Off My Chest
RULES:
I am looking for mods!
1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.
2. Bigotry is not allowed. That includes racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and religiophobia. (If you want to vent about religion, that's fine; but religion is not inherently evil.)
3. Frustrated, venting, or angry posts are still welcome.
4. Posts and comments that bait, threaten, or incite harassment are not allowed.
5. If anyone offers mental, medical, or professional advice here, please remember to take it with a grain of salt. Seek out real professionals if needed.
6. Please put NSFW behind NSFW tags.
view the rest of the comments
I’m very confused by what you are saying here. So you chose the shop app way of paying, or it was the only option, and the only thing you forgot was to click “not save”?
Like, they are still the ones processing your data. They get your email even if they don’t create an account for you.
Use a credit card generator to buy stuff online. Then it doesn’t matter if it gets stolen. Privacy.com is available in the U.S. not sure what’s available elsewhere. And you can use fake names and addresses with them.
No. I did not use their app and I never will. It was an ordinary third party shopping site and I was trying to pay with my credit card information like online shopping has always functioned.
But if you order from a retailer who is affiliated with them, you have to remember to click the "not now" at the bottom of the order form.
This is blatant use of dark patterns. For the last 20 years it has always been a box to check for "remember my information". People tend to overlook that statement if they're in a hurry or distracted. The big orange "pay now" button right below it makes it even less noticeable.
Seriously, look at it. It is essentially saying "If you don't click on this link before you complete the transaction you agree to the Shop terms and conditions". This is a whole new level of asshole design.
To be clear, you did use the shop app, you just didn’t realize. That’s the screenshot you’ve shared.
I agree with this. To be clear they probably make an account for you no matter what, since it’s impossible to fulfill an order without doing so. How else would you get shipping information, updates, etc. but yes, they should really make it more clear.
Also I wonder when that changed that, or if it’s location dependent, because I remember it being a check box that was deselected by default.
To me "using an app" means using an actual app that is on your device. This is a screenshot from the checkout process on a website that isn't owned by Shop, but is clearly partnering with it. No Shop app is involved, it is in my browser.
Also you can complete the transaction without signing up with Shop. You do if you click on the "not now" link before checking out. Or by paying with Paypal. This perfectly demonstrates how insanely confusing all of this is.
I’m telling you this from a programmer perspective. That checkout screen you are seeing is Shop code, running on the webpage you’re using. It’s not code from whatever company you’re buying from. Shop is in control of it.
In addition, you’re “signing up” with shop no matter what you do here. Shop needs all of your information to complete the transaction, and will continue to need it until months have passed and the company that is selling you the product has completed their taxes and whatnot.
No matter what, shop will retain your information for a very long time. The only difference is whether or not you get an account to view that info, not whether they retain it.
Well that's even worse then.
In what way could you partner with a store front without giving information to that storefront? Tell me how it would work.
They definitely create an account-ish record for you when you purchase on one of their hosted stores, whether you voluntarily register a new account in a traditional sense or not. There is sort of a composite key of the shop's unique store ID and references to personal information collected about during your session, such as the email address you use when checking out. If you've used your email address on one hosted store and then use it again on another, your customer record will be associated with both stores. I work on this stuff every now and then. They already know all about you, and I don't really feel that it's necessarily super evil, but I also don't think it's marvelously great either. It's just kind of a practical use of the solution to a problem lots of retailers don't want to solve/maintain/fund themselves, and so they pay the platform do it for them.