Credit Card Fraud Warning - Read if you sell stuff on the web

[HotKetchup]

I'm posting this so that it might prevent something like this from happening to someone in here. I was just burned on ebay by some credit card fraud. I sold a $3500 saxophone to a guy in Indonesia who claimed to be "off-shore" so he couldn't send me a check. He gave me some credit card information and I had a friend of mine who owns a small business charge the card for me and then write me a check for the amount. I even recieved an authorization form from the buyer with a signature on it. It was all very convincing. The day after I sent the package I was informed by the credit card company that the "card holder does not recoginize the transaction". I was lucky enough to find out soon so I called FedEx and had them stop shipment and it should be sent back to me before he gets it. Nonetheless, it cost me $327 to ship it and it will cost $500 to ship it back. Meanwhile, I used most of the money to pay off school debt and whatnot so now I have to take out a loan to pay my friend back because he needs the money to return to the credit card company. I'm out over $1000 total and I still don't have the saxophone back yet. FedEx insists that they still have the package but I recieved an email from the buyer that said he had recieved it. I might be out over $4000, I'll have to wait and see.

The FedEx representitives are very nice and easy to work with and seem sincere about helping me. One rep said that Indonesia is the "Credit Card Fraud Capital of the World". He also said that a lot of people have the same type of trouble with the Netherlands. If any of you sell things over the internet, please beware of Indonesian buyers (not that Indonesians are bad people - it's probably just the easiest place to do it).

 

Sorry to hear your troubles and good advice

 

[Beau]

Rule #1: Don't do international sales on ebay.



That sucks.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

In before the flames.

Sorry, but accepting a credit card for something of that magnitude is rather stupid. Hopefully there should be a way for you to recoup some of your costs if you file fraud charges against this guy. Most likely the CC # was stolen.

- M4H

 

[Rage187]

thats exactly why I dont sell over seas.

Although I did sell something to an american stationed in Turkey.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Uhhh, duh?

 

[optoman]

Originally posted by: Beau
Rule #1: Don't do international sales on ebay.



That sucks.

 

[HotKetchup]

It was stupid. Please quit with the flames. This is very serious to me and I posted it here so that I might help other stupid people.

 

[Broohaha]

i was selling a 600m on ebay and got about a dozen different emails from scam artists on indonesia. never, EVER believe them. they will try to tempt you by giving you the CC info in advance and offering to pay an exorbitant sum. i was so ready to pull the trigger. luckily i dont have a friend with a merchant acct (thankfully paypal doesnt accept stuff from indonesia... those bastages kept telling me "surely you hav ea friend with merchant acctoun!!"). it all seemed to good to be true so i went onto ebays community forums and asked around ther eand was told by many different people that the indonesia stuff was completely bogus. sorry you got burned dude.

 

[Amorphus]

what model sax?

 

[Bulk Beef]

Originally posted by: HotKetchup
It was stupid. Please quit with the flames. This is very serious to me and I posted it here so that I might help other stupid people.

You came to the right place.

EDIT: On second thought, maybe you should have posted this in Politics & News.

 

[Miramonti]

Its a good post, people get suckered all the time, but you can expect the flames.

It wasn't stupid because it was Indonesia, it was stupid because you didn't research the risks of selling abroad before you accepted the payment and sent the sax.

 

[fs5]

crap, so I won't be getting my sax?

 

[StageLeft]

Ah that does suck. I'd second beau's advice. I would probably ship to canada on ebay, but otherwise I'd keep it within the US

 

[Broohaha]

Originally posted by: fivespeed5
crap, so I won't be getting my sax?

lmao

hey OP, so how come it cost you so much to ship and why are fedex beign such biotches and charging you so much to stop shipment?

 

[Eli]

I don't deal with people overseas.

 

[HotKetchup]

It's a Selmer Paris Serie III Alto. Killer saxophone.

As for FedEx, it wasn't their fault it costs so much. The buyer insisted on International Priority which is uber expensive. Fedex only charged me $10 to stop shipment. To send it back is so expensive because of some deal with the actual weight vs size of the package. I guess that the fedex station where it's being shipped back from goes by size over weight or some odd business like that.