Newsletter - February 24, 2010

The Jewelry Crafter

A newsletter for the home jeweler

This newsletter will be published every 2 weeks, and will include hints and tips for your jewelry business. Any feedback or comments about the topics presented here are always appreciated. Click here to e-mail us.

If you have an idea for an upcoming article, or would like to submit an article for the newsletter, please contact us. Anyone who submits an article will receive a permanent link to their website in a special section of our link pages.

This Week’s Sponsor:

 

Accepting International Orders

by

Mary Harvey

 

If you have a website, I’m sure that you’ve heard about, or even experienced, the “Nigerian Scam”. Here’s how it works - You get an e-mail from a supposed business person in Nigeria who is either setting up a store, or wants to purchase large quantities of your merchandise. They give you a good story, and a lot of of contact information to make the e-mail look legitimate, and they don’t care about any shipping costs involved.  If you do reply to them and give them a price, they usually want you to add on some extra things they can’t get locally, money is no object. If you respond to one of these e-mails, and actually ship the items to Nigeria, you will be out a lot of money. The truth is that Nigeria is the scam capital of the world. They use stolen credit cards to pay for their purchases, and by the time you find out about the scam, it’s too late - you’re out the merchandise, and the money.

Another variation on the Nigerian scam is the “TTY scam”. The scammers use text or internet relay equipment designed for deaf people to disguise their identities and try to make a purchase. You get a call from a TTY Operator, saying that a deaf person is trying to contact you. They relay the message that’s typed in on the other end. The rest is the same, they want to place a big order and have you send it to Nigeria.

As you can see, a majority of the internet scams originate in Nigeria. So a good rule of thumb is never ship to Nigeria, or you will get burned. Other countries that have a high rate of fraud include Romania, Macedonia, Belarus, Pakistan, Russia, Lithuania, Egypt, Columbia, Malaysia and Indonesia. Addresses from these countries are very hard to verify.

However, don’t let Nigerian scam orders dissuade you from accepting other international orders. Many international orders are safe to accept if you just keep a few things in mind:

  • Only American Express provides address verification on international orders. Master Card, Visa and discover do not.
  • Try to verify the billing address yourself on the internet. There are international phone directories available where you can check the information. Ship only to addresses that you can verify.
  • When possible, use Paypal for international orders. Paypal business accounts offer certain protections against credit card fraud. 
  • Be extremely careful when accepting international money orders or Western Union payments. These can be forged, and if you cash a fraudulent money order, you will be out not only the merchandise you sent, but also the money.
  • NEVER accept an order from Nigeria.
  • Check out the IP address that the order originated from. 
  • Talk to your card service provider for specific steps you can take to minimize international card fraud.

Another thing to remember when accepting international orders is to know the import/export limitations for the country you’re shipping to. For example, you can’t ship shell cameos, coral or rawhide products out of the USA. This information can be found at the USPS website.

Most credit card processors will tell you that you accept international credit card payments at your own risk, but by using common sense, and doing some research, you can protect yourself from fraudulent international orders.

Custom Jewelry Supply - Supplies for the Jewelry Designer or Wire Artist

The Jewelry Crafter Archive - Back issues full of useful information for your jewelry business