It is impossible for overseas shipments to be verified for delivery
. If the buyer is using a pay source such as Paypal or one of the
online moneyorder services such as PayingFast, it is imperative that
you only ship to a “verified” address. In otherwords, only ship to
the address that is registered to the funds source(i.e. Paypal,
PayingFast), only after having the cash in hand, not a money order or
other instrument of pay. You will also find that there are many
countries that Paypal, etc … have listed as places that they will
not do business with, because the incidence of fraud is astronomical,
especially higher dollar transactions. If the buyer wants you to send
to any address other than a "verified " address , tell them sorry,
because this is the #1 way of scamming. If you ship to any other
address than the verified address that is registered with the payer
company, you are liable, and the address that you shipped to,even tho
instructed to by the buyer, will have conveniently never heard of
you, your package, nor the buyers name. Better yet, request that the
buyer arrange for a US address that you can ship to, that is verified
by the payer company, then if there is a loss, its between them , not
you.If they can afford a multi thousand dollar purchase, you can bet
they have some sort of US contacts.Do not take an overseas credit
card purchase over the phone either. The only way is, card in hand,
ran thru your machine with instant verification. This scenario that
you described smells badly, so tread VERY CAREFULLY. Make sure that
EVERYTHING goes by your terms only, with absolutely no variations
made by the purchaser, or you stand to lose everything. DO NOT LET
THE LURE OF A BIG SALE GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD COMMON SENSE-INSIST ON
YOUR OWN TERMS OR ‘NO SALE’.These guys are smarter at their trade
than I am at mine, or you are at yours, and I have been in this
business since I was 12, and lets just say I have earned every grey
hair on my head as a graduate of UHK.(university of hard knocks, for
those of you who have not attended yet) Ed
True about Nigeria, I had the same initial reaction, however this is
for a church and the Reverend, church and locations (the African
sites and the Israel site) legitimate phone numbers, addresses… No
strange payment arrangement requests, etc so far it all checks out.
Plus I have had relatives living and working in Nigeria (oil field
work), it’s not all bad, there are some legitimate businesses there
Beth Alexander
Cryztalvisions Creations
True Beth, probably there are legitimate businesses in
Nigeria, However, In this specific case you are wrong. This is a
scam and If I were you I would ask for a TT before anything ships
out. be careful! Hanuman
Beth, be VERY careful about this transaction…it screams SCAM! (
Major red flags: large initial order, shipping to two or more
International locations and ANYTHING to do with Nigeria and the
Internet - no offense intended to legitimate Nigerian businesses! )
Check the archives for some of the previously posted horror stories
from less fortunate jewelers, then ask for and check their references
in the US. If they’re legit, they’ve ordered from the US before and
can be verified. If they haven’t and you’re ‘their first’ US
transaction, can you afford the loss? Donna Hawk Dallas, TX
Be careful, Beth. There are some unscrupulous scammers out there
preying on people selling over the Net. One scheme involves a fake
cashier’s check, which the scammer’s “creditor” issues for more than
the amount of purchase. You are requested to issue a check of your
own for the difference. Then, after a month or so, the original check
is returned by the bank as fraudulent, and you’re on the hook for the
check you wrote. These fake checks come with fake numbers, which are
answered by a confederate "Hello, Bank of Montreal? (or wherever) who
assures you that the check is perfectly good. For this scam, the
goods themselves are irrelevant; it’s your check they’re after.
If you’re selling high intrinsic-value goods, though, the scammers
usually use the credit card charge-back dodge. You may be surprised
to know that credit card companies take no responsibility for
transactions conducted without actually swiping a card; all the risk
is assumed by you, the merchant. A customer can give you an
authorized credit card order, receive the goods, then repudiate the
charges. The credit card company removes the money from your account
automatically; you end up holding the (empty) bag.
So congratulations on your new international orders, but try to do
some independent checking on this customer. See if anybody in the
jewelry business in Israel has actually heard of them. There are some
Israel-based readers of this list; perhaps one of them could help.
Nigeria should raise a red flag- it’s World Scam Center now (but
perhaps you’d like to help someone invest 50 million ill-gotten
dollars…)
Good Luck-
Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com
Hi Beth, I think your main worry about international orders is to
make sure the payment for the order is secure. The world is rife
with con artists trying to cheat jewelers out of their product.
Address verification is usually unavailable for foreign credit cards
and somehow these con artists have access to credit card numbers
that are stolen.
I do ship to England, but only after establishing an email
acquaintance so that I’m pretty sure it is legit.
I use Global Express, USPS and find it is very quick and reliable.
Registered mail is also very reliable but not so quick, but I’m
speaking only for delivery to UK. Jan http://www.designjewel.com