This week is National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) and PayPal is joining forces with eBay and the Federal Trade Commission to host a workshop tomorrow, Friday, February 9, from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. PST. The aim of the workshop to educate buyers on what they can do to help protect their identity and take questions on fake (phishing) emails and web sites, and give you practical tips for staying safe online.

OnGuard Online offers many useful tips from the Federal Government and the technology industry that are important for online retailers to consider when formulating and managing their shopping experience:

Know who you’re dealing with. Confirm the online seller’s physical address and phone number in case you have questions or problems.

Know exactly what you’re buying. Read the seller’s description of the product closely, especially the fine print.

Know what it will cost. Factor shipping and handling — along with your needs and budget — into the total cost of the order.

Pay by credit or charge card, for maximum consumer protections.

Check out the terms of the deal, like refund policies and delivery dates.

Print and save records of your online transactions.

PayPal recently launched its revised Security Center with a section dedicated to seller education which also provides a lot of good information on preventing online fraud.

And if you are attending our upcoming ChannelAdvisor Catalyst conference March 19-21 at the world famous Pinehurst Resort in NC you need to sit in on the Fraud - The “Big Bad Wolf” of the Internet panel. Hear directly from Rob Chestnut (eBay’s VP of Trust and Safety), Jeff Grass (buySAFE CEO) and Doug Schwegman (Cybersource fraud expert responsible for Cybersource’s outstanding 8th Annual Fraud Report) about their thoughts on eCommerce fraud and how much sleep you should be losing over it (hint: not really all that much).

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We’re excited to announce that ChannelAdvisor’s annual conference for multi-channel online retailers will be hitting the shores of the UK in April!

ChannelAdvisor Catalyst UK will take place on the 18th and 19th April in central London at the magnificent One Whitehall Place venue. We have two solid days of industry-leading speakers lined up to share valuable tips and best practices for online success in 2007.

Already we have the following speakers confirmed:

• Robert Swerling, Strategic Partner Manager, Google UK
• Nigel Whiteoak, Seller Experience, eBay UK
• Gareth Thomas, Associate Director, Brands2Life
• Scot Wingo, CEO, ChannelAdvisor (and author of eBay Strategies book and blog!)
• Speaker to be confirmed, Cybersource UK
• with many more soon to be announced!

We have limited places available for this event due to the size of the venue, so be sure to register soon to be assured of a spot. Registration costs £179 per person for two days, including meals, drinks and an evening reception at the end of the first day. However, if you register before the end of this month (midnight on Wednesday) you’ll be entitled to a generous discount - only £79 per person.

If you’re only going to one eCommerce event this year - this is the one to go to! We hope you can join the rest of the ChannelAdvisor UK team for what promises to be a great learning and networking event with a healthy dose of fun thrown in (just ask anyone who has come to one of our past events!).

Visit the Catalyst website for more details of speakers and sessions.

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Cybersource has just released their annual fraud report for the UK and, as always, it makes interesting reading. For those of you not familiar with Cybersource, they provide online payment solutions, such as fully automated credit/debit card processing services and sophisticated fraud prevention tools for merchants.

The survey included 150 respondents of which 50% were from retail sector. The majority of online revenues were in the £10m to £100m range.

Here are some highlights:

• One third predicted online revenue growth of over 50% for 2007

• 13% of respondents accept PayPal - 19% say they have plans to in 2007

• Customer service is No.1 concern, price competition is second, fraud is third

• Sales growth continues to outpace fraud - as a % of revenue, fraud has stalled or dropped for 84% of retailers

• Concerns that fraudsters will be more sophisticated in 2007, with identify theft being the key problem

• Only 36% of retailers have started the process of planning for PCI Compliance (June 2007) - and 40% currently have no plans to achieve compliance!

• Over-reliance on manual review continues - on average the respondents manually reviewed 1 in 3 orders!

• After June 30th 2007, retailers will be unable to accept Maestro online unless they have implemented Mastercard SecureCode functionality.

Helping retailers understand and automate fraud prevention continues to be a big focus for our team here at ChannelAdvisor and we plan to introduce new ways to do this in 2007. The good news is that users of ChannelAdvisor’s Merchant software platform can already take advantage of our built-in Cybersource integration in the US and UK.

UK blog readers - are you seeing the same trends as highlighted in the report? Let us know!

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Quick update on the must-read CyberSource 2007 Fraud Report. It is now available for download directly from CyberSource. Greatest bang for the buck and underscores again CyberSource’s leadership role around online fraud and prevention.

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PayPal quietly announced last week its PayPal Security Key, introducing two-factor authentication (something you know and something you have) to PayPal and eBay. A key chain device very similar to the popular SecurID product used by many corporations to protect VPNs and email, it randomly generates a new number every 30 seconds that is required when you log into your account (here’s a demo). So even if someone manages to phish your PayPal or eBay user ID and password they should still be unable to log in and buy that Peyton Manning jersey that surely will be worth gold in just a few days.

Is it 100% safe? Nothing ever will be. TameBay points to an article by Bruce Schneier that talks about means to defraud a shopper despite two-factor authentication. But it is still a step in the right direction for both eBay and consumers. I have used two-factor authentication before and the peace of mind is definitely worth it (although it’s annoying to have to look for your keys before logging in). And it’s a significant advantage for eBay as a marketplace. Being able to tell consumers “we’re the safest shopping destination in the world” is pretty powerful.

No news on when PayPal will officially be launching the key (I tried to order mine but when I followed the “Getting Started” link it simply said that it’s not yet available) or how they’ll be driving wide adoption. It’s only $5.00 to purchase but it may be in eBay’s interest to ship these to their PowerSellers and most active buyers for free.

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