I recently saw this post, and I thought I would let all my team members be aware of it. Read this and protect yourselves! I found listed by another etsy team member, ohiopicker. This is what he said:
I think some con artists are starting to find Etsy. Probably a lot easier pickings than the other E site.....
I really don't want to list specific transaction examples here so below are some red flags for buyer theft/fraud. We all benefit from a safe transaction so be careful if you see multiple red flags in a transaction. If anyone adds to this post, please do not add specific facts about the buyer, item, or transaction. Don't bash, just inform so other sellers can be careful. Usually if you just see one or two things from the list you are probably o.k. to ship. Be very careful if you see a large combination or all of the following:
A new account
No avatar photo
no feedback
no favorites
Nothing matches, the buyers Etsy name does not mach the Paypal name and the shipping address name does not match
The buyer's registered Etsy e-mail does not match the Paypal payment e-mail
The buyer's Paypal payment e-mail is a gmail or other anonymous account
The buyer wants the item shipped to an unconfirmed address
The buyer says there is a deadline and wants the item overnighted or sets some other type of shipping deadline
The buyer wants the item shipped to a business
The buyer refuses to resubmit the payment with a confirmed address
The buyer pretends to not understand how to send payment with a confirmed address
Remember one way to protect yourself and fight against potential fraud is to politely ask for a confirmed Paypal address with the payment.
You can set your Paypal account to always ask you to manually "accept" or "deny" all unconfirmed payments. This way you can judge each payment on it's own merits or pitfalls.
