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What is a cross sale ? A cross sale is an arrangement whereby by buying one thing, you also buy another. They're part of every business, online and off, buying a camera might also get you a set of batteries, buying a car might also get you insurance, buying a magazine subscription might also get you a DVD.
Correctly and visibly described, and when you take positive action to avail yourself of them they are nothing more than a convenience. But under certain circumstances, they are not a convenience, but a form of fraud.
When is a cross sale fraudulent ?
- When the item being cross-sold is not correctly or completely described.
- When the payment or billing arrangement is not correctly or completely described.
- When the cross sale is not the result of specific, intentional action on your part.
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The most common forms of fraudulent cross sales :
- Hidden cross sales - When you're not even aware you are also buying a second product.
- Obfuscated cross sales - When the cross sale is being described in tiny font, or hidden among miles of long tedious text. Fraudulent merchants will use all sorts of techniques, like spelling out dollar amounts (so $45.95 becomes "forty five dollars ninety five cents" in the hopes taking out digits and the $ symbol will help it pass notice); hiding the text in different manners, anything they can think of to try and steal a buck.
- Hidden rebills - You sign up for a free service, or a trial service with a minimal price (usually 1 dollar), which then rebills if not cancelled after a few days, at a significantly increased rate. If either the cancellation requirement or the rebill cost are not prominently disclosed, or if the cancellation process works inadequately, the rebills are hidden and the cross sale is fraudulent.
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