Overseas customer paying with credit card

[bettye51]

I am in the US and have a potential customer who wants to buy my product & have it shipped to a freight forwarding company here in the US...I do not offer overseas shipping. My products start at $600(USD) and the customer will be paying the freight forwarder about $520. The customer will be paying with a credit card billed to his personal address in the overseas country. It would take about 2 weeks before my product would actually be shipped from my location to the freight forwarder. What security measures should I take to insure against credit card chargebacks? I want to have a positive experience with my customer, but I also don't want to get stuck with a chargeback for about $700. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks.

[bettye51]

No one has any suggestion?

[ytswy]

What security measures should I take to insure against credit card chargebacks?

Really, just be sure that the order isn't a fraud. You're the one who has to pay if it is, so you'll not find your merchant account provider really cares.

I'd have said the 2 week shipping is a major plus point - you'd likely receive notification of a chargeback by then so it's not the sort of thing fraudsters generally go for. Basically it comes down to your knowledge of your market - is this an order that makes sense, how much info can you find out about the customer and how does your gut feel about the whole thing?

[Laker]

I want to have a positive experience with my customer, but I also don't want to get stuck with a chargeback for about $700.

Escrow.com?

That may not be within the definition of your customer having a positive experience with you -- then again, it just might be a very positive experience!

Your customer can still pay by credit card (depending on the country) -- and the "accept" provision gives the customer the protection they need ... and, protection for you: you don't ship until escrow.com has secured "good funds" (no chargebacks).

There are, certainly, fees involved (see the site for exact info) ... but the value may far outweigh the cost.

[topr8]

one of the main things to check for me would be to see if the product is available in the customer country for about or less than:

600 + 520 [they may also have to pay import duty which will further increase the price]

if it is, you must ask the question, why are they ordering it.

also are your prices competitive with others, if you are mosre expensive then why have they chosen you.

finally you could arrange shipping yourself, it isn't that difficult (usually) - see what they say about that.

...

in the past i have asked for a bank transfer from foreign customers (and in my own country) [nb. this can be called back too - so can esrow services in the event of fraud, so you are always at risk]

my own experience has been, that if i am very polite and explain the fraud issue, then the customer has always been accomodating.

...

ps. if you are talking about any of the 'dodgy' countries then personally i'd assume the deal is suspect.

[bettye51]

The customer in question is in Bahrain...so don't know if that's dodgy country or not?

I have checked on freight to Bahrain and his plan to use a freight forwarder is somewhat cheaper, enough to use them instead. We've been discussing this potential order back and forth by email for about 4 weeks now, so he's not giving up easily.

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

[Wlauzon]

We sell a few things to Bahrain, never had any problems. On the other hand, we have almost the entire continent of Africa but South Africa blocked via IP's.

[Laker]

The customer in question is in Bahrain...so don't know if that's dodgy country or not?

Only as FYI, the countries that escrow.com doesn't work with include Balkans, Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Nigeria, North Korea, Romania, Syria, and Zimbabwe.

[bettye51]

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions!

WebmasterWorld.com is such a great place! It's at the top of my list for good web solutions. :)

[dartman]

On card not present transactions you will have no recourse unless you ship to the address the card issuer has on file. If the card is non-US bank issued it's about impossible to verify thru AVS. On intl orders in the past we would attempt to contact the card issuer and verify the address but this takes time and could be costly depending on your intl long distance rates.
To get by all those problems we now only accept a bank cashiers check or a western union payment (preferred) from customers in distant places. The upside is you can ship to anywhere they want and not have the cloud of a chargeback plus loss of the merchandise. The risk is yours to take but sometimes it's better to decline a sale rather then take the chance of being out double the amount.
Rick

[dartman]

Duplicate deleted

[edited by: dartman at 4:28 am (utc) on Sep. 2, 2007]

[Laker]

... western union payment (preferred) from customers in distant places.

Another point of view: We specifically exclude payment via Western Union from overseas customers.

(Do a search on "Western Union" and fraud ... )

[dartman]

No doubt there is a high degree of potential fraud for consumers using WU. As a merchant there's no risk on our part to accept a WU payment if the customer is willing to go that route and we do not ship until the cash is in hand. We actually prefer Not having to deal with overseas orders since quite frankly it's a PITA.