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Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

blog.metamorphium.com

31–40 of 56 posts

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Registering a business name seems to have much the same effect, so I'm not sure it's merely DUNS. Similarly my wife at some point had to register some kind of entity to get reimbursed for speaking at a conference and immediately unleashed a torrent of spam. (Correction — my wife's torrent of spam was from DUNS :-)). But hey, mine was just a normal business name registration, and i got the same result. The US is plagu…

I'm not in the US, I'm in the UK. Cold calling is against the law to TPS registered phone numbers and very rarely happens. DUNS is the main exception in the time I've been in business.

It's supposed to be against the law in the US, especially to cell phones, but it's still horribly common,

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#32
post #7

For India, they don't even have any option of getting it free. You have to pay a minimum 7500 Rs (~ $ 150) + taxes. Though after payment they gave it in 4 days. This is a sear monopolistic policy, why should I pay fucking 150$ to any agency for just getting a DUNS number. On top of that, there is this annoying wait period and delays.

Not wanting to defend DUNS but what's the process for getting Indian government contracts? In Australia there were voodoo lists of approved contractors, and I have no idea how one got onto them, how long it took, or how much it cost.

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in the US, I'm in the UK. Cold calling is against the law to TPS registered phone numbers and very rarely happens. DUNS is the main exception in the time I've been in business.

It's supposed to be against the law in the US, especially to cell phones, but it's still horribly common,

If it is against the law but nobody enforces the law then it is a meaningless law.

In the UK they rarely enforce it but often enough so companies think twice. They also tell the telephone networks hosting the spam callers to kick them off.

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#35

Hmm, DUNS was discussed in great length recently (4 days ago) on HN[0][1]... Not sure why we need another thread on the topic. [0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4977889 [1] http://sam-dunne.com/post/39040255207

This post provides a workaround to the problem those links describe.

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's supposed to be against the law in the US, especially to cell phones, but it's still horribly common,

If it is against the law but nobody enforces the law then it is a meaningless law. In the UK they rarely enforce it but often enough so companies think twice. They also tell the telephone networks hosting the spam callers to kick them off.

Enforcing a US law against VoIP scam artists in other countries is not trivial.

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#39
post #24

at what point do people decide that the apple app store is not worth developing for? the early gold-rush days have passed, so there's not even the lure of making loads of money from a minimum-effort app, and from what i hear the store is now so crowded, and the search and sort tools so bad that even getting your app noticed is a struggle - so why continue to deal with apple's abusive hoops and requirements?

For Apple's App Store to become less appealing, you'd need at least a couple of the following to happen:

* Android App Store/Google Play becomes a viable business proposition

* Windows App Store becomes a viable business proposition

* Blackberry App Store becomes a viable business proposition

* The demographics of Apple device owners shift away from the current favorable, affluent, app-buying profile

* The app screening process gets easier, such that malware and other liability-causing software infests it the way that Google Play is infested (and remember, Apple and Disney are longtime buddies and Apple is working a lot harder for media companies' cooperation than Google is)

* The developer program entry barriers become something that bother serious coders already invested in the Apple ecosystem, as opposed to random grumpy developers on the Internet (it is rarely a good business move to treasure the opinion of people who aren't your customers and don't intend to become customers)

Currently, none of these things have happened.

Re: Dear Apple, DUNS is a scam, but you already know that

#40
post #8

I hate linkbait headlines like this because DUNS is not a scam: It's a useful tool used in the real world of business. Need to see how long a company typically takes to pay? You use DUNS. Want to get and Federal work? You have to have a DUNS before you can register (in addition to your IRS paperwork). Of course I get the idea that if you're a lone coder how that can be a pain. I also get that if you aren't in the US…

D&B makes money selling their rating information, but while a DUNS number is free, you have to pay to manage your rating. I can't recall the exact wording but the salesman's phone pitch bordered on "Nice little business you got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to your DUNS rating." These two links share similar experiences: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.505486.1... http://www.cartoonb…

Joel's post has an update that "you can update your [DUNS] information for free at eupdate or by calling them at 866-584-0283" eupdate is at https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm
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