Ever been refused business because your country is 'high risk'?

**thoth51** · 2nd July 10, 10:57 PM

...High risk for credit card fraud, that is.

This morning I was peeved to find that I couldn't order a kilt because the vendor would not ship to my country (Singapore). After some quick internet research I found that scammers have been using Singapore as a transshipment point for their fraudulent purchases. So we have been blacklisted through no fault of our own! While I can empathise with merchants who have been scammed, I'm disappointed that entire countries are excluded from international e-trade because of these crooks.

I have written back to the vendor to convince him that he is dealing with a genuine customer, while extending a few proposals to assure him. What would you do to get around this situation?

**CDNSushi** · 2nd July 10, 11:48 PM

Absolutely. Short answer: have had it happen numerous times. What can you do? I think you're doing it. Contact the company and try to come to some agreement.

**Whidbey78** · 3rd July 10, 12:03 AM

As have I. In Singapore in fact! It wasn't online, but overseas on all occasions...Japan, Korea, Australia, Portugal, Greece, UAE, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Philipines, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, Panama, Chile, Spain,...even in Canada when I could have seen my house from a hot-air balloon and same for Tijuana. Not only was it a US bank, but I was a US government employee, and often using a card guaranteed to work everywhere(a military travel card issued by Bank of America and backed by the government). I think I was rejected in all of the 42 countries I've visited. Not in every establishment though. Some were not equipped or willing to do it. Would you with all the international fraud going on nowadays? Being flagged as a country would suck though, but many nations have very relaxed regs about who they deal with, and though it has no effect on the government it makes it hard for its residents to do business internationally.

The irony is that I could swipe a government backed credit card or my own personal ATM card in Iraq with no problem. I even wrote a couple of checks there. Figure that out!!

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 3rd July 10, 04:17 AM

We have gotten at the Scottish Tartans Museum numerous emails over the years from people asking if we will ship to a foreign country that we have been 99% certain are from scammers. Two tell-tale signs; 1) they generally are asking to purchase odd items in bulk, sometimes not even items that we carry, and 2) they always want to pay on a credit card, the details of which they promise to email to us once we agree to the order. They never are willing to just place their order through our normal shopping cart system on our web site, which uses PayPal.

We ship internationally all the time. We get orders in from France, Austria, Australia, Japan, etc. (Even an occasional order from the UK!) We find that our legitimate international customers have no problem at all just using our regular PayPal shopping cart on our web site.

So when we get an email request from someone for an international shipment, which smells like a scam, we always reply that we will be happy to ship to their country if they will complete their order with PayPal. We generally never hear from them again.

I believe that this is due to the extra security measures that PayPal has in place to protect both the seller and the merchant.

In any case, we'd be glad to send you a kilt to Singapore. :-)

**jeremy j starche** · 3rd July 10, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome

We have gotten at the Scottish Tartans Museum numerous emails over the years from people asking if we will ship to a foreign country that we have been 99% certain are from scammers. Two tell-tale signs; 1) they generally are asking to purchase odd items in bulk, sometimes not even items that we carry, and 2) they always want to pay on a credit card, the details of which they promise to email to us once we agree to the order. They never are willing to just place their order through our normal shopping cart system on our web site, which uses PayPal.

I can second that this happens... I've refused orders because I didn't like how they felt, but never just directly from the country of origin.

(For me, they are usually trying to order 10,000 of an item they I /know/ they can get cheaper locally....)

**thoth51** · 3rd July 10, 07:43 AM

I know that people scam merchants on the net, I'm just surprised that it happens to kilt and Highland dress vendors. It can't be that easy to re-sell sporrans and tailor made kilts. What else would they do with it?

The good news is that the vendor has agreed to take my order on account of my XMTS membership. New kilt on the way!

**Inchessi** · 3rd July 10, 07:49 AM

I have never had this problem, so excuse me if I sound ignorant or redundant. As M.A.C. stated, couldn't you use PayPal, or mail a cashiers/bank check?

Sidebar: I spent a week in Singapore in 1992. Loved It! It is on my Vacation return list.

**thoth51** · 3rd July 10, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Inchessi

I have never had this problem, so excuse me if I sound ignorant or redundant. As M.A.C. stated, couldn't you use PayPal, or mail a cashiers/bank check?

Sidebar: I spent a week in Singapore in 1992. Loved It! It is on my Vacation return list.

Their online shopping page did not list Singapore among the countries they ship to. It was when I emailed to enquire that I found out about their policy about shipping outside the list. The other payment options only came up afterwards.

Sidebar: Do come back! You'll find it very different from 20 years ago.

**Tobus** · 3rd July 10, 01:34 PM

I had this problem when I tried to order my brogues from a company in England. My (American) credit card company refused the transaction, and their explanation was that they've had a lot of fraud from there. I had to pre-authorize the transaction for it to go through smoothly.

I never thought of England as being a center for credit card fraud.

**CDNSushi** · 4th July 10, 10:04 AM

I ran into the exact same thing trying to get some World Cup kit sent over from the U.K. My Canadian ccard company outright refused to process the transaction until I called their fraud department and proved I was who I said I was, and got them to un-redflag my transaction. It was nuts!

In the end I had to send an international bank transfer denominated in pounds, which took a LOT longer than originally intended. I was not a happy camper.