Toronto-based RV Part Shop was founded in 2013 with a simple mission: to help Canadian RV owners find and purchase spare parts online. The company has since expanded into the U.S. market and today boasts one of the largest inventories of RV parts and accessories at competitive prices.
99%
of transactions are approved in fewer than two hours
100%
customer satisfaction
The Challenge: Spotting Fraud When You’re Busy
RV Part Shop owner Richard Gastmeier didn’t think his company would be a target for fraudsters: The vertical is relatively low risk with an affluent client base, and there’s little demand in the resale market for their products.
In the early years of the business, RV Part Shop experienced fraud only rarely, and those transactions were easy to manually identify and prevent. That is, until early 2018 when a half-dozen fraudulent transactions in a two-week period all slipped through undetected.
This was a painful wakeup call for Richard. He had been so busy managing other aspects of the business that he simply didn’t notice the fraud pattern until it was too late. And with plans to double growth that year, he knew couldn’t afford to double his fraud risk, too.
The Solution: ClearSale Total Guaranteed Protection
ClearSale’s over 15 years of fraud protection and proven team of more than 700 experienced analysts proved to be a winning combination for the company and they agreed to leverage ClearSale for all U.S. sales. For the next three months, ClearSale approved 100% of transactions and reported no fraud attempts.
But as the company’s busy season approached, Richard began to reconsider the partnership. Profit margins were already thin, and the cost of fraud protection was a concern. Maybe their fraud risk was low enough that they could find a cheaper alternative? He made the decision to disable ClearSale … and regretted it almost immediately. Within two weeks, RV Part Shop was hit with three significant cases of fraud in the United States and one in Canada that, in total, led to a 5% loss in revenue that month.
In hindsight, the fraudulent orders were unusual and should have stood out. However, Richard was simply stretched too thin and didn’t have the time or resources to notice the red flags and analyze the transactions before they were approved.
Humbled, he renewed the partnership with ClearSale — and this time enlisted ClearSale to manage fraud for the company’s entire book of e-commerce business in both the U.S. and Canada. The owner now realized the investment was worth it.
The Results: Scaling the Company, Safely
Since partnering again with ClearSale, the company reports:
- 99% of transactions are approved in fewer than two hours
- No fraud attempts
- 100% customer satisfaction
As the company continues its impressive growth trajectory, Richard is now confident that RV Part Shop will be able to scale its operations without increasing its fraud risk. All online customers now enjoy a seamless customer experience, and Richard can focus on achieving his most important business goal: Growth … safely.
Richard explains that this has done wonders for his own peace of mind. “We’re committed to growing without adding more staff, so managing our fraud is one thing I don’t have time to spend on. That’s where ClearSale’s value is to me. The time I would have spent reviewing orders? Now I can spend that time going out and landing more business.”
