I'm doing some market research on my eBook sales, please feel free to comment with whatever info you can provide.
That persistent reader who's been bugging me for weeks to put paypal buttons on my eBooks site says the way its set up now, the "modern angelic grimoire" would show up on his credit card statement. And that's a problem for him, he doesn't want Visa and Mastercard knowing what he buys with his money. He doesn't want someone seeing his credit card statements and finding out he's into Angelic Grimoires, I guess.
I'm assuming his spouse or parents wouldn't approve, or he's afraid some corporate human resources, government background investigators, or whatever might not approve of his purchases.
He said "what's normally done for this type of transactions is that the name of the "shop" is mentioned rather than the details of the product sold." Now, I don't know of any bloggers who sell eBooks who even bother going through all this effort to put in a payment option that charges more than another payment option already there. And the names of the "shops" I see selling things online aren't exactly subtle. Lucky Mojo, SomaLuna, Queen of Pentacles, Strategic Sorcery, etc.
So after shooting off a "keep your fucking money, coward!" email, I went on with my life until now. I'm wondering whether I'm fucking up here. Is it a major concern that people might see something occult on your buying history? Is it "normal" procedure to mask the purchases?
And how do my sales show up on your statement? According to this site, a charge on your statement only says "PayPal." It doesn't say what you bought. It's true on my bank statement. Are things different for everyone else?
Comments appreciated. I don't want to get anyone in trouble for buying my stuff.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
In my case I don't have problems on how the statement says, but in case you want to know, according to my bank:
ReplyDeleteGOOGLE *Rufus Opus google.com
I was born and raised Pagan, I was loud and proud for my ten years in the military and I was never in the closet until I first moved to where I am now, because of the sensitive nature of my profession. But that was over five years ago and I've been in the local newspapers twice, for doing what I do, so the fear is gone.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there are men women and children still bring tortured and killed for witchcraft right now, today.
Many of us are lucky enough to live in a world with true religious freedoms, without fear. Sadly we are outnumbered by those who are afraid to be seen in the new age / occult section of the book store. I see it every time I go.
There is a world that exist within this one where what we normally think, talk and blog about on a regular basis is the ultimate evil.
A world where possession of your grimoires can be much more devastating than a secret stash of fetish porn.
Yet equally gratifying.Grin.
I hadn't thought of that Joe. Maybe I'll change the references to numbers. Like RO-000001. I need to be able to track my sales consistently for reporting purposes, so I need to know what is selling, but I don't need to get anyone killed, fired, or discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteThe first thought though my mind was "Are you selling p*** here?" Seriously, the only sites I know that habitally hide their identity and the product names are from the "adult industry."
ReplyDeleteBut I do understand the concern. My mom used to be terrified that someone would find out about my activities. She would rather have people back home think that I am a criminal than an occultist, which I find to be a rather sad state of affairs. Of course, after a certain point I quit giving two cents about what she thought...it is her problem not mine.
Different people have different privacy needs or desires - some of them might seem valid to me (or whoever) and some might seem frivolous or cowardly, but that's probably the same in reverse when considering my own preferences. I don't broadcast my occult interests, which is a choice I enjoy having - I have my reasons (which include my profession), and maybe they're warranted and maybe not, but as it stands right now it's still a choice I'm able to make and I'm grateful for that. I can be open with my husband and the closest people in my life about who I really am, but I'm fortunate in that regard too. My parents don't number among those folk - if I were going to have That Talk with them, I'd rather choose that too than have it revealed by a bank statement.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that my previous purchase from you also read something about Rufus Opus * Google Checkout, but I can't remember if that was on my Visa bill or just the receipt. That said, my preference is for the store to show up because it's easier record-keeping. I don't enter 'oranges' 'pens' or 'kleenex' when I'm updating my bank records in Quicken, but I do enter the store name. I'd have thought that Google Checkout would have more options in regards to how it reports to you about what's purchased, odd.
Heather, Google lets you decide what appears on the credit card statements. It's always Google * [business name]. I have "Rufus Opus" in the business name field. I don't know what else to call myself for this stuff. I don't really have a business name. Maybe RO Enterprises? But then I'd need to get it copyrighted and trademarked and all that. SIGH.
ReplyDelete@Morgan: How do YOU know what adult industries normally do!?!? ;)
ReplyDeleteIt’s comments like that remind me how lucky I am to be married to a woman who makes porn totally superfluous.
As a PayPal user, if you let PayPal know that you are a business and switch your personal account to a business one (no charge for that when I did it a few years ago), you then enter in your business name. THAT is what shows up on statements, not the item purchased.
ReplyDeleteSo "Queen of Pentacles" does not show up on any credit card statements, it comes up as "Devi Spring - Healing & Spiritual Facilitation" (because I have several business ventures linked to my PayPal account). I was actually going to just go change it to "Devi Spring Enterprises" this week to further neutralize it since now I am selling items to people that may wish even more privacy as far as what they may be buying.
So, you can make it so PayPal says "R.O. Enterprises" or whatever fairly easily.
Hope that helps!
Joe is right, there are places in the world where this can get you killed. There are places here in the US where this can get you fired, can cause problems with custody/placement, can impact your ability to get a security clearance. It can even skew your results on a psychological evaluation if you answer truthfully, because these things that you suggest as possible are things that modern psychiatry does not admit as feasible reality.
ReplyDeleteSucks, but sadly it's true.