Australia scammer alert

Stragus

There's a customer from Australia, with an username of 9 characters (5 letters followed by 4 numbers) who is very probably a scammer.

He has initiated multiple Paypal disputes for large orders that couldn't have arrived yet. His order with us was shipping last Friday, we received the Paypal dispute the following Tuesday. That's just two business days later, to ship from Canada to Australia.

I won't name the customer in case this might just be a serious misunderstanding, but if you have received orders from a customer who matches the description above (5 letters, 4 numbers), I strongly recommend not to ship the order. Or at the very least, do so with tracking and insurance.

robernat

@stragus
Thanks for the heads up, but then wondering where you get the information the buyer has initiated 'multiple PP disputes' ?
Sellers can't leave negatives so it wouldn't show on the buyers account, we can't browse the lists of registered buyers, so the only way of figuring out who the buyer is, is by having an order from the buyer, but for sellers who'd like to prevent it by stoplisting 'just in case' there isn't any option to figure it out :-(

budgetkids

@RobErNat, Stragus probably sees the info that is in the order itself. If you look down on the left column there will be a "customer" section. Here is a quick copy/paste of a customers order I have:


Feedback 3
Account Age 3 Days
Disputed Chargebacks 0
Non Payments 0
ONR Reports 0
IP Address Country United States


Chris

Stragus

@RobErNat Another seller left feedback as soon as payment was received. I contacted him and followed the trail, that customer has initiated multiple disputes just a few days after the various orders were shipped.

brickfeverparts

Alexis,

If you call PayPal and show them the proof of shipment, specially the date! they will undo the dispute.

In my understanding there has to be a certain amount of time before you can file for a dispute isnt it?

2 days isnt acceptable, even if he bought within Australia.......
smells fishy indeed

Stragus

@BrickFeverParts Based on your vast selling experience, you think Paypal would cancel the dispute? Waiting 2 days to file a dispute is indeed completely unreasonable. That is great news, thank you!

brickfeverparts

@Stragus, yeah they should!

We have good contact with PayPal at least once a month, and they do understand the importance of sellers being protected as well.

In this scenerio, if (after your call with them) theu check his account and see for example unusual amount of filed claims, the story will turn around on him, and he will be investigated.

We have had this several times past years, but you do need to act quick and call them up.

Keep us posted, i love a midweek's riot from time to time

Lawrence

In cases such as this, you should file a problem report, for a disputed chargeback. In this case, nobody has yet done so, so its very difficult for me to have an understanding of the situation or take any action.

robernat

@Admin: Well I do hope you take action, even if temporary ;-)

@all readers: minutes after my reply this morning in this thread, my wife informed a PP claim has been opened against me by a French member. I'm currently checking the situation, what bugs me most is that the buyer checked out with 'no tracking' (so fully aware of the risk), and still opens a dispute after about 2 weeks without the slightest form of communication :-(

First 'dispute' on PP in about 8 years of internet selling and using PP (except 1 bogus claim) :-(
Guess it was inevitable it would happen one day *sigh*
At least it's not a huge amount.

I'll give updates...

Jiries

Spoke too soon Rob and maybe the French buyer read this and think I will do the same as the Aussie one and target you after 8 years. Why happening today after all the years being fine on your side. Would be better to put names down here for us to know who we dealing with them.

Hoddie

Getting dodgy buyers is part and parcel of selling on BO/BL/eBay/etc. I don't personally think you should be naming and shaming, firstly because they might not be dodgy, the parcel may have not reached them and it's the seller's responsibility to ensure that it does - whether or not they pay for tracking, and secondly because sellers and buyers are required to notify Admin when something goes wrong so that he can communicate that to all of us via the stats shown when someone buys at your store.

robernat

@Jiries
it's 'Eric' but you're forgiven, the mistake is not unusual ;-)
Rob=Robin(my son)
Er=Eric(me)
Nat= Nathalie(my wife)

So RobErNat ;-)

A bit off topic though...

The dispute was opened last night, not this morning, so prior to this thread :P
In the early morning I only read my online mails and check for orders, my wife checks regular mail (allthough I can't call this one a 'regular' one :-D)
Right now it's just a dispute, not a claim, didn't have the time to respond this evening, had to pack some orders, so that will be a task for tomorrow.
As long the dispute is not escalated to claim, I see not much harm (besides blocked money) and also no reason to name and shame someone. So I'll wait to give more details. A report on BO has been made, and the buyer is showing the 'Disputed Chargebacks=1', so that will do for now...

+ Received info from one seller, but he shipped with tracking, so no issue on that one.

to be continued...

Jiries

Thanks for letting me know Eric as now I remember seeing this name often in the forum here and in BL. Still the buyer should had communicate with you first than just open the dispute case and walked away without any contacts at the moment.

brickfeverparts

The thing with PayPal is, a high protection level for buyers, wich is a good thing!
Although all sellers will encounter a dodgy buyer or claim they dont feel is legit or fair.
In the end, still thousands and thousands scammers (sellers) are on the www, wich makes it a good and reliable system to pay with PayPal for a buyer.

(PayPal announced a few days ago to increase the possible time to claim to 180 days)
Not sure if i like that, but it is what it is, folowwing the creditcard companys i guess.

As a seller you need to think about a maximum amount (order-value) you are willing to risk losing if the parcel / letter has been shipped without Insurance or tracking.

As i do not 100% back the current european law, Hoddie is spot on, the buyer is not responsable for shipping, the seller is, as it is part of his (online) service.

We decided that orders above 50 euro will be shipped tracable at all times, buyers decision to buy at another store if they dont like that.

If an order shipped without tracking and got lost, well, tough luck, shipp again or credit the payment to the buyer.

From the 50 orders we loose in a year, in the end around 25 of them find there way back to us (very important to make sure all letters and parcels have your return adress!!!) another 10 reach the buyer in the end anyway. (we had a parcel to South Africa wich reached the buyer after 5.5 month) and the other 15 (mostly letters) are just gone, so be it.

Normally a buyer is not happy once he/she need to send an email asking where there shipment is, in this case, when a buyer respond open and happy, instantly offer a solution, this buyer will be happy with you! so we try to see a lost parcel as a unique moment to show our service

*Little note: Italy is a disaster with untraced parcels or letters, i think 50% of our yearly lost shipments are to Italy, dont ask me why though.

On the other side, if you dont trust a certain (coming) shipment, even if buyer choise without tracking, we simply send it with a tracking number, on our costs. so if a PayPal claims comes, we have all the cards!

Ow, good morning all