¢heap Guy Gamer V.2

Rants from a cheap guy working in the MMO Virtual Sales Industry

More often than not you will see a gold seller request a phone call or id when making a gold purchase. This may not be listed bluntly on the FAQ(or not at all) because the concept usually deters customers. However, the service should be able to tell you if this is required by contacting them by email or live chat.

Now you may scream “omg! identity theft!” if they request an id, but you need to keep in mind that Virtual Goods are a pain when it comes to preventing fraud and unwarranted chargebacks. There is no physical item to track, and screenshots of something in-game or of some text is hardly proof of anything received/delivered; not to mention PayPal accounts only need a username and password to make a purchase. Those of which are often stolen because people attempt to login to them from a fake link in an email by someone pretending to be PayPal(aka phishing.)

While it can be bad to freely toss around an image of your drivers license, companies normally understand this and will ask for an array of different items to prove you are the owner of the card/account. The most common and safest option would be some mail, and everyone should have this. Be it a bill, credit card offer or a playboy magazine, everyone age 15+ will get something with their name on it  in the mail. This option provides the basics needed to confirm your identity and it’s nothing worse than what can be found in the public directory. If the company does not allow mail to be used then try to find the next safest option, but if an ID is required see if they will allow the id number and photo to be covered.

Here’s a couple additional tips as well:

1. Don’t say to the customer support: “But my PayPal is verified and I have a confirmed address”, it’s likely to just to irritate them. Seller’s protection does not cover virtual goods, so that’s about as useful as saying that some hooker in an alleyway can vouch that you are legit.

2. If for some reason you have no digital camera, camera phone or scanner to get an image on your computer then just go to Kinkos, Staples, etc and get it put on a disc.