Recently my card details were taken when a major ticket retailer’s website was hacked.

This is irritating anyway, but I didn’t think about it until my bank phoned to say the card had been used and would I confirm whether a selection of transactions were made by myself. Amazingly (to me, at least) the card details had been used in the United States, United Kingdom and Turkey within a matter of days.

The person(s) had been to the Carphone Warehouse, T-Mobile, iTunes, Tesco Online and a few other independant retailers. Walking through town last week I started to think about the music this person might have downloaded, who they called and send text messages to and what food they were buying.

It’s made me more interested in this sort of crime. As a consumer I did everything right; I used a very reputable retailer with SSL on the order process, I never gave my card to anyone else, I never wrote down the PIN and know I don’t have anything like a keylogger. Yet someone (in an age of CVV2 digits and chip and pin) was able to charge hundreds of pounds against my name. The user can’t have had the correct PIN or CVV2 digits, and the retailers still processed the transactions.

Interesting stuff!

(Oh, and. How did I know it would have been taken in London when I saw it?)

I think most web developers / designers have worked with at least one eCommerce platform. Up to now, the choice has been fairly good and many, many stores run on Zen Cart or osCommerce. The thing is, a lot seem to look the same, and the majority of individual stores don’t always seem to be treated with the love and care of some others on entry level paid platforms.

Personally, I really like the open source platforms because it brings new and interesting products online and allows owners of small High Street stores to join the online retailers. It works best when the products are unique mind; there must be 100’s of electronics stores online.

I’ve just been reading through the website for Magento - a new open source eCommerce platform. A few things stick out at first glance. The main developers actually develop very good eCommerce sites at the moment, and they talk about online stores not being a cookie-cutter experience.

As for the administration area, the screenshots and features look excellent. I can’t wait to download Beta 1 and start developing an example website with it.

I recently ordered two CD’s from CD WOW as the price was reasonable and I’ve found delivery in the past to be very fast. I’d have liked the CD’s for a journey on the 6th of July, so ordered about two weeks earlier. When I didn’t hear anything I wondered if they’d got misplaced here and they hadn’t, so I checked on the CD WOW website. It turns out they hadn’t yet been despatched, and once I found a contact form sent a question to enquire when they might be. A polite and well written reply came 46 hours later to explain they weren’t in stock, and were waiting to hear from the supplier when they would be available.

There is nothing to indicate whether a CD is in stock or not, but as everything had been so quick in the past I assumed it was. At the moment I’m £20 down, don’t have the CD’s and don’t know when they will arrive. I now feel less inclined to use CD WOW in the future - especially as the out of stock CD’s are still available to order. Had I received an email before initiating contact to explain that there would be a delay, I think I’d have felt better about it. Whilst I wouldn’t now tell someone not to use CD WOW, I’m more likely (if asked) to recount this experience than the other positive ones before it.

The CD’s aren’t available easily in the UK and I’ve always used eBay to get them from Europe. Next time I’ll probably do the same, and following a positive purchase from Play.com of a DVD that might be where I make my next normal CD purchase. To give an example - Time Capsule by the B-52’s it’s available on both. CD WOW lists it at £5.99, and Play.com at £6.99. However, Play.com tells me it’s out of stock, and if I wanted it urgently I’d just move on.

Communication is so important with customers - before, during and after the process. Whilst the reply from CD WOW was timely and professional, it would have been nice not to make it at all, and the stock level or delivery estimate to be available up front. It’s even more important for smaller retailers online where there are several other sites which can be found within seconds to make the same purchase.