I praise our Order Processing department and especially our employee, Sean Welch, for taking fraud seriously. Many companies feel that fraud is just a part of doing business. It is sad that it is. Business owners should not just accept it. My business does not. Credit Card fraud is a very serious offense that costs the public millions every day.

On a personal level, I have been the victim of identity theft. It was an awful violating thing to experience. It was a pain in the ass to resolve. Having been one, I feel for the victims of credit card fraud whose credit card numbers are stolen and used. On a business level, I am also a victim of identity theft. It angers me. The bad people who commit fraud like this hurt everyone, both consumers and business owners alike.

Last year, 2006, we had our share of attempted fraud. One thief stands out in particular. The fraudster used the name of [hidden until prosecution is completed] and was located in Westminster California. [Fraudster] placed over 74 fraudulent orders over the course of 2006 on eXtreme Restraints website. The fraudster tried using different aliases.  Our staff performed amazingly well. XRLLC made only one shipment to [Fraudster] in all those attempts. Despite the attentiveness of our staff, [Fraudster] was still costing our company labor to cancel all the fraudulent orders and to deal with the issue.

Sean Welch, eXtreme’s IT director, filed a claim with the Westminster Police Department in 2007. Two months later the police got a warrant and confiscated the computer equipment at [Fraudster]’s location. The officer stated he saw bondage equipment in the home which could of been gear from eXtreme Restraints or other bdsm retailers. Their computer equipment is currently under going intensive forensic investigation to find matches for the credit cards used to place the fraudulent orders.

As of this blog posting date, it has yet to be determined if the District Attorney will prosecute. It is also yet to be determined how many other companies [Fraudster] attempted to fleece.

Our company has a strong policy on privacy protection, but that does not include thieves. We have a very strong policy on  theft and work with law enforcement agencies to crack down on this growing problem. XRLLC has prosecuted in the past with and gotten a conviction. We do not tolerate non consensual behavior. Stealing from us.. is non consensual. We will seek convictions.

A person contacted us and told us his girlfriend wants to whip him. He’s willing but wants to know a few things first.

Does being whipped hurt? and what kind of whip should she use?

If she hasn’t done whipping before… I highly recommend the following books:
“Screw The Roses, Send Me The Thorns” they have a chapter on how to do things safely especially for beginner both tops and bottoms.

“The New Topping Book” by Dossie Eastman. I’ve met the lady and she is a wonderful erotic sadistic top well educated in all kinds of S&M techniques including flogging and whipping. Her books explains how to do things safely and get the most out of your sub/bottom.As far as a beginner bottom experiencing flogging…

I highly recommend a lightweight very soft leather flogger with blut tips, deer skin is an excellent material for starter flogger. Our store sells several versions of deer skin floggers, one even has a T handle for easy gripping — a t-handle flogger is great for those with arthritis or problems squeezing a normal handle. Later if you get really into flogging, a deer skin flogger is an excellent warm up flogger, before getting down to serious business with something heavier and/or more intense.
To begin with you for the very first time, your top should not use one that has angled tip or pointed tips. The tips should be cut off straight across or gently rounded. The T bar handled flogger has an image that shows the square cut tips.

Once you get into advanced flogging, then you will want to experiment with different materials. Heavier weighted leathers such as elk, or even bull hide can feel very thuddy and massage like. Depending on the width of the flogger Then you can alter the feel of the flogging/whipping by having floggers with different shaped tips, it can be thuddy (with blunt tips, bitey with pointed sharp tips. etc.

You can also use different things to whip with. You don’t have to use a leather flogger. Though in my opinion for starting out a newbie.. I always go to my soft deerskin blunt tipped flogger. You can use riding crops, dressage whips, and well.. anything ‘whippee’.

Be safe sane and consensual and have fun!

A couple of days ago, I posted about how customers are using our reviews to tell us about experiences they’ve had. I wish they’d post those into our forums. But since they haven’t, and the customer obviously intended the comments for public review… I”m going to post a few here in my blog. The ones I find interesting anyway.

The toy makers make the fast buck
With weapons of war and such muck,
But one man we should mention
Did oppose the convention
By inventing a doll that would fuck.

Now that sounds like a sex toy maker using his noggin!

About a year and a half ago, we made it possible for customers to review our products. It’s really interesting to see what they have to say about them. Often though, customers try to use the review as a communications tool with our customer service. They don’t always leave enough information for us to contact them and address their issues. We’d really like to. All our sites have contact us links. Please use the contact link on the website. It’s on the bottom of the store pages and also in our info section. We respond to all emails. But the reviews aren’t reviewed immediately as they are submitted. Emails are handled very quickly in order of receipt.

And sometimes, even more interestingly, they use the review feature as a way to relate their play experiences with our stores. Those aren’t reviews either, but I sure like to read them.

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