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Privacy is awesome - one of the few services I highly recommend to anyone who makes purchases or pays bills online. Slick interface, product just works (except

by mholt 8y ago

Privacy is awesome - one of the few services I highly recommend to anyone who makes purchases or pays bills online. Slick interface, product just works (except once when I pre-ordered something from Best Buy and that's because Best Buy had a very weird authorization flow that did two charges, instead of an auth + charge) -- and the benefits are great. Best of all, merchants cover the costs, so it's totally free as a consumer (edit: meaning, no monthly fees, etc -- of course merchants have to cover their card processing costs still). Their support is great, too. I do wish their referral or spending perks were a little more enticing but the privacy benefits are still great overall. Will be thinking about how I can effectively use the API... EDIT: Woah, this is REALLY cool: > Similar to the transaction event, auth stream decisioning will allow your system to dynamically approve and decline authorizations. https://developer.privacy.com/docs#auth-stream https://developer.privacy.com/docs#auth-stream I smell a two-factor purchase flow in my future... (edit again: maybe not)

lisper 8y ago
> so it's totally free No, it isn't. A hidden cost is not the same thing is a non-existent cost. One way or another, you are paying for this service. Having the money only show up on the merchant's statement does make it a little easier to bury your head in the sand about it, but at the end of the day that money is coming out of your pocket one way or another.
- mholt 8y ago
  A merchant has to cover card processing fees whether I use Privacy or not: my costs are exactly the same whether I use Privacy or a physical credit card.
  - lisper 8y ago
    That doesn't mean that Privacy is free. It just means that the system is rigged to hide its cost from you, and possibly to make you pay that cost whether you use it or not. But one way or another, that cost is not zero, and you will end up paying for it whether or not you are aware of it. There simply are no other possibilities.
  - redindian75 8y ago
    You lose credit card protections, cashbacks (at least 1% or miles) - so it is basically a debit card purchase. I lose at least 1% everytime I use privacy (all my creditcards are at least 1% CB). But I like the convenience of not having to get up and reach my wallet from the bedroom. So it is not free.
    - mehrdadn 8y ago
      More like 2%, since Citi gives 2% on everything... Also note that Citi has virtual account numbers already. It's kind of clunky but it works.
      - nicholasjarnold 8y ago
        Does the Citi privacy policy promise not to sell your transaction history to 3rd parties? If no, then Privacy's service offering is still attractive from that perspective.
        mehrdadn 8y ago
        Not quite, but (a) Citi lets you opt out [1] (b) Privacy.com still shares data that they don't deem "personally identifiable" [2] (c) Privacy.com may share your data during a merger/sale of company stock etc. and I don't think they limit what can happen to it [2] (d) Privacy.com may share your data "with financial institutions, processors, payment card associations and other entities that are involved in the payment process" (notice they don't limit the usage to actually processing your payment, or the storage to the duration of your membership... they just say "we may retain data about you for a period of time consistent with applicable law" which I assume could be quite a while) (e) I'm not sure why I should trust a company named privacy.com themselves with my unique device IDs and location data, whatever the situation with third parties is. [1] https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/JRS/ACQ/img/Generic_AO_version.pdf?JFP_TOKEN=X4EF3T56 https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/JRS/ACQ/img/Generic_AO_ve... [2] https://privacy.com/terms#privacy-policy https://privacy.com/terms#privacy-policy
        8y ago
doomrobo 8y ago
> I smell a two-factor purchase flow in my future Unfortunately I don't think that'll be possible. The docs say that there's a 2000ms cap on the auth stream response time. I don't think that's likely to be raised significantly, since I'm pretty sure their card network backend has a similar requirement.
- mholt 8y ago
  Darn -- I saw that but was hoping that's just a limit imposed by Privacy that could be lifted, perhaps in 2FA scenarios -- but if it's network-enforced, I guess that rules that out.

by mholt 8y ago

lisper 8y ago

> so it's totally free No, it isn't. A hidden cost is not the same thing is a non-existent cost. One way or another, you are paying for this service. Having the money only show up on the merchant's statement does make it a little easier to bury your head in the sand about it, but at the end of the day that money is coming out of your pocket one way or another.

mholt 8y ago
A merchant has to cover card processing fees whether I use Privacy or not: my costs are exactly the same whether I use Privacy or a physical credit card.
- lisper 8y ago
  That doesn't mean that Privacy is free. It just means that the system is rigged to hide its cost from you, and possibly to make you pay that cost whether you use it or not. But one way or another, that cost is not zero, and you will end up paying for it whether or not you are aware of it. There simply are no other possibilities.
- redindian75 8y ago
  You lose credit card protections, cashbacks (at least 1% or miles) - so it is basically a debit card purchase. I lose at least 1% everytime I use privacy (all my creditcards are at least 1% CB). But I like the convenience of not having to get up and reach my wallet from the bedroom. So it is not free.
  - mehrdadn 8y ago
    More like 2%, since Citi gives 2% on everything... Also note that Citi has virtual account numbers already. It's kind of clunky but it works.
    - nicholasjarnold 8y ago
      Does the Citi privacy policy promise not to sell your transaction history to 3rd parties? If no, then Privacy's service offering is still attractive from that perspective.
      - mehrdadn 8y ago
        Not quite, but (a) Citi lets you opt out [1] (b) Privacy.com still shares data that they don't deem "personally identifiable" [2] (c) Privacy.com may share your data during a merger/sale of company stock etc. and I don't think they limit what can happen to it [2] (d) Privacy.com may share your data "with financial institutions, processors, payment card associations and other entities that are involved in the payment process" (notice they don't limit the usage to actually processing your payment, or the storage to the duration of your membership... they just say "we may retain data about you for a period of time consistent with applicable law" which I assume could be quite a while) (e) I'm not sure why I should trust a company named privacy.com themselves with my unique device IDs and location data, whatever the situation with third parties is. [1] https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/JRS/ACQ/img/Generic_AO_version.pdf?JFP_TOKEN=X4EF3T56 https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/JRS/ACQ/img/Generic_AO_ve... [2] https://privacy.com/terms#privacy-policy https://privacy.com/terms#privacy-policy
        8y ago

doomrobo 8y ago

> I smell a two-factor purchase flow in my future Unfortunately I don't think that'll be possible. The docs say that there's a 2000ms cap on the auth stream response time. I don't think that's likely to be raised significantly, since I'm pretty sure their card network backend has a similar requirement.

mholt 8y ago
Darn -- I saw that but was hoping that's just a limit imposed by Privacy that could be lifted, perhaps in 2FA scenarios -- but if it's network-enforced, I guess that rules that out.