We’ve discussed the importance of regularly testing your eCommerce site for bugs and poor performance which could affect your customers’ satisfaction in the past . But what about testing it to prevent theft? Recently, the Consumerist reported that a woman in North Carolina exploited a glitch in QVC’s online store that enabled her to steal $412,000 worth of merchandise from the retailer. The problem? If a customer canceled an order immediately after placing it, they would receive the items anyway, free of charge. This was likely a disconnect in the system they had set up, where orders would immediately go to fulfillment, but cancellations would not.

This is obviously a pretty significant glitch… but it was never caught by QVC. It was only after two women grew suspicious of the thief’s eBay auctions that the glitch was found and fixed. This is a cautionary tale for eCommerce retailers - regularly go though the motions in your own store to make sure that it’s operating at peak efficiency and that all of the divisions in your eCommerce operation are communicating with one another. The time you spend doing this is always worthwhile… remember, you could be saving yourself a lot of time and grief in the long run.