posted on August 2, 2001 08:33:58 PM new
I feel like such an idiot! A buyer won an auction of mine on ebay for a new item with Buy It Now on 7/31 a.m. They immediately emailed me inquiring about rates for overnight shipping. This weighed 20 lbs so overnight shipping to CA was running $51. The BIN price was only $36.99 so I figure No Way would they want it. They say send it anyways and immediately pay via Billpoint. Since this was a childs outdoor toy I thought maybe it's a birthday present and they just need it right away. I mail it off that afternoon. On 8/1 p.m. I get an email from Billpoint "DO NOT SHIP" the card was fraudulent! By now the buyer had already received the item. Billpoint is NO help. Told me to stop shipment! Well I could have had their email arrived sooner. I did fax a form to the local post office to stop the package but it's to late. I am going to contact their local police and make a report. I have been in contact with two other sellers that he bought from that night. One claims they received their money without a problem the other claims to have been scammed also but was able to stop the shipment in time. Is there anything else I can do to nail this scum?
posted on August 3, 2001 06:52:27 AM new
pwolf,
well said.why not go on a buying binge??
but then time is of essence,billpoint caught up with them?
may be they did ,somewhere else like yahoo and or amzn
posted on August 3, 2001 08:39:48 AM new
Sorry to hear about your plight. There has been two attempts to defraud me, and luckily I smelled a rat both times and did not ship the merchandise. One was Billpoint paid, but it was a stupid buy... a $18 purchase and $35 shipping to Malaysia on a new item, not a collectible or scarce item. I contact Safe Harbor and Billpoint and then I got one of those "Do Not Ship" emails and also a phone call.
By the way, Billpoint is basically owned by Wells Fargo and not ebay I believe... I could be wrong, I presume that Ebay gets a referral fee when we use Billpoint but may not have ownership... or if they have some ownership interest, it is probably a minority interest.
The other attempt to defraud me was on my own merchant account purchase on my web site and since I get the CC info, I am able to look up the cardholders bank, call them and verify info... Again a int'l buyer (Indonesia) but I smelled a rat as he ordered 4 salmon reels for $2,150 and there ain't no salmon in Indonesia! So called the bank and the card belonged to Bill in Missouri so obviously something stinks! I didn't ship, but was out $65 in fees... Better that than the $2,150...
My point is to illustrate that as a seller accepting credit cards, Billpoint and Paypal, you do have to be ON GUARD as there is more risk than accepting Postal Money Orders.
To minimize your risk to minimum levels, you'd have to accept only cash or postal money orders and then get one of those pens to make sure you don't get counterfeit bills and CASH your PMO's before shipping merchandise. However, your sales volume and price paid for your merchandise will be much lower.
I accept the above cc services and I am a wary seller... I'm sure I'll get snookered sooner or later, but that is a cost of doing business.
Fortunately, my category and customers are usually as good as gold... I ship immediately upon receipt of a check or money order, no hold... I've only had one bounced check and the buyer, contacted me before my bank and made it good including the bank charges. 1,000+ shipments...
If I were to sell in the high fraud categories such as electronics, computers, cell phones and related categories, I would certainly hold on checks, not accept checks on large purchases and/or probably only accept payments using my merchant account so I COULD CHECK OUT THE BUYER BEFORE SHIPPING THE MERCHANDISE. This is probably why several sellers will not use Billpoint/Paypal as you have no control as to be able to verify info of the buyer.
On international purchases, I'd recommend BidPay because you cannot verify info on most international credit card buyers.
posted on August 3, 2001 09:21:27 AM new
"On international purchases, I'd recommend BidPay because you cannot verify info on most international credit card buyers."
Well said, This is the outline that I use. Most online payment services do not verify the card holder.
posted on August 3, 2001 05:18:37 PM new
Actually, they don't even take international sellers. I tried registering with Billpoint, but unless you are US citizen, you don't get an account. Weird eh? If you don't have a US address, you don't get Billpoint. But if you but in a bogus address, you do..
