Potential scam????

[Sop13]

Hi, I am new to the forum and would like to ask others opinions on a situation. A potential client contacted me through my website and asked if I could make a custom pendant for a friend of hers who's daughter has died. Her friend had done a painting of a butterfly and she said it represented her daughter. She asked me if I could recreate the butterfly into a pendant. I did some mock ups and she said could I recreate the pink and lavender colours as in the painting and I said I couldn't but she might be better off finding a jeweller who works with enamels or I could use copper for the butterfly which is a pinky colour and put it on silver background. She replied to do it all in silver. She didn't ask a price or anything at this stage. I asked what style she would like it in and asked if she liked the style of my Artisan pendants on my website which are quite complex and said it could be quite expensive depending on what she wanted and also the cost of postage to USA and possibly import fees but she didn't answer any of those things but just said yes I know postage would be about 40 us dollars. Anyway I started the pendant, completely replicated the butterfly as in the picture, engraved the wings as in the picture, even the tiny hand filed body and antenna were the same. I layed it all together before soldering and she said that was OK. So I soldered it and finished it and sent her a photo and she said "do you have zelle, I can pay by zelle". I said no but there are lots of payment options on my website. I put it on my website and tagged it reserved for ******. She then said about sending it to a PO box in USA because of relocation to texas and she wasn't sure her mailbox was safe. Alarm bells rang and I removed it from my website. I messaged back and said I could only send it tracked and signed and couldn't send to a PO box because it wouldn't be signed for. she keeps sending me messages (which I haven't replied to yet) saying she can't see it anymore and can't pay. I checked her out and she is an author and the email for her is the email of the author of the same name so it all seems correct - it's just the zelle thing and PO box that alerted me. Also for an author her spelling/grammar is bad and she's called me sophi, Sophia a couple of times rather than Sophie. Any advice would be greatly appreciated right now thanks x

[Dennis]

It's the hazard of selling abroad. You don't know what the buyer is thinking or intending. If you are not confident of getting paid give up. Dennis.

[josef1]

I always take a deposit of half the money up front so it covers cost of materials and a bit of time , if its a genuine customer and its a bespoke item they are happy to pay, If they dont I wont make it.

[CJ57]

Have you double clicked the email address to see if she is someone else just using that name? It does sound a bit strange

[china]

As Josef1 said as k for a deposit before you send, if that falls though just sell it on your site.

[Sop13]

I don't know how to edit my own post so am replying to my own post. I checked her out and most things seemed OK so I put the pendant back on my website for her to buy and messaged her. Within about 10 mins she had purchased it with a Visa card and them messaged me back. When I checked the shipping address it seemed OK but the billing address was different which would normally be OK but the beginning of the address was correct but she had put texas instead of CA california. I went on my own website a put something in the basket and proceeded to checkout, put all the shipping address using the drop down menu which pops up when u start entering the address. Then I did billing address and again start typing and address comes up which says california. She would then have had to manually change that to texas which is wrong! I know card issuers will decline a payment with an incorrect address attached to the card. At present wix has my payment so nothing has gone to my bank but even if it does could I potentially get charge back?

[Sop13]

Thanks for your reply Denis �� I don't know how to edit my own post so am replying to my own post. I checked her out and most things seemed OK so I put the pendant back on my website for her to buy and messaged her. Within about 10 mins she had purchased it with a Visa card and them messaged me back. When I checked the shipping address it seemed OK but the billing address was different which would normally be OK but the beginning of the address was correct but she had put texas instead of CA california. I went on my own website a put something in the basket and proceeded to checkout, put all the shipping address using the drop down menu which pops up when u start entering the address. Then I did billing address and again start typing and address comes up which says california. She would then have had to manually change that to texas which is wrong! I know card issuers will decline a payment with an incorrect address attached to the card. At present wix has my payment so nothing has gone to my bank but even if it does could I potentially get charge back?

[Sop13]

Thanks for your reply �� I don't know how to edit my own post so am replying to my own post. I checked her out and most things seemed OK so I put the pendant back on my website for her to buy and messaged her. Within about 10 mins she had purchased it with a Visa card and them messaged me back. When I checked the shipping address it seemed OK but the billing address was different which would normally be OK but the beginning of the address was correct but she had put texas instead of CA california. I went on my own website a put something in the basket and proceeded to checkout, put all the shipping address using the drop down menu which pops up when u start entering the address. Then I did billing address and again start typing and address comes up which says california. She would then have had to manually change that to texas which is wrong! I know card issuers will decline a payment with an incorrect address attached to the card. At present wix has my payment so nothing has gone to my bank but even if it does could I potentially get charge back?

[Sop13]

Hi Caroline, thankyou for your reply ❤️ I don't know how to edit my own post so am replying to my own post. I checked her out and most things seemed OK so I put the pendant back on my website for her to buy and messaged her. Within about 10 mins she had purchased it with a Visa card and them messaged me back. When I checked the shipping address it seemed OK but the billing address was different which would normally be OK but the beginning of the address was correct but she had put texas instead of CA california. I went on my own website a put something in the basket and proceeded to checkout, put all the shipping address using the drop down menu which pops up when u start entering the address. Then I did billing address and again start typing and address comes up which says california. She would then have had to manually change that to texas which is wrong! I know card issuers will decline a payment with an incorrect address attached to the card. At present wix has my payment so nothing has gone to my bank but even if it does could I potentially get charge back?

[Sop13]

It's the hazard of selling abroad. You don't know what the buyer is thinking or intending. If you are not confident of getting paid give up. Dennis.

Thanks for your reply Denis - I don't know how to edit my own post so am replying to my own post. I checked her out and most things seemed OK so I put the pendant back on my website for her to buy and messaged her. Within about 10 mins she had purchased it with a Visa card and them messaged me back. When I checked the shipping address it seemed OK but the billing address was different which would normally be OK but the beginning of the address was correct but she had put texas instead of CA california. I went on my own website a put something in the basket and proceeded to checkout, put all the shipping address using the drop down menu which pops up when u start entering the address. Then I did billing address and again start typing and address comes up which says california. She would then have had to manually change that to texas which is wrong! I know card issuers will decline a payment with an incorrect address attached to the card. At present wix has my payment so nothing has gone to my bank but even if it does could I potentially get charge back?