Bulk order large amount of money..scam?

Recently our store received an email inquiry on a bulk order. The amount is higher than $1xxx . After couple of emails back and fourth they gave us their credit card and said to charge it. But we use Paypal business account, so we would have to refer them to enter their CC from paypal. But the question is, they could order this product directly from the manufacture yet they chose us? and we have read lots of horror stories about Paypal and CC fraud. Should we force the fact that they better do a direct deposit instead?? or how should we deal with situation like this? To prevent fraud?

thanks!

 

Do they know the manufacture ? Is it not possible to check up the company ? Its very easy to do a direct deposit so you could demand that, just to be on the safe side.

 

The problem with credit cards and with PayPal is that people can still try to have the transaction reversed even after receiving the goods. If they are using a stolen card, which has not yet been reported as stolen, you are once again going to be shipping goods and end up having the charge reversed. You could respond that for orders of this size, you do require that they make a direct deposit or that they pay by cheque, promising to ship once the cheque clears.

But, if you are getting really uncomfortable and you do not feel good about the business, then you should pass on it. You do not want to be handing out banking details to someone you think might steal from you via credit card.

 

Well, check to see if the credit card billing address is the same as the shipping address, if it is so, the person would most definitely be the card holder.

Without knowing what the product is, it is possible that the option of getting direct from the manufacturer may not be possible. You may have offered better pricing or service or that they can save on shipping with you then through the manufacturer.

Do your due diligence about the company you dealing with. Do they have a web site, office, phone number which you can contact ?

Whatever you do, insure the delivery and also get it registered with tracking details if you so decide to proceed with the transaction.

 

Their billing address and their shipping address arent the same. They claim that the shipping address is their 'office' address. Hm..better demand a bank transfer rather than dealing with credit card fraud later.

 

But can you call the CC company to confirm ?

 

Well we feel that with this amount of money it's reasonable to request the payment via bank instead. And since the address they gave us it's different. They have no website. It's from a free email account where the emails are coming from. So just to be safe, we will stick with the bank method.

 

hmmm, well, if I were you, I probably not take the risk.

 

we feel the same way, but we're a business so we should be open for any inquiry. We'll see what they'll say.

 

Tell them that your company policy is for direct deposit for orders over $xxxx. Ask your bank what other safeguards you could take. If they are for real they will do direct deposit, it doesn't require much effort.

 

Thnx

Very useful conversation to know the original status of virtual world.

 

I think you've made a really good decision in this case. It's unfortunate that protections for consumers in the form of reversals often go too far and harm the seller in cases like this... Let us know how it goes! The address issue is enough to throw up a red flag and I feel it's really better safe than sorry in your case. Take care...

 

I make and sell skincare and recently (Sept '16) had a BULK inquiry from Switzerland. Emails were FULL of bad english, they were in a HUGE RUSH, wanted Credit Card ONLY, they had preferred shipper (which was $400 more than my commercial DHL). One week later I get a very similar letter from Netherlands (well supposedly...) - I think it's totally scam. They were in a rush because CC's aren't reported yet probably. They may be using stolen CC's to purchase goods and who knows, maybe even smuggle drugs this way inside the product... How can I report this stuff???