posted on April 27, 2001 04:52:49 PM
There is a man in South Africa who was high bidder on one of my auctions about 2 weeks ago. He has been a major headache, so much so that I'm no longer doing international sales. It's USA only for me from now on. Here is the problem: He was to pay only the high bid amount, no postage, because he said he would arrange for UPS to come to my home and pick up the package and he would pay the postage himself to South Africa. That was OK with me. Then he paid by Bidpay and included $12. extra for postage because he found out that UPS would be waaaay tooo expensive so now he wants me to mail it to his nephew in Seattle. Well, the confirmation letter I got from Bidpay said to only mail it to the South African address.
Also, this package is heavy and sold for over $200. $12. will pay postage to Seattle but not cover insurance. It sure won't cover postage to South Africa. What should I do?
posted on April 27, 2001 05:32:36 PM
iwannabuy, your potential exposure is too great here. If you ship it to Seattle, and it turns out there was fraud involved, then I believe BidPay can come after you for the money (correct me if I am wrong). Just send him a copy of the email you got from BidPay, so he can see that you are only to ship to his South African address. Then ask for more postage money.
posted on April 27, 2001 06:05:17 PM
I agree. Your letter from BidPay expressly states that if someone requests that you send the package to one other than the one in the e-mail from BidPay, you are to contact BidPay right away and NOT ship to a different address.
Copy that portion of the letter from Bidpay and tell that under the terms of BidPay, you cannot ship to Seattle unless his nephew has an account with BidPay and wants to pay for the item and be reimbursed by his dear uncle so that the address from BidPay would be a Seattle address.
[ edited by labbie1 on Apr 27, 2001 06:05 PM ]
posted on April 27, 2001 06:08:28 PM
Tell him you will return his money. He can then send the money to his nephew, and have his nephew pay you. That way, you can send the item to Seattle.
posted on April 27, 2001 06:47:12 PM
If you send the funds to the person in South Africa, you are "laundering" the funds unknowingly if it is CC fraud.
Best to follow the BidPay instructions and contact them so that they can handle the situation.
posted on April 27, 2001 07:11:27 PM
I've pulled his contact info and he is in South Africa. I THINK he is legitimate, but I'm not 100% sure. I guess I will contact Bidpay and let them tell me what to do. Thanks for all the input.
posted on April 27, 2001 07:31:55 PMIf you send the funds to the person in South Africa, you are "laundering" the funds unknowingly if it is CC fraud.
Are you saying that the seller is obligated to accept the money order? I have received several Bidpay money orders and there is nothing remotely resembling instructions to not return the money order to the person who purchased it.
At the very top of Bidpay's Terms & Conditions page it says:
BidPay will refund the purchase price minus the non-refundable fee to the Credit Card holder if a money order is lost or damaged (and promptly returned to BidPay if damaged).
If a buyer wanted to launder money, all he would have to do is have the money order sent to a friend, get it back, intentionally damage it, and return it for a refund (or, even easier, just have his friend claim it never arrived). And, according to BidPay's T&C's that is acceptble. Well, except for the laundering part, but how would they ever know?
posted on April 27, 2001 09:07:08 PM
I thought that "laundering" in this context is having someone pay you with dirty money (funds from a stolen credit card) and then wants to return the item and have the seller send clean money (international money order, payment from seller's online payment service account, etc.) for the refund.
I agree with the suggestion to let the online payment service handle the return through the credit card's issuing bank. I wouldn't touch this one.
Added later: I see you're not talking about a return, but it still sounds unusual. I agree with only shipping the item to the address specified by the payment service.
[ edited by marble on Apr 27, 2001 09:11 PM ]
posted on April 27, 2001 09:33:30 PM
I just had the same situation. However, the buyer is visting family in Florida for several months and the money order that came from BidPay was drawn on a bank in CHILE. I was very uneasy about this so I contacted Bidpay about the descrepency in the addresses and they OK'd the transaction. So, I will send it with a delivery confirmation and BidPay's blessings and keep detailed records and watch this very closely.
posted on April 27, 2001 09:59:26 PM
I have contacted Bidpay but haven't heard back from them. Not sure how long it takes for them to respond. After this guy won the auction he kept insisting that I take PayPal, though in my auction I state I WON"T
take Paypal from outside USA. (he has 0 feedback.) That's when I suggested Bidpay. And now all this. I would like to cancel this whole transaction and relist, but will wait to hear what Bidpay says.
