Is it a FRAUD purchase?

feelfreeto

feelfreeto

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I started dropshipping store selling stuff from AliExpress literally a couple of weeks ago.
And today someone from Hong Kong bought an item on my store with credit card.

It seems a little weird to me knowing that they can buy the same stuff from their neighbors in China.

I did run some Engagements ads at epacket countries including Hong Kong last week. And today this customer visited my website directly since I currently don't run ads worldwide anymore.

Fraud alert in Stripe shows "normal" just like other sales from the US.

Here is Fraud analysis in Shopify:
  • Card Verification Value (CVV) is correct
  • ! Billing address or credit card's address wasn't available
  • ! Billing address ZIP or postal code isn't available to match with credit card's registered address
  • There was 1 payment attempt
  • Payment was made with 1 credit card
  • Location of IP address used to place the order is Central District, Hong Kong SAR China
  • Shipping address is 3 miles from location of IP address
  • Billing country matches the country from which the order was placed
  • The IP address used to place the order isn't a high risk internet connection (web proxy)
Your thoughts?
 
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Without complete billing information, I wouldn't even approach it without getting the additional information. Even then, I'd probably still be skeptical, but I'm very skeptical by nature. The biggest deciding factor would be how much the order costs to break even. If it's a $20 item on a busy store, I'd risk it, but if it was, say $200, probably not. In the past, I've made excuses why I couldn't process the order and informed the customer that I would personally help seek an alternative, which typically would be a competitor. That way if it is a scam, it's on someone else to handle. If not, it's a single lost high-risk sale that I wouldn't lose sleep over and by helping the customer find an alternative, it usually avoids bad reviews. Of course, there's no guarantee, but it should keep it to a minimum.

At the end of the day, though, my rule of thumb is if I don't feel comfortable, I don't do it. It's lead to some pretty pissed customers occasionally, and I'm sure I've alienated potential customers, but I rarely get chargebacks anymore and that's something that's seriously burned me in the past.
 
Houdinii said:
Without complete billing information, I wouldn't even approach it without getting the additional information. Even then, I'd probably still be skeptical, but I'm very skeptical by nature. The biggest deciding factor would be how much the order costs to break even. If it's a $20 item on a busy store, I'd risk it, but if it was, say $200, probably not. In the past, I've made excuses why I couldn't process the order and informed the customer that I would personally help seek an alternative, which typically would be a competitor. That way if it is a scam, it's on someone else to handle. If not, it's a single lost high-risk sale that I wouldn't lose sleep over and by helping the customer find an alternative, it usually avoids bad reviews. Of course, there's no guarantee, but it should keep it to a minimum.

At the end of the day, though, my rule of thumb is if I don't feel comfortable, I don't do it. It's lead to some pretty pissed customers occasionally, and I'm sure I've alienated potential customers, but I rarely get chargebacks anymore and that's something that's seriously burned me in the past.
Click to expand...

Great response, thanks a lot, appreciate it.

I just don't have much of experience yet to understand which sales seem fishy and which have no reason to worry about.

It's a $20 sale, with $6 cost of goods. So not that much of a risk. I wouldn't like to get a chargeback though.
 
Herion said:
If the Stripe risk score isn't 0, cancel the order. Even if it is, I'd personally cancel it. Stripe doesn't allow drop shipping and lots of fraudulent payments come from HK.
Click to expand...

There are only 3 gradations of the risk on Stripe: normal > elevated > high. In my case it's normal.

But I know what you are saying. That's why I decided to ask here for the second opinion. Thanks for the feedback.
 
feelfreeto said:
There are only 3 gradations of the risk on Stripe: normal > elevated > high. In my case it's normal.

But I know what you are saying. That's why I decided to ask here for the second opinion. Thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...
https://prnt.sc/o9q2kc

That's the score I'm referring to, and it's a recent fraudulent payment attempt from HK. Stripe has terrible defaults for radar and would've let it through if I didn't have stricter settings.
 
Herion said:
https://prnt.sc/o9q2kc

That's the score I'm referring to, and it's a recent fraudulent payment attempt from HK. Stripe has terrible defaults for radar and would've let it through if I didn't have stricter settings.
Click to expand...

Where did you get this number? I don't have it in Stripe. There's just "normal". Nothing else.

In any case I don't think that it will be 0 because the billing card address wasn't available to match. I'm not sure how it works though.
 
feelfreeto said:
Where did you get this number? I don't have it in Stripe. There's just "normal". Nothing else.

In any case I don't think that it will be 0 because the billing card address wasn't available to match. I'm not sure how it works though.
Click to expand...
https://stripe.com/gb/radar/fraud-teams#pricing

Oops, apparently Stripe requires an additional fee for certain aspects of radar now.
 
sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling. I have had people order in country and send it to another country.

I emailed the client and asked them a few questions and i proceeded with the order. Never until now have I had a chargeback.
 
For six bucks I would just send it, but without the address you can't be sure.

If you are not comfortable you can cancel the order and refund. You can also message the customer and tell them that the address did not pass you security check and can they please place the order again ensuring they use the correct address. They may not but it is always worth asking
 
Today with a fresh head I looked at it again, googled the delivery address and found out that it belongs to some sort of clinic where the name of the customer is also listed. So I took a risk and fulfilled the order.

As I was saying the risk here is not to waste $6 on the item. But to get a chargeback, which I want to avoid as much as possible.

Thank you to everybody who shared their advice and opinion. Appreciate it.
 
I have been dropshipping for 3 years. Whenever i get a high fraud alert normally it still deposits into my acct. Most of the time it is someone borrowing a family memebers card
 
what happens if the funds actually cleared and you got paid out, then u end up refunding it?

says it debits from your bank + next payout.

but what if you dont have funds in your bank or next payout?

does that mean you can’t refund at all?
 
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