Forum Moderators: buckworks
The orders go through PayPal.
I got an email from PayPal today explaining that someone was disputing the charge, and that his credit card company would be withholding payment. The customer's explanation was that he did not authorize this purchase.
Well, somebody with his name, address, and credit card info did. And the distributor sent a widget to his address
I don't want to go to the mattresses over $36.95, even if I lose that amount. What concerns me is that this "customer" may be trying to get something for free, or that perhaps he does this routinely or, worse, that he could tell his buddies that they can buy these widgets from my site, complain to the credit card company, and I'll just roll over every time.
If this subject has been beaten to death on the Ecommerce forum, just let me know and I'll go searching.
But, if anyone has a quick comment, I'd appreciate it.
From my experience there is nothing you can really do, short of filing charges against that customer, which is damn near impossible to prove.
A few suggestions to limit your damage would be to only ship to "confirmed" addresses, make sure a signature is required, log the IP address of the person placing the order and contact them via telephone to confirm their purchase. There are websites out there, such as whitepages.com that you can use to cross reference some information such as phone number and shipping address as well.
The biggest thing is to make sure you do not get burned by the same person more than once.
Hope that helps.
J
but as you use paypal etc you probably don't have that kind of protection
hopefully you took at least the basic security measures of verifying the cardholder's address and delivering to that address not a separate shipping address, AND got the cardholder to sign for the delivery?
if so just ask the customer to return the goods .....
I pay the distributor $25 (including shippping)
Does the distributor keep shipping records? did the shipping include delivery confirmation. Sometimes PayPal will challenge the chargeback if it can be confirmed that physical goods have been shipped.
After all else fails, add some fees and charges to the bill and sell it to a collection agency.
If the credit card is Visa, and the cardholder is not enrolled in VBV, you can still be protected (as long as the transaction is not one of the above). However, if the cardholder is in the United States with a MasterCard and not enrolled, you are not protected. The MasterCard cardholder in the United States has to be enrolled and authenticated for you to be protected.
-Corey
Does the distributor keep shipping records? did the shipping include delivery confirmation. Sometimes PayPal will challenge the chargeback if it can be confirmed that physical goods have been shipped.
The transaction might be eligible under PayPal's Seller Protection Policy. I'd be interested to hear if this procedure is effective.
And PayPal (Europe) Ltd is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution.
I emailed the customer to say that I would give him a full refund, but asked that he contact me so that I could have FedEx Ground issue a call tag to get the widget back. So far, no reply from the customer.
I'm figuring I'm just going to have to eat the $25 cost. It's not a big deal, but it irks me.
I'm figuring I'm just going to have to eat the $25 cost. It's not a big deal, but it irks me.
I'm not trying to be mean or anything but it is a big deal. If you know you’re right, if you know for sure that the distributor shipped the item, and if you know that the buyer did not try to contact you prior to charging back, then it’s a real big deal.
Every time we as merchants lay down and say it's no big deal to a fraudulent chargeback, 10 more crooks step up to rip us off. Wrong is wrong whether it’s being done or allowed to be done.
Without proof of delivery of the widget (I still haven't heard back from the distributor), what are my options?
My gut tells me that this guy ordered the widget, received it, and decided he didn't want to pay for it. Or his kid or his wife or his dog ordered it, but he's going to keep it.
After all, I'm a mega-corporation, right?
My gut tells me that this guy ordered the widget, received it, and decided he didn't want to pay for it. Or his kid or his wife or his dog ordered it, but he's going to keep it.After all, I'm a mega-corporation, right?
you could be right - but you don't need to be a mega corporation to take legal action to recover goods or money ..... the systems are there, use them
Try not to make bad behaviour a penalty-free experience and you'll be doing the entire rest of the world a small favour.
You don't have to win, or get your money or widget back, but make this episode hurt them sufficiently for it to be worth them being honest next time around...
Rgds
Damon
Once again...
You must send your shipments signature required. If you do not do this you are waiving your rights to defend yourself in a chargeback situation. It's similar to telling the post office you don't need insurance. If it breaks you pay. Well if you get a dishonest customer without the required signature service...you pay.
