4 ms·

A small transaction would cover 99% of cases (e.g., pay a dollar that's immediately refunded). It would stop kids from casually creating accounts. The kids who

A small transaction would cover 99% of cases (e.g., pay a dollar that's immediately refunded). It would stop kids from casually creating accounts. The kids who can do this are already precocious enough to bypass any other verification steps you could come up with. Maybe if they use a profile pic that you algorithmically determine is someone underage, you could do some additional checks. The smart ones would learn not to utilize a profile pic of themselves, which would ultimately be better.

rndmnflnce 3y ago
You could even shave a fraction of a penny off with each transaction and they would never notice!
- bennettnate5 3y ago
  I understand the point you're trying to make with this (social media will definitely abuse the additional knowledge/opportunities they get by having compulsory credit card info), but chargebacks are actually a pretty effective incentive against this. Given that chargeback fees are ~$20-$100 per incidence, you'd only need 5% or less of users calling out the social media site's false charge for that company to be netting a loss. I would relish the opportunity to cost Facebook $20 because they gave back a couple cents less than they should have.
  - yuliyp 3y ago
    I think you completely missed the point of the post you replied to (a reference to the plot of the movie Office Space).
zamadatix 3y ago
I wonder if it'd really cover anything remotely close to 99% of cases. Even if 100% of parents knew about it and watched their credit cards enough to notice a $1 refunded transaction it just takes something like one friend in high school with a credit card to sign up all their little brother's friends. It may even just cause more credit cards being shared around than kids it stops from getting to the site they want on. Then there'd be even more unintended consequence. Instead of sites you don't want kids creating accounts on you'd have sites selling 5 minutes of ads to create an account for them or increasingly shady stuff. Preventing this kind of site is the same as the original issue.
- throwup238 3y ago
  Reminds me of a scene in the South Park episode The Scoots where they needed a credit card for those e-scooters. All the kids had memorized several of their parents CC numbers, including backups if someone didn't accept AmEx

rndmnflnce 3y ago

You could even shave a fraction of a penny off with each transaction and they would never notice!

bennettnate5 3y ago
I understand the point you're trying to make with this (social media will definitely abuse the additional knowledge/opportunities they get by having compulsory credit card info), but chargebacks are actually a pretty effective incentive against this. Given that chargeback fees are ~$20-$100 per incidence, you'd only need 5% or less of users calling out the social media site's false charge for that company to be netting a loss. I would relish the opportunity to cost Facebook $20 because they gave back a couple cents less than they should have.
- yuliyp 3y ago
  I think you completely missed the point of the post you replied to (a reference to the plot of the movie Office Space).

zamadatix 3y ago

I wonder if it'd really cover anything remotely close to 99% of cases. Even if 100% of parents knew about it and watched their credit cards enough to notice a $1 refunded transaction it just takes something like one friend in high school with a credit card to sign up all their little brother's friends. It may even just cause more credit cards being shared around than kids it stops from getting to the site they want on. Then there'd be even more unintended consequence. Instead of sites you don't want kids creating accounts on you'd have sites selling 5 minutes of ads to create an account for them or increasingly shady stuff. Preventing this kind of site is the same as the original issue.

throwup238 3y ago
Reminds me of a scene in the South Park episode The Scoots where they needed a credit card for those e-scooters. All the kids had memorized several of their parents CC numbers, including backups if someone didn't accept AmEx