Orders from Japan. How do I check to see if they're REAL addresses/people?

[michelleB]

Ok yesterday morning I got an order from an address in Japan. At first I was skeptical (naturally) but the paypal payment was processed ok & it's a small order (around $20). No sweat, right?

But I just got ANOTHER one from the same town or whatever in Japan. Different person & slightly different address, but same general area. What's up with that? Again they paid by paypal and again it's a relatively small order (this one's $30) but how do I make sure these are legit?? What are the odds of two within a 24 hour period in the same vicinity of Japan??

Is there somewhere online where i can verify some of this information before sending out these orders?

[NoOneSpecial]

Maybe they are friends and just chose to pay via Paypal. Log into your Paypal account and make sure the money is really there and that you didn't just receive a spoof email. If they paid for it I would ship it if they added enough to cover the shipping charges.

[michelleB]

Good point about them perhaps being friends & such. I've done the same thing with friends of mine. We get on 3-way phone calls while surfing & shopping, often buying from the same sites.

Ok I just checked paypal and the money is in there, from both of them. Everything looks fine to me, truly. Guess I'm just being overly cautious. ;-)

They're listed as "ineligible for seller protection" though, because of their location. <sigh> I can't afford to lose a sale any more than I can afford to give up free shipments to a scam. But in this case, my gut tells me they're ok. I just wanted to run it past plenty of people...publicly...so that if this is a scheme others have fallen for, maybe I can get the info before it's too late.

Thanks for your reply NoOneSpecial! I appreciate it.

[thecandlespastore]

I would say they are ok. Ship with insurance though.

[michelleB]

Oh you betcha! There's gonna be insurance on the boxes, insurance on the contents, insurance on the mail truck, the airplane, the mailman, his shoes...you name it! LOL. I'm gonna take every precaution. :-)

Thanks a bunch!

[thecandlespastore]

LMAO!!! If they orders can fit in those global priority mail envelopes, it might only cost about $7.50.

[Mexitan]

We process our credit cards through a credit card service, so it's easier to tell if there's a scam, but you might also see if the email address is valid. Often scammers will use a fake email address. A lot of times customers will have their name as part of their email address. That's a good way to tell also. Don't know if you can tell with paypal, but is the name listed on the credit card the same as the person it's being shipped to? Just some ideas!

[sudsnwicks]

Don't know if you can tell with paypal, but is the name listed on the credit card the same as the person it's being shipped to?

With paypal you don't get to see any of this information. You don't know what kind of credit card they paid with or any of this info. But since they are the ones taking care of it, I think we can assume they will do whatever verification is needed to make sure the card is legit.