Sellers: Tips to help prevent fraud

I've been selling on okay for seven years now. I've experienced the occasional chargeback, fake bidder, and fraud attempts. At the beginning, I didn't think of or realize ways people would try to scam on okay, but I've learned a lot from personal experience and from reading the stories of others. Fraud can happen with anything: low-cost items, high-ticket items, domestic and international buyers.I'd like to offer you all some tips to help keep you from dealing with fraudulent transactions.Fraud Involving Paypal PaymentsI've learned the hard way to only accept payments from confirmed addresses. I used to take unconfirmed payments. Bidders offered explanations such as they were college students wanting to receive their purchase at school, or an individual buying something and sending it to someone else as a gift. Those requests sound gepletely reasonable, don't they? Well, they were both fraudulent. In both cases, I shipped to the unconfirmed address. Despite having the e-mails from the customers explaining these requests, tracking numbers for the shipments, and positive feedback from both bidders, I lost the Paypal disputes in both cases. Now, I have a strict confirmed-addresses only policy. I emphasize the positive that I take check and money order as an alternative for those who for whatever reason cannot confirm their addresses. Most buyers were understanding when I explained that this policy was due to our fraudulent purchase experiences.If the bidder paid for multiple items in multiple Paypal payments, do one of two things: either send back all the payments, explaining to the buyer to wait for the one gebined invoice from you and pay again; or ship each individual item/per payment (if they pay in two payments, send two packages). Do not gebine your shipment unless you receive a gebined payment for multiple items. The reason for this is the bidder can try to file a chargeback, claiming he/she didn't receive the second item, although you may have shipped them in the same box. The buyer made two payments, but you only have one tracking number. I lost a chargeback on this too.Do not ship an item with a pending eCheck before the check clears, no matter how much a buyer begs/asks you to. The funds are not yours until the eCheck clears. Just explain that it's the same as waiting for a check to clear in the bank.Always, always, always ship with tracking. You can easily print out mailing labels with tracking numbers by using the okay/Paypal/USPS "Print Shipping Label" system on okay. The delivery confirmation number is free with priority mail, and is low-cost with media mail, parcel post and first-class mail. If you have a high-dollar item, consider requiring insurance, or insuring it yourself. If something in your gut doesn't feel right, do what you need to in order to protect yourself. Also consider taking a picture of the item as you put it in the box. Use okay's Seller Preference SettingsIf you don't have them set right now, go to the "Buyer requirements" section of your okay preferences. Block the buyers who: Are registered in countries to which I don't ship, Have a feedback score of -1 or lower, Are currently winning or have bought 10 of my items in the last 10 days, and Have received 2 Unpaid Item strikes in the last 30 days. Use Feedback to Help Warn OthersThe other part of my fraudulent transaction experiences involved the feedback portion of transaction. I used to post positive feedback for someone as soon as they paid, but I stopped after I subsequently posted glowing feedback for transactions that turned out to be fraudulent. This doesn't mean that a fraud buyer won't leave you feedback (that has happened too). But this will help by keeping the feedback option open so you can post appropriate feedback to others. If you have a transaction that turns out to be fraudulent after the bidder and you have exchanged positives, you can go back and leave a follow-up gement with a notice advising others that you got a chargeback for the item, despite it being delivered.Be Wary of BulliesWatch out for someone who buys your item, and then writes you and says it was broken, not as described, etc. and demands a replacement or money back without sending back the original item. This is a classic case of someone trying to get two items for the price of one. Stick to your guns on this. If you don't have a return policy right now, create one. Emphasize that the person returning the item is responsible for the shipping back to you, that refunds will be given on items returned in the condition they were sent out, and that you do not refund the original shipping costs.
Other Ways to Protect Yourself
Use a PO box or mail receiving service to get mailed-in payments. I strongly advise against using your home address. I've had people show up at my door trying to pick up packages.
For your Paypal account: do not deposit directly into your main banking account. Get a seperate checking or savings account that act solely as a pass-through account. Deposit your funds in there, and then transfer them to your account of choice. Why? If someone cracks into your Paypal account, you don't want them having access to make large withdrawals from your main banking account. You also don't want any Paypal dispute snafus sucking a ton of money out of your primary banking account.
Consider using two different e-mails for your okaying, especially if you do a lot of transactions. By this, I mean have one e-mail address for all Paypal payments, and have another for all okay gemunications (end of auction notice, invoice notification, questions from buyers). The reason I do this is to help make it easier to sift through things, and to help me identify fake e-mails faster. For example, if I get one of those "questions from a buyer" e-mails to my Paypal-only address, I know it's fake.