Share-It: A Decade of Racism

Continuing the subject of racism…

 

As racist as some governments can be, so are some companies.

 

Share-It, a payment services provider based out of Europe, have been engaged in racism for well over a decade.

 

How do I know?

 

Any time I place an order from a Turkish IP, Share-It declines the order with the generic reason “Unfortunately, we were unable to charge your credit card for your order.” This has been happening for well over a decade.

 

Need I mention that the credit cards in question have never had an issue with their credit limit? In fact, the very same order would succeed when placed on a non-Turkish IP (even with the same credit card).

 

That’s 10 years of racism, brought to you by the ecommerce company Share-It.

 

This despicable and wanton act of racism has not gotten better – it has only gotten worse over the years.

 

For instance, in previous years, Share-It representatives would actually get on the phone to verify orders that their fraud protection system deemed suspicious. This had helped me clear orders, albeit, with additional hassles introduced – such as requests for copies of the back and front of the credit card used while placing the orders, as well as an official government ID.

 

Now, even calling someone at Share-It does not result in a resolution.

 

Share-It was a German company that was later acquired by Digital River, a US company. Unfortunately, Digital River did nothing to stop the racism at Share-It after their acquisition.

 

Surely, there are many European companies that are not racist.

 

Our own ecommerce provider Cleverbridge is one such company, with whom I have not had negative experiences of racism. They were actually founded by some former Share-It people, and they are a German company as well. Clearly, some companies are making better choices than others and declining racism.

 

Racism tends to breed racism in return, so one cannot be too careful in consciously attempting to prevent any further instances of racism.

 

If you are using Share-It as your payment provider, I would strongly urge you to use another payment provider. There’s no telling how many legitimate orders you are missing!