Nootropics Depot asking for a lot of personal information just to make a purchase...

I really do apologize for this. However, let me give a little insight into what has been going on lately. We just lost our 9th bank account, due to fraud from customers. Yes, nine bank accounts have been shut down now. We've had over a hundred thousand dollars in attempted fraud over the past year. There was an entire fraud ring that hit us, and made hundreds of accounts to scam us. It's the reason we lost our last payment processor, and the reason we no longer allow gift certificates. The fraudsters would use stolen credit cards to purchase gift certificates, which they would use the proper billing address for. So our systems would not catch the mismatch. Then they would use those gift certificates to purchase product to their actual address. Since the billing address matched on the first order, and there is no check for billing when using a gift cert, our systems did not catch it. We lost tens of thousands of dollars before we could stop it. Even then, we lost our processor, and it took months of trying to get the ring to stop. It was, and still is, a nightmare. The same people hit Powder City before they shut down, and I am sure they are hitting other nootropics vendors as well.

We got a new processor through a lot of work and contacts, and thankfully were able to get back to somewhat normal operation. However, we cannot lose this processor. We just can't. If we lose this processor, I am shutting the company down. I would have no choice. As such, we are being very cautious about approving larger charges for new customers. If you have a history with us, then it is not an issue. This is only for new customers with no order history. I completely understand the frustration. I had to deal with this same thing when I bought some expensive car parts online before. I was pissed, too. Who the hell do these people think they are asking for all this info on me?!? I get it. However, now I have lived through the experience of losing banks and card processors due to fraud. So I am on the other end of the equation. It sucks, because I know we are pissing people off, and losing customers. However, we cannot lose this processor. It would be the end of Nootropics Depot. I really am sorry. I wish I was not in this position right now. I wish people were just honest, and we could operate how we used to. The larger we get, the less honest people we attract. I'm sorry that has to affect you, and I completely understand if you want to go elsewhere because of it. I'm trying to fix things, but our banking and card processing system is broken, and it is destroying the nootropics industry as a whole.

Now let's talk about security. Every single page where you enter personal information on our site is secured by SSL. We do not have the product, info, or blog pages SSL secured like we do on Ceretropic. However, all the payment pages at checkout are secure. You can test this by making a test cart, then going to checkout. You will see the page becomes secure at that point. That's how Bigcommerce works by default. We can SSL the entire site, and we have been talking about it. However, there are implications to Google links when we do that. So we have held off till this point. The main takeaway is that every checkout page where you have personal information being sent to us is completely secured by SSL. We are not putting anyone's information at risk. This is the exact same way the site has been operating since 2013. Your information is completely secure.

Regarding the extra information we requested, the landing page instructing you what to do is not behind SSL. However, the Jotform itself is. Again, any page where you enter personal information is completely secured by SSL. Once your extra information is sent to my team, we review it, then delete it from Jotform's secure server. Your information is never kept by my team or on any server. It is used to verify, then destroyed. The reason we only give people 5 hours is because of the batch times. I'm going to give you some info about how the payment processing systems work that nobody really talks about. Hopefully this does not come back to bite me in the ass, but I like being open and honest. When you make a credit/debit card purchase on a website, you are actually only participating in an "authorize and capture" scenario at that point. That means that our systems take the information you input into our site, and verify that through the backend Visa/Mastercard/Discover/Amex systems. They tell us if everything matches, and go through a bunch of filters to check for the validity of the charge. At that time, your bank puts a hold on those funds. However, we still have not charged you. That only happens at the batching time later in the day. Then every charge that was authorized and captured earlier in the day gets batched, and the charges process like you would think. That's technically when the real charge happens. If we void the transaction before batching, we do not have to worry about any fraud coming back to bite us later. The card was never actually charged. So if it was stolen, nothing comes back to screw us later. If we let it batch, then things become real, and we have to fight things if they later turn out to be fraud. That's why we have a time limit on this. I know it sucks, and I am very very sorry that I am being put in this position that I have to do this to honest customers. However, that is why we only give so much time. If we void the fraudulent transactions before they batch, our bank never has to deal with it. The unfortunate reality is that not everyone is fraud, and we have to inconvenience honest customers. It kills me to have to do it, but it is only because we have to survive.

Our industry is getting absolutely hammered right now. Every major nootropics company has lost their processor at least once. A few have even gone out of business because of it. I almost had to shut Ceretropic down because of it happening in 2015. We are still fighting this adverse banking environment, and I don't know if we are going to ultimately prove successful. However, we are still here fighting. I've spoken to more banks and processors than I can accurately count now. Our system is broken, and many of the major nootropics companies many not survive till it gets fixed. I am so grateful that the /r/nootropics community has been so understanding and supportive throughout this whole mess. Our customers have jumped through a lot of hoops, and I cannot thank them enough. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a very open and honest person. Hopefully that comes across to people that don't know me as well. In no way shape or form will we ever scam a customer. If you have an issue with anything, you can always private message me here, and I will do everything I can to take care of you. We are trying our hardest to be the best nootropics company out there, even through all these hurdles. Before I opened Reddit and saw this thread, my morning was going to consist of going and sitting in a few new banks, and opening new accounts for both Ceretropic and Nootropics Depot. I can't tell you how disheartening it is to constantly have the rug pulled out from under you, when you are just trying to run an honest business. I don't want it to be hard for any of you to purchase products from either of my companies. I would offer any and every payment option under the sun if I could. The reality of the matter is that the world doesn't care. It will steamroll you and move onto the next, unless you keep pushing forward. While I am so burnt out by all this over the past two years, I am still pushing forward. I am still trying to build what I set out to years ago: to advance nootropics and make the community a safer place. I thank you in advance for any support and understanding that you send our way, and know that anyone can reach out to me here on Reddit if they are having issues or concerns, and I will always help you.

OP, please PM me your details, and I will make sure you are taken care of.