Aureo calico auctions?

Has anyone purchased through the Aureo & calico auction house?
I found them on biddr and they had some beautiful coins that I bid on. But they didn't invoice me through biddr and do not except PayPal. So I am having reservations on the payment method recommended (emailing credit card info).
Any insight is appreciated.

 

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I have never delt with Aureo-Calico, but when it comes to emailing credit card infos, I have a bank service generating a credit card number (16 digits + validity + CVC) at random, valid one time and only for the amount due.
Ask your own bank whether they provide such a service

Q

 

Have you considered using Transferwise?

 

If you choose to email your CC info, (no big deal to me, any unjustified charges simply dispute), do it in two emails. That way if someone intercepts one email, they will not get the entire thing.

 

These days, all emails are sent under secure connections so an email can't really be "intercepted", per-se. That said, they generally sit unencrypted when received, meaning, if their email account is hacked or their office is broken into, your details are wide in the open (if they can access one message, they'd be able to see other message).

Splitting personal information into multiple messages doesn't add much incremental protection and a credit card company could potentially claim the user is negligent if they sent their details in plaintext. They tend to side with the consumer but I've worked in the cybersecurity industry and have had high level conversations with payment processors who have considered this.

I'd definitely suggest using a virtual account number or giving details over the phone rather than via email. At least then they aren't stored persistently (and, if they are, that is entirely on the merchant and in violation of PCI compliance).

 

Never used it?

 

Hmm. I was just at a cybersecurity seminar and was told that even with secure connections esnooping and copying of traffic is possible.

Oh well. It doesn't hurt if it doesn't really help. Of course a phone call would be more secure but many times with foreign businesses understanding each other can be a concern. Overall, I have no issue sending my CC info since I carefully monitor any charges each month. However, this is only for CREDIT cards. I would never do such a thing with a debit card, (in fact do not own such an item).

 

My guess is they were trying to sell you on a VPN (virtual private network) service. These are helpful when on unsecured networks like at a Starbucks but they offer negligible incremental value on normal
networks. And, they don't make a significant difference to snooping on already secured connections. That sort of messaging is somewhat of a fearmongering tactic which I personally don't like.

Properly encrypted SSL connections are only able to be tampered or copied if there is a man-in-the-middle attack or a vulnerability in the protocol itself. The former can happen but is complicated to pull off and the latter is usually an international incident and patched swiftly (there have been a few vulnerabilities found in some of the open source software that is used to facilitate connections).

But, I agree that sending data in two emails doesn't hurt. Once they're in, though, an attacker can read all emails at once. Keeping on top of your credit card statements is definitely a good strategy regardless of how you transact.

 

I've become a Transferwise convert. Once you get it set up its uber simple to use and incredibly cheap (especially compared to my bank who charges $65!).

 

I bought this through Aureo Calico. I had no problems. It looks much nicer than their picture

 

That is both reassuring and absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

 

I'll be happy once it's all set up..but for now, they have me jumping through more hoops then when I was a circus seal!

 

Transferwise - I had it all set up but they required my login info for my bank in order to pull money from my account. They are located in the UK (I believe) and I've seen banks in the US require this for EFT transfers, but I just wasn't comfortable giving out my login credentials to my bank to TransferWise so I chickened out.

 

I haven't set up my account yet but was planning on doing so soon. This give me pause! I had assumed I'd have to do that part manually each time I use Transferwise (and that would be just fine with me).

 

Or, you can wire them money which sort of defeats the purpose. Maybe there is another way to get the money to them, but it seemed like this was it. Again, I've seen banks in the US require this as a way to verify account ownership and pull money from one of your accounts, but I won't use those banks either.

 

I use Xoom for international bank transfers. Quick, easy, cheap

 

But Xoom only works to individuals, not businesses. It's a PayPal product and works great.

 

Occasionally I'm using Transferwise, especially for larger amounts it is excellent. Simple and trustworthy.

 

I use a debit card with transferwise, never had a problem.

 

What coin is this? It’s amazing!