 'Tis the Season to be Cautious: Steer Clear of Strange Gift Basket Orders and Credit Card Fraud
by Flora M. Brown, Ph.D.
Copyright 2008
All rights reserved |
As you plan your holiday designs and gather your orders, crooks are planning their strategies for the season as well.
Most gift basket retailers long for the big orders that will yield huge profits and make the year's hard work pay off. When accepting credit cards for orders large and small, it's important to be alert to suspcious orders to avoid becoming a victim of online fraud.
Being able to accept payment for our gift basket orders has been a tremendous advance in commerce. Unfortunately, some of the crooks who once placed fraudulent phone orders or engaged in shoplifting have now adapted their skills to the online environment. Find out here what their schemes are and what you can do to steer clear of fraud. Here are some of their schemes:
1. Late night orders, especially from outside the U.S.
2. High volume orders
3. Rush orders where they want to pick up the order right away or insist on next-day air and don’t care about cost.
4. Email address is from one of the free email accounts such as @hotmail, @yahoo, @juno.
5. When you try to confirm order by email or phone, there’s no such number or person.
6. They give you several card numbers in case one of them doesn’t go through.
7. Claim they never received order.
8. Claim their card was stolen and the order is not theirs.
If an order seems suspicious
1. Call or email the customer to verify or confirm the order before filling it.
2. Get their full address, phone and security code and verify with your credit card company.
3. Don’t send orders on a promise that they’ll pay by check.
4. Process the credit card before you begin or ship the order.
5. Use a shipping method that provides signature confirmation.
Trust your instinct to help you stay away from customers who want something for nothing. The best defense against buyers out to defraud you is your good sense and your nose. If it seems wrong and smells bad, back away. Steer clear of crooked customers so you can enjoy your sales from the many legitimate customers who value your service and are willing to pay for it with their own money.
For more information, see Stopping Fraud,
Get legal tips to keep your company out of court.
====================
About the Author
Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus at Fullerton College, educational consultant, gift basket expert, writer and professional motivational speaker. From her main website, www.GiftBasketBusinessWorld.com ,and blogs and newsletters she motivates small business owners and gift retailers with sales-generating ideas, marketing tips, design ideas and business success strategies. She is mother of four and grandmother of three. When she's not traveling she enjoys her home in Anaheim, CA.
|
