Received this e-mail that was generated from our press release:
Currently we only ship in the USA, but we could change that...
What do you think?
How would you handle this one?
Ben N

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Please assist us by responding in a timely manner.

I WILL LIKE TO ORDER FOR 15 COMERCIAL COFFEE MAKERS TO BE SHIP DOWN TO A HOTEL IN GHANA AND I WILL LIKE TO KNOW THE SUM OF THE COFFEE MAKERS INCLUDING SHIPPING TO AFRICA SO THATI CAN GO ON WITH MY PAYMENT.THANK YOU

Phone Number:

I would hate to cause you to lose the sale of 15 coffee makers, but this does not sound legitimate to me .. I get tons of these requests from Africa every week .. I never respond, and the inquiring parties move on to their next victim ..

NOPE

Thanks for the guidance.
I will file this into "file 13"...
I consider this: Merchant 1, Scammer 0 !!!
Ben N

I know it is tempting and you can already count the money in the bank but don't do it. I had a person string me along for quite a while during which time I was researching whether they were legit or not (they weren't).

I get these all of the time also, my rule has become if they don't want to go through my normal checkout process then they are not legitimate. I will help customers who are making normal puchase request, but if someone is asking for a large amount of product then I want my normal merchant account checks to be in place to cover myself.

Don't Do It!

Troy

I have a simple response to these....

"Yes! we're happy to assist you. We conduct all international payments via wire transfer to our bank.

Please let me know if you need the bank information. After the transfer of funds, we will be happy to expedite your order".

Never hear from them again, BUT if they were legit, they would come back with an "ok". Most real int'l biusiness is ok with a transfer.

I hate to ignore business, but am also a realist.

Bill, never been scammed, knock on wood....

p.s. Indonesia is another popular locale.

I was just going to say this. They do wire transfers for large purcases from these locations. Its very common.

But then again youd have to give your banking info. I wouldnt want to do that. They can use western union, and will if they are legit.

You could always tell these guys thats how you accept international payments.

Western Union, great idea!
That way they will NOT need our banking info., etc..
Maybe they'll want to trade poison darts for the coffee makers next... HA HA HA, LOL...
Thanks everyone,
Ben N

Would not do that order either! CC fraud is way too easy!
And International orders are hard and can go bad on a good day!

Like the Western Union Idea over the bank wire, Great Idea.

Have any of you set up the cart to offer this and credit cards?
And if so or not how do you handle this with the cart checkout.
As it is a very interesting idea.

We do that on all International Orders and its a pain! But is most cases it does work. Again CHECK EVERY DETAIL !!!!

http://www.parkeryamaha.com/index.asp?Page...on=Custom&ID=50

HOWEVER we had one a month ago that sent all the "Required Info" Front , Back, Passport ID etc etc.

We got nervous and called the bank, seems the customer had made a card with correct name, V Code etc BUT one minor issue. When we called the bank it was not their number series !

So the large order was stopped and we came out without a problem since it never shipped.

I do like the Western Union Idea and need to figure out how to make this work!