'm afraid if I make one up and it ends up being somebody else's number then I could get it trouble. Can I just change the expiration date to one that has already passed?
American Express: 3111-1111-1111-1117
Visa: 4111-1111-1111-1111
MasterCard: 5111-1111-1111-1118
Discover: 6111-1111-1111-1116
The technique of changing CC several times is needed because some sites may keep a record of the past ten numbers. So, it is possible to create a simple VB program (or even written in Microsoft Access...) to generate some fake numbers for you to "guard" your true CC account number against charges that you don't approve of.
NOTE:::
The technique of using "guarding" your CC accounts was proposed LAST year on dvdTalk by an unknown poster. This was in response to the many sites that kept records of your current CC number on file. This meant that those Russian hackers (and others, such as binLaden types looking for quick hits) hacked their way into the website and collected CC so that they could put some $10 telecom charge onto it.... There are some CC that I can scarce afford to have cancelled due to fraud or some company's refusal to remove me from the automatic membership fee charging for one additional month beyond what I approved.
09-26-01, 10:10 PM
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0rderBox has been changing my successfully INVOICEd items that were marked as "SHIPPING" to now be back-ordered. Several more were changed today. I am wondering if they do this if your membership is within 5 days of expiration as a means of encouraging me to wait past the 30-day deadline. Anyways, this is only slightly annoying. I was under the assumption that if it was marked "shipping" and a shipper "usps" was assigned, then the item had arrived at 0rderBox and was being sent out.