Trading Online

Folks,
As you know I argue strenuously against trading online directly yourself, for
the dual reasons most of your customers are not there and you can better sell
to a present online vendor than set up a site yourself.
Having said that, if you sincerely think me wrong, then I would recommend
www.stores.yahoo.com where they have a remarkable deal on opening your own
store online. As I was reviewing it, I came across this caution by yahoo,
after which I will comment:
***
You often read in the press that consumers are worried about ordering online.
In reality, it is not the consumers who have to worry, but the merchants. If
you're a consumer, the chance of your credit card number being intercepted as
it travels over the Internet is microscopically small. But if you are a
merchant, the chance of getting orders with stolen credit card numbers is
quite large.

The scope of the problem depends most on what you are selling.
Credit card thieves want the same kinds of
things as burglars: small, expensive items that will be easy to resell. So
if you are selling watches, or
cameras, or laptops, for example, you are likely to get at least a
few bogus orders. If you are selling books,
food, or clothing, fraud will probably be less of a problem.
Here, in order, are some of the warning signs of a fraudulent
order:
1.Suspect countries. Most fraudulent orders seem to come from
Romania, Pakistan, Russia,
Belarus, Egypt, Colombia, and Malaysia. Nearly all orders
from Romania are fraudulent, in fact.
2.Untraceable email address. In fraud orders, the customer's email
address is often at one of the
free email services, like Hotmail or Yahoo, which are
comparatively untraceable.
3.Expensive items. Be wary of big orders, especially for
brand-name items.
4.Multiple items. It is a bad sign, for example, if someone
orders three watches or three Walkmen at once.
5.Express shipping. Most fraudulent orders specify overnight
or 1-day shipping.
6.Shipping address differs from billing address. If you are
selling valuable items, it can be a good policy only to ship to the billing
address of the card.
7.New Site. Newly opened sites are more often targeted,
perhaps in the belief that the merchants
will be inexperienced.
The country of origin is the most important indicator. An order from
Romania or Belarus with a Hotmail
email address is pretty much certain to be a fraud order.
As a general rule, you should never ship a valuable order unless it checks
out. And be aware that, for international orders, getting a valid
authorization is no guarantee
that the order is legitimate.
***
"In reality, it is not the consumers who have to worry, but the merchants."
This brings to mind my experience selling...you can tell when someone is about
to rip you off, they place huge orders with you knowing full well they will
not pay you. They are going out of biz so they load up on the goods of
unsuspecting NEW biz like yours, and you provide the goods with alacrity. The
naughty retailer sells off your goods, pays back the bank, and disappears.
You can sue, and even win, but never collect. C'est la vie.
Now almost all retailers are honest, but one thief can ruin your whole day.
There are warning signals, just as Yahoo describes for online biz above. And
one clear signal in our biz is a large opening order from a new customer. No
real buyer would ever take such a risk.
John Spiers

Bookmark this post --- Email this post