News & Updates
Some tips from booksellers to booksellers on credit card security: BE VIGILANT WITH NET ORDERS!
Some tips from booksellers to booksellers on credit card security: BE VIGILANT WITH NET ORDERS!
Internet fraud is a serious concern for every bookseller these days. As a result of the recent the scams which affected ILAB booksellers worldwide, we have put together some best practice guidelines from booksellers for booksellers. These are no more than guidelines, not a comprehensive list, and ILAB reminds its booksellers that they are individually responsible for ensuring the legitimacy of the orders they process.
Phone or Email Orders
Shipping: Only ship to an address identical with the billing address on the credit card
Collection from the shop: If a customer wants to collect the item from the shop, ask the customer to pay in the shop
Research names and addresses on the net:
- Check names and email addresses on the net. It is interesting what can turn up when searching names or emails. Sometimes you find others have said they are scammers - or of course you might equally learn that they are who they say they are.
- Check the address exists on the Net.
- Online address validation software can prove very useful to verify an address.
Orders through the website
If your website allows customers to deliver to a different address than the billing address, you might not be covered if the address is subsequently reported as fraudulent by the card holder.
Some easy checks:
1.) Is the email address given a work email address?
2.) Are the goods to be sent to a registered work address?
3.) Does the buyer or the delivery address have an online presence?
4.) If in doubt and customer insists that the item might be a gift, ask the customer to send the gift directly as your bank will not authorize the purchase.
Use the ILAB Community of Booksellers / Ask for a reference / Report fraud
All ILAB affiliates are signed up for the ILAB TRADE List serv. (unless opted out). Use the list serv to ask your colleagues for a reference.
Also, inform your ILAB colleagues about suspicious behavior and please come forward if a fraud has happened to you. Contact your national association or the ILAB Secretariat: secretariat@ilab.org who will follow up with your permission and inform the trade.
Share your tips and best practice with your ILAB colleagues
We appreciate your feedback! Please never hesitate to contact us with useful tips or bad news so we can alert the trade of the latest tricks and scams. It helps all of us!
Internet fraud will not go away but together we can work towards tighter security by using our network.