Best Online HB Shop?

[Lillywhite]

And, yes, they are easily one of the best mail order HB shops in the country.

Agreed and that's why I've drawn this to the attention of their owners because I would hate to see their business suffer.

[PMH0810]

I have worked for firms who have nothing other than a pdq machine for online and telephone transactions and there have never been fraudulent transactions on my watch (I'm an accountant and therefore auditor).

Remember, even pdq machines have to be supplied and supported and their continued use is a privilege that can be removed. What small user,having qualified for a pdq machine, would risk losing future online or phone business over making an extra £3 pet transaction?

[slipperywidget]

OK - Not exactly the response I was expecting given the bad press online shopping and security gets some times.

Processing cards correctly is NOT expensive, it's just costs a little more than using a PDQ machine. All they pay is a little more in commission and/or a small monthly fee. Clearly, the owners of Hop & Grape and the like are happy to risk your security in order to save a few pence per order. I've had a scout around the internet over the past couple of days and it appears plenty of home brew sites (regardless of size) are processing cards correctly. If H&G and THBS are as good as you say they are, why are they so lax about customer security? Ignorance is no excuse because if they didn't know about this, what else don't they know about?

Some of you seem to have misunderstood my concerns - It's not the shop owners that are likely to commit fraud. It's the fact they have credit card details from both sides of the credit card and the registered address written down, printed off or stored on a PC. Even if they shred the paper, there is scanner software that anyone can download from the internet that can re-create the documents - it's not hard to do or expensive to obtain. Their PC could "hacked" into, get a virus, or (now the world knows that have credit card details stored, thanks to other posts confirming it), be stolen!

I'm sure Hop and Grape, The Home Brew Shop and anyone else processing cards using a PDQ are trying to give good service, but clearly they don't realise the risks they are creating for their customers and themselves. They are almost certainly in breach of their contract with their merchant facilities provider who, as PMH0810 states, can withdraw service at any time.

What really amazes me is the attitude of "Andy". Would you write down your credit card details and give them to someone so they can go shopping on your behalf? Because that is what you are doing. Even if you are happy to do that, your card company and bank won't be - you need to read their T&C's - you may find your not as protected as you might imagine.

That's the last I'm going to say on the matter.

[techtone]

sounds like to me slipperywidget is another hbs, trying to give, 2 of the best hbs in the UK a bad name

Or a "freelance software developer" trying to identify companies that require the services of a ...."freelance software developer" or a company that utilises said persons. (Ford Motor Company or otherwise)

I am also a freelance software/website developer and would have no concern of using the named companies and certainly have no concern that they are acting illegally or acting otherwise to their terms, conditions and operating procedures.

[Andy]

I'm also a software developer and have worked on chip and PIN payment solutions in the past. I stand by my comments - I'm happy to provide my card details for retailers to use in PDQ machines, I have faith in honest retailers.

[Jim]

.................That's the last I'm going to say on the matter.

Suits me.

[joel_m]

I've used the home brew shop in Farnborough and the art of brewing in chessington and they have both been really good and helpful although I have to say I haven't used either of them on line other than working out what I want to pick up before I take a trip over there.

[sam c]

does anyone use american online shops or is the postage too much? i just thought that maybe they have beer kits, ingredience and equiptment that we dont get in england.

[Flibblebot]

For the weight of most homebrew stuff, I'd imagine that the shipping could get rather expensive.

As an example, I was looking at a bottle of StarSan from morebeer.com in the US, and they wanted $33 to ship an item that only cost $15 - and that's by standard post. To ship the same by UPS, they wanted over $100!

Still, we have a very good range of equipment, ingredients and kits in the UK - no real reason to shop from the States, unless there's something you absolutely must have.

[PMH0810]

There's also the qustion of import tax... Not nicewhen the postie hands you a card demanding £40 for the privilege of ordering in 4 pairs of trousers that fitt from JC Penny...

[Mike Bowler]

Andy wrote: Sorry Mike (and all other posters), had to delete this post:-

Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

[PureGuiness]

Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

[Mike Bowler]

Content deleted in accordance with forum rules.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

So far I've used:
BrewGenie
THBS
a.n.other

all without a hitch. BrewGenie were much the fastest but that may be because I'm in range of their local delivery.