posted on December 20, 2000 11:46:50 AM new
Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a good day.
This morning I got an email from a person who said "Please send me your phone number. I would like to order several things and pay with credit card and I'm hoping you can ship today!"
I got a strange feeling but, since my auctions state that I take credit cards via PayPal or by phone, I answered back, requesting the site (Yahoo or eBaY) and what's their user ID?
They answered back with the item no's (on Yahoo) and asked for a multiple purchase discount as well as a discount on the shipping (still no User ID though). I replied with what I could/could not do and told them, if in agreement, to bid the items and we would take it from there. Haven't heard nary a word since.
Oh, forgot to mention, in their initial email, they included their phone no. (Rochester, NY area code) at work and their cell phone no. which, I assume, was intended to make me feel at ease with their request.
I never gave out my phone no. but, feel I might have been being scammed for it. What good this would do someone, I don't know. Does anybody else have a NOT so warm and fuzzy feeling about this?
posted on December 20, 2000 01:01:30 PM new
You can't ever tell. Some people will give you credit card numbers over the phone but ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to place them online (and are embarrassed to say so), and they can't register to bid on Yahoo without a CC number.
Do you state in your Yahoo auction listings that you can be emailed to purchase something if they can't register to bid? If so, you invited the off-auction purchase. If not, then you have to decide if you want to sell to a non-bidder.
Since you say in your listings that people can phone you to give CC numbers for purchases, it doesn't seem odd that they emailed and asked for your phone number.
To many people, it's not unlike calling the toll-free number of Land's End or any other mail-order house. I think your buyer considers you a mail-order business, which is a compliment. Your buyer may also fear buying from a fraudulent seller, and would feel better hearing a voice to go with the purchase.
I'd do a web search for the name and address that go with the buyer's phone number in NY, see if it matches the name on the emails, and make sure it matches the name and address of the credit card holder. (Your buyer may want your phone number to check YOU out, too!) If everything checks out, the charge is approved, and you aren't asked to ship to a DIFFERENT address, then it seems safe (unless it's a WHOLE LOT of money and you fear a fraudulent chargeback to your merchant CC account).
At this point, your buyer may be put off that you didn't take the order and ship today, so he/she may never make the purchase.
posted on December 20, 2000 01:28:06 PM new
Hi granee - thanks for the feedback.
No, I do not state in my listings that I can be emailed to purchase something if they can't register to bid. It's in my payment terms that I accept Visa/MC via PayPal or by phone....money order, etc.
No, I wouldn't have thought it was odd that they asked for my phone no. (had they bid first, asked later) it was just how they did it. Saying they wanted to order several items and to give my phone no. so they could pay by Visa.... Maybe you're right. Maybe I just read too much into it. I did get an uneasy feeling, though.
Then, to have them stop emailing when it would have been so easy just to tell me their intentions. Again, perhaps you're right but their silence now has me more perplexed and relieved that I didn't give it out.
posted on December 20, 2000 01:38:07 PM new
granee: what site do you use to check emails, phone nos., etc. I just used MSN and came up with a "no matches" on every category I tried.
posted on December 21, 2000 07:15:15 AM new
We accept credit cards via phone - or take PayPal or PayDirect and such. We have many customers who prefer to call us with their credit cards instead of using the 2nd party services.
BUT, I would NEVER give my personal phone number to anyone - and definitely not post it in an ad - we give our shop phone number in the invoice sent to the buyer, so the buyer will have a choice of payments.
All phone calls go through to our shop and are taken there. I am a weird female and I HATE to talk on the phone to anyone - friends, relatives, customers, etc.
My assistant takes the calls at our shop. BUT one of our phone lines is call forward through our home, and I can hear that one ring before it is forwarded to the shop, and KNOW I would not want anyone having my home number, as these calls come in at all sorts of weird hours.
One only needs to get one weird customer with your personal phone number to totally drive you crazy and you will rue the day you gave your personal phone number out.
We also have a fax hooked to one of our phones so that foreign customers can call at their time convenience and send their credit card information. We have found this good for us, and helpful to a customer who is in a totally different time zone such an Japan, China, or the Middle East.
"IF" I were someone who personally accepted credit cards, and I didn't have any phone number for a customer to call except my home number, I believe I'd either get a second phone line and have it attached to an answering machine or put my one line on an answering machine - I would never want a customer to think they could call me anytime, day or night for any reason.
Three years ago I had a serious cyber stalker, who was only stopped by police action, and I think the Lord that nut didn't have my phone number.
If I were you I'd seriously reconsider EVER giving out your personal, home phone number.
