WTH is the reason I need to show a copy of a utility bill to place an order on your site?

Hey, sorry for the hassle. It is indeed a fraud prevention step we have in place for first time customers. We have been hit with massive fraud rings in the past, and we almost lost our card processing account because of it. One dude was using stolen cards to buy powder jars from us, then using those powders to formulate his own nootropic supplement to start his own company! In the month we had it the worst, there was over $100,000 in attempted fraudulent charges on our site! It's was absolutely nuts. We had to put this stuff in place to stay in business. It really sucks, because I know we lose customers over it. However, the alternative was to go out of business entirely. Nobody else sees any of the data, though. It's only my team verifying things. We are not sharing that data with anyone. We just have to show our processor we are taking the steps to prevent the fraud. They are not involved in looking at the data itself.

I know it seems crazy. I had this happen when I ordered some car parts online a couple years back, too. I had the same reaction you did. What the hell is this company asking for?!? I was pissed about it all, too. However, then I had to live through the same thing, and almost had to shut my company down because of these asshole fraudsters. It made sense once I had to live through the other end of it. Until you see all the shady shit that happens in the background, you can be blissfully ignorant to how things are working. You also probably don't know our history with payment processors. We have lost more processing accounts, and I have sat in more bank lobbies than I care to even remember. The whole card processing industry is a big scam. We have had to build our relationship up over years with our current processing and banking partners. We have to use them, because we have been dropped or denied by everyone else. They consider nootropics "too risky" for them. Did you know we have to get all our products pre-approved by our bank? Yep, our bank gets to decide which products we are and are not allowed to sell... Did you know we pay almost 6% in fees on every transaction? It's absolutely bonkers! However, the alternative was to go out of business entirely. At least these days I don't worry that I am going to wake up to our processing accounts shut down and our bank accounts frozen like in the past. I can't tell you the toll all that stress took on me. I really can't adequately explain how many bank lobbies I have sat in, and how much time I have spent learning the ins and outs of the banking and card processing industries. Nothing will make me happier than never having to deal with this scam industry again.

So I really do understand the frustration. I have been exactly in your shoes before, too. However, there is a very real reason we have to do some of these things. If people only knew how close we have gotten to going out of business in the past; multiple times no less. There were some very bad days for us, all because of assholes stealing people's credit cards and using fraud to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else. If you PM me your order number I will speak to my finance team about it. I can have you resubmit the order and we will let it through. Again, I am sorry for the hassle. I really wish the world was different, and we didn't have to do these things to honest people because of the dishonest ones.