Caution...!

 On Monday October 8, I got the following email. It arrived on the day I was traveling to new York to visit my daughter and her family for a week. I am obscuring any identifying information, such as email and postal addresses.

 On Oct 8, 2012, at 11:53 AM, [email obscured] wrote:
 
Am ordering from Ukraine . I want to place an order from you. I know the difficulties encountered when shipping internationally, But that will not be a problem because,i am registered with a shipping company whom i have used severally without any delay nor problems with my goods. Before i place this order, i want you to notify me if ,i am able to place the order and most important: If i can make payment with my credit cards Visa/Mc (Issued in the United States) because that is the only way we are,set for payment without no delay. I don't place online orders ,can i e-mail my ORDER needed then you can give me a quote here and make charges to my cards manually on your end ? Pls Clarify.


I have shipped to Ukraine before. It was an eBay order, with all the protections involved therein, but in this case I was wary.  I have heard about a variety of scams set to take advantage of small businesses, and some of them are quite convincing. That the respondent did not want to place an order online was a bit of a flag, but just in case it was a legitimate offer, I replied:

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 4:19 PM, Vicki Newby <[email obscured]> wrote:
Thank you for your email.
Yes, you may order from me.
Yes, I take Visa and MasterCard as well as Discover and American Express.
I have shipped to Ukraine before.
I ship once confirmed (cleared) payment is received.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
         Vicki Newby
~ Sent from my iPhone ~

Shortly after I sent that email my phone rang. It was the respondent calling. This was awkward since I was on an errand with my daughter and granddaughter, and couldn't really conduct business at the moment.

He said he had sent me another email and wondered if had I seen it yet. I had not, but told him I would look it over as soon as I could, considering that I was out on an errand, and would get back to him after I had a chance to look over his email, which follows:

On 10/9/2012 3:36 PM, [name obscured] wrote: 

Hello

Am sorry for the late Respond,Thanks for the  swift response, below is the item i am interested in

Necklace Garnet Nuggets & Sterling Clasp...............50 in qty

SKU: NE875

Lavender Amethyst with Butterflies Peeper Keeper Eyeglasses Leash..................50 in qty

SKU: GL1824

Earrings: Amethyst Nuggets on Gold-Filled Earwires..................50 in qty

SKU: EAGF1227

Anklet Garnet and Sterling Silver..................50 in qty

SKU: AN94

Earrings Gold-Filled Pearl Drop Studs................50 in qty

SKU: EAGF1248

MY DELIVERY ADDRESS

[address information obscured]

Ukraine

Concerning the shipping , the likes of UPS, DHL and others  always don't take care of the charges down here.Charges like handling,customs and duties etc.  We have experienced  such situation before and i don't want to experience such thing again,you do not need to worry about the stress involve and all documentations because i have  a shipping company that have delivered to me in the past,i really like their services so i will like you to contact them about the shipping.I will be glad if you contact this shipper ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD for the shipping quote. Here is there email address ([email obscured]@yahoo.com) They will take care of everything including handling,customs and duties,Tax, insurance etc,also you will be responsible for payment to ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD then all costs as far as shipping, taxes, duties, and insurance in addition to the costs of the product should be sent to me in a proforma invoice to be paid in advance of shipment.Always send me the copy of email you send to them ,pls email them with pick up address,shipping address and the weight of the order and also you can also notify them with my customer (Id#[number obscured]) .Pls get back to me with the following once you hear back from them..

Total Cost Of Items..........

Shipping Cost Via  ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD ........

All Additional Cost (Transfer Fee To  ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD.....................

 

I will be looking forward to hear back from so that i can e-mail you my

credit card details for you to charge the total cost from and get the

shipping fees settled,then my order can be picked up asap.

Warmest Regards

 

Now that I am home from all my travels and catching up on office work, I am following up on this huge Ukraine order business. I Googled "ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD" and the only relevant result I could get was a fraud examiner website where another individual had queried this exact situation - a request to order by email, ship to Ukraine, via "ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC." The only differences were that the respondent's name was different and Zarted had a gmail email address instead of yahoo. Other than that, the verbage of the Ukraine order request - verbatim.

The expert that answered on this fraud examiner website is an experienced consumer protection consultant who said that this type of order is often paid with a fraudulent credit card account or a counterfeit cashier's check. Typically the scammer wants you to ship before the payment fails, and said that it does sound like a scam. It's sounding more and more like a variation on the old "Woops, I sent you too much money, can you send some back" scam.

With this in mind I composed a reply to my would-be customer.  As I review it here, I see that I missed one of the items in my reply, which would add another 2000.00 to the total presumed order, bringing it to over $10,000.00.

My information about international orders that there are likely to be customs charges, taxes and other charges, comes from previous employment experience, from other vendors I know from networking groups, and from vendor education courtesy of eBay, as they seek to educate vendors and customers for the best possible purchasing experience.  Here is my reply to the respondent:



Thank you for your interest and I apologize for the delay in responding. I have been out of town and have not had time to research your request until now.

Item Number	Description	Quantity	Price Each	Extended
NE875	Necklace Garnet Nuggets & Sterling Clasp	50	$52.00	$2,600.00
GL1824	Lavender Amethyst with Butterflies Peeper Keeper Eyeglasses Leash	50	$30.68	$1,534.00
AN94	Anklet Garnet and Sterling Silver	50	$38.74	$1,937.00
EAGF1248	Earrings Gold-Filled Pearl Drop Studs	50	$40.00	$2,000.00
	Merchandise Total:			$8,071.00

The prospect of such a large order is very exciting, but I must tell you that I am a lone artisan making these pieces and do not have the quantities of finished pieces in the styles that you are asking for. I can certainly get to work making these pieces for you, and will be happy to let you know when I have them ready. We are probably talking about a time frame of eight to twelve weeks for these 200 pieces since I will undoubtedly have to order additional supplies in order to complete the number of pieces you have requested. I will also have to complete the pieces before I can get a shipping estimate because I don't know the weight of this many finished pieces with their packaging until I have them done. In the meantime, I have some questions and concerns.

Regarding international orders, it is my understanding and experience that when shipping international orders, there are import duties, taxes and charges that are not included in the item price or shipping charges and that these charges are the buyer's or the importer's responsibility (you being the importer or buyer). I recommend to any international buyer to check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be before ordering. It is my understanding and experience that these charges are normally collected from the buyer (that's you) by the delivering freight or shipping company and I have been advised to remind my buyers not to confuse them for additional charges from me, since these charges are levied by the government of the country to which the items are being shipped.

I will be happy to contact the shipping company of your choice, but I have some concerns about Zarted. Other than your mention in this email, I cannot find any record of a shipping company called ZARTED FREIGHT LOGISTIC LTD. I am also concerned about the fact that their contact information is a "Yahoo" email address. I understand that you say you have used them successfully before, but, for my part, if I am to entrust over $8000.00 of merchandise to a shipping company, I would like to know a little more about them. A more professional presentation from their end would be a good start.

And finally, I'm sure this goes without saying, but nothing leaves my studio until I have received payment, and that payment has cleared, which can take up to 15 business days (about three weeks) from the time I receive payment or payment information. That will probably go much faster if you can make payment through PayPal.

So we may be looking at up to 12 weeks to get these 200 pieces ready to go, up to 15 business days (3 to 4 weeks) for your payment to clear (faster if you use PayPal), plus how ever long it takes for the items to go through customs, paperwork, and be delivered to you. I just want you to be aware of all this at the outset. Given the time frame we're looking at, you can let me know if you're still interested in going ahead with this order.

Sincerely,

Vicki Newby
Eight Susquehanna
Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted!