Unusually large order

[Jeffsvintagecards]

I received a very large order for my store last night, $400+ . He pretty much bought all of each Item he purchased. 10, 20, and 30 of each. I tried to research the buyer on Etsy, I could not find any info on him. So I google searched the address and found a rented old house with a different name for the renter. I called Esty they won't give out info on buyers. So I ask if there were any repercussions for canceling his order. The first person I talked to said no. I thought about it a little more and called back about the buyers ability to leave feedback on a canceled order and I was told they could. The thing I am worried about is a Credit Card charge back, which the rep said they could do nothing about, What would you do?

Thanks.

Jeff

[LilMissSweetPea]

Cancel, orders that high are not covered by Etsy. Make sure to use the cancel feature, it will cancel and refund.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

You can cancel the order if you desire to but if the order went through then the order is probably legit.  I would wait 24 hours to ship.

Oh and a different name does not mean the person who make the order is not living there.

Still if you are uncomfortable cancel and refund.

PS put your shop location on your home page.   

[vintageNCtreasures]

@Jeffsvintagecards 
How did you call Etsy?

Etsy does NOT publish a phone # anywhere.
If you found a number through google, then it was a fake number.

You can request a callback from Etsy but you can't call them.
These call centers are outsourced (as is chat) and the support people don't always know how Etsy works and give out wrong information.

ETA: in case you don't know any order over $250 (including shipping) does not have any seller protection.
If a buyer opens a case for any reason, Etsy will refund out of your funds and the buyer keeps the item.

What is Etsy's Purchase Protection for Sellers? – Etsy Help

What isn’t eligible for Etsy’s Purchase Protection program? 

The following situations will make an order ineligible for Purchase Protection:  

• The order does not meet one or more of the eligibility requirements for Etsy Purchase Protection.
• The order total is over $250 USD (or the equivalent of your local currency), including shipping and taxes. 

[ChillwolfArt]

@vintageNCtreasures  I never knew this fake number lived on the Internet, until I saw posts about it. But I don't understand why it's never been removed in all of this time. Someone searching for Etsy's phone number may very well believe it's legit, when it's not. 

[Jeffsvintagecards]

I requested a call back.

[vintageNCtreasures]

@ChillwolfArt 
I didn't know this either until a few years ago but then if you think about it, if that # was a legit # for Etsy then it would be listed on the Etsy website under "contact" us.

That way you could double check to see if legit or not before calling.

I occasionally get phishing emails from Paypal and the phone # isn't Paypal's number.
Very easy to check by going to Paypal > contact.

[AAANativeArts]

I have learned to listen to my gut. If something seems fishy, it probably is. I get legit orders in that price range, but the name not matching the house address would set off alarm bells for me. You can cancel an order for any reason or no reason without any affect on your store. When you cancel instead of refund, Etsy gives your fees back, and the buyer can only leave a review for 48 hours. But that 48 hours doesn't start until the earliest delivery date is past, so if you cancel soon after they order, that window has already closed before they can leave a review.

[TandemElementsShop]

if you want to reject the order, then go ahead and CANCEL it. 

canceling automatically refunds the buyer

Feedback: if you cancel the order before the ship date has passed, they cannot leave feedback. if you cancel it after the ship date has passed, they have 48 hours to leave feedback. 

[NancyQstudio]

I've processed quite a few orders in this price range recently.  It is always nerve wracking due to how Etsy handles cases over $250 which is why I've moved higher dollar items off out of my shop.  But, all multi order totally over $250 have gone through just fine.  Some have even become repeat buyers so I've had positive experiences.  How I've chosen to handle these is reaching out to each of the customers to establish communication. This has been positive and made me feel more at ease.  If I hadn't felt comfortable I would have likely canceled the sale.  Secondly I send the orders requiring a special signature where only the recipient can sign for it and an ID is required.  This protects the buyer so someone else can't sign and take their order.  And it also helps if action is later required outside of Etsy.  Congrats on the higher dollar order.

[Jeffsvintagecards]

It is 5 different orders from same buyer. I know they are all covered by seller protection. The thing I worry about is CC charge backs. I don't list my expensive items because of this. the order was for about 150 items.

[AAANativeArts]

..."I know they are all covered by seller protection." If the total order, including the postage is over $250.00, it is NOT covered by seller protection at all. It is not the value of individual items, it is based on the total of the whole order combined.

[Adorabilities]

@AAANativeArts 

5 different orders

So they would all be covered, individually.

[PWOriginals]

@Jeffsvintagecards 

If buyer submitted 5 separate orders, I'd send each order separately. If buyer tried to do chargebacks on all 5, that would certainly send a red flag to the processor or Etsy, no?

[irmaKdesigns]

@NancyQstudio"... reaching out to each of the customers to establish communication. This has been positive and made me feel more at ease."

I do this too to feel less stressed out, and I find that the customer also feels assured that I won't disappear with their money.

[OmasFabricStash]

@Jeffsvintagecards   Did they go through check out 5 separate times or just once?  If they bought them all at the same time then it is only 1 order with 5 different items. As it is 1 order over $250 then it’s not covered. Mailing them separately won’t help because it’s still 1 order but shipped in more than 1 box. 

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

If it feels iffy, cancel the order. 'So I google searched the address and found a rented old house with a different name for the renter.' - This screams to me... CANCEL!

[JustMeToo]

@Jeffsvintagecards   I didn't go and look but I am assuming you are a new shop since you still have the slug as your avatar.  Scammers target new shops.  I would cancel this order.  You can always message them, and suggest they purchase smaller amounts at a time.  If you never hear from them again, then you know your spidey senses were working.

[vintageNCtreasures]

@JustMeToo The OP is not new to Etsy.
They have over 4,000 sales so they've been here quite a while.

[JustMeToo]

@vintageNCtreasures   It's a shame they didn't finish their shop then!  With that avatar, they are a target for scammers.

[Adorabilities]

How are you trying to research the buyer on Etsy?  If you’re not comfortable with the size of the order, you can cancel it. I can’t imagine doing basically a background search on a buyer. Doing a Google search won’t necessarily give you accurate, recent information. 

[PoochandTabby]

It's a shame that the Etsy protection program has instilled so much fear in sellers. Googling someone's address to look at their house to determine if the sale is risky? Yikes. My next door neighbour's house is ok if you look at it, but if you knew him, you'd know he closed a $90 million dollar land sale recently and his worth is over $250M.

It's a great order that normally a small biz owner would celebrate. You could just message him directly to thank him for his order and see how he responds. I've never had a chargeback, but I know off of Etsy, you have a chance to defend yourself. At the end of the day though, just go with your gut I guess. 

[OmasFabricStash]

I knew a woman that lived in a really nice house, you wouldn’t have a problem selling to her. She was always buying things on Etsy, Amazon, Target and a number of other places. Then she would say it never arrived, or it wasn’t what she ordered. She knew which companies would refund and tell her to keep it. After she died they found her shed stuffed with items she had bought. Everything from $5 earrings to necklaces worth at least $100. She ripped off so many people. 
You can’t judge by where they live. 

[kickglassenamels]

How did you google search the address and get the occupant's name? I tried doing this on a large order, and just got a picture of the house. My order is probably legit, but after reading your post, I wanted to check.

[Jeffsvintagecards]

I cut and pasted the address into the search bar and got several real estate sites. some of them showed the name of the current occupant. Also when the house was last purchased and the price it was purchased for and the current value.