Small Businesses Scam or Not?

[clarysage]

We are a small online USA business and we have an overseas customer.

For us this is a large order in the est amount of $1500.00

Not sure about the new way of shipping that the customer is asking for. I do not feel comfortable.

We are working on the customers order which is taking awhile to do. Since we are sold out of what the customers demands are for the order.

We have not charged the customer since the order is not completed yet.

We want to use USPS or UPS for our shipping that way we will have a tracking number and will have to add insurance to the contents.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Ree]

I'm just a bit confused by your post.

Did you possibly miss a line that explains why you think this business is a scam?

Not sure about the new way of shipping that the customer is asking for. I do not feel comfortable.

What is this "new way of shipping" you are referring to?

We want to use USPS or UPS for our shipping that way we will have a tracking number and will have to add insurance to the contents.

Does the customer have a problem with this?

You haven't really explained.

Do you see why I am confused?

Can you give us more detail?

(BTW, welcome to Customers Suck! )

[clarysage]

Found out scam and not being bothered anymore! Smiles

The company that placed the large order was from the Netherlands, but IP address showed Nigeria etc. I would love to give the shipping company name but withheld it for reasons. I checked some other places and found out this is a scam. Had the address they used and everything. There was a person on here had the same problem. I know this is a bit vague. But nevertheless it's frustrating once you find out it was a scam. I wished I could locate the page that has the alias names on it. And now the scam is under a new name. Wished I could give more of an explanation but I can't since I am going to have this investigated.

[Deserted]

I remember reading some years back that 419-type and other frauds are the #1 source of Nigeria's cash flow. Sad.

[Sarlon]

Fellow Small business owner...

I had this as well it IS a scam. same deal, large order, out of a few things, came to a price....wanted to use an unknown (to me) shipping company to the Netherlands.

[Ree]

That's fine clarysage.
What you have added in your second post was enough to clear my confusion.

They placed a huge order but don't want to use the standard, more reliable shipping methods, and their IP address didn't match the country they claimed to be from.

Always trust your gut instincts. If it doesn't feel right, it usually isn't.

[Plague*Star]

A newsletter I read about 10 years ago had a merchant state he placed some very expensive items (watches) on his webpage. Whenever he got an order for the watches, he knew it was fraudulent.

We (college bookstore) got a web order for an iMac the other day. Boss thought it looked odd (nobody mail orders iMacs from us) and Googled the shipping address. Bingo! International re-shipper. iMac would have been in Nigeria or somewhere before we got the chargeback from the CC company. We got stung for several Mac laptops a few years ago, and now we are very careful to check orders. If you don't have a student ID at our college, you're probably out of luck. We also got scammed on a large order of UnderArmor clothing. Oh, for for those who don't know this: the reason your CC issuer gives you that 100% fraud protection is that it doesn't cost *them* a penny. WE eat the cost. Although, if you call the CC co and report suspected activity, they don't really seem to care......funny about that.
P*S