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Beware Of Increased Fraud Activity During The Holidays! 11/23/06 Return To Online Bookselling Home Page |
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The holidays are officially upon us and they bring with them some good and bad things for booksellers. The good that is usually realized during the holidays is an increase in sales volume, the bad is an increase in fraud activity. For most that accept orders through the major marketplaces, e.g., Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Abebooks.com, Half.com, BarnesandNoble.com, etc., there is not much worry with respect to credit card fraud, but you should still take precautions, particularly for expensive books ordered by overseas customers. A frequent scam involves purchasing expensive books (e.g., law books, medical books, and specialized engineering books) using a stolen credit card. Initially, the card is accepted, but once the book has been shipped, problems arise. If you ship internationally and sell valuable books, make sure you keep a record of the Customs form number (it is printed on your USPS receipt) since no other tracking method is really available. You can pay for registered or certified deliveries, and these will certainly confirm delivery, but the Customs form will do the same. Typically, you will be covered by the marketplace that accepts the credit card, but it is wise to keep the record in case there is any dispute. A mistake that many new booksellers make is to respond to the offers of buyers asking to purchase from you through off-site payment services like PayPal. If you do this, you risk having your marketplace account suspended for circumventing the marketplace, and if the off-site purchase indicates the sale is not covered by seller protection, you risk losing the book, shipping, and a chargeback fee if the card turns out to be stolen. I do not want to suggest that you not accept international orders during the holiday season, I just want to make sure you are aware of possible fraud. In my five years of online bookselling, I have never been stung by a fraudulent international order and I don’t want you to be either. You are visitor:
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