Freight Forwarding Services and Fraud

[krnl]

I have been running my retail sales business online for several years and I have always steered away from international sales or shipping of any kind due to the high incidence of fraud. I have shipped a couple of orders to freight forwarding services, generally in the Miami area presumably to be forwarded to the Caribbean islands.

Previous orders of this type have been relatively small, so I have accepted the risk. Right now, I'm working on a quote for a client that is substantially larger in monetary value and risk. This client wants to use a freight forwarding service.

I have told them that I will only accept payment drawn on a US bank. I would prefer a certified bank check (and have offered a cash discount for this transaction type), however, I am also open to payment by credit card.

Have any of you been involved with freight forwarding services? Is their use generally on the up-and-up? Any thoughts will be appreciated.

[Dubbya]

I'd recommend that you never accept credit card payments for international shipments, and you certainly don't want to use a freight forwarding company to ship the order, especially if your customer is outside North America.

You may well receive payment but the customer can turn around months from now and issue a charge-back for whatever reason and there will be little if anything you can do about it. In that case, guess who's left holding the bag?

Freight forwarding services offer you no protection whatsoever. This reeks of scam right from the word "Go!". I've even had clients offer to have FedEx come and pick up the shipment. Sure, the customer pays for the shipping but on an order totaling several thousand dollars, they're still miles ahead if the payment gets reversed or canceled after the shipment has gone. In this case, it's their shipper and you can't stop the delivery or turn it around before it's delivered.

Do a Google Search using the query "Freight forwarding and fraud" and see the results for yourself.

Trust your gut. You're already hesitant and suspicious, why second guess yourself?

.02

[krnl]

Thank you for the confirmation, Dubbya. I'd never thought of a reversal of charges. Do you know if charges can be reversed on a certified bank check drawn on a US bank?

[cw1865]

They can only cancel the check before its been cashed. Once cashed, and the check has cleared, its a done deal.

[Doc]

Krnl-

I have shipped overseas for several years, but usually high ticket items. It is common practice for ocean freight shipments on such deals to be paid in cashiers check at the dock, prior to loading. On smaller transactions, I still require confirmed payment prior to releasing the goods for shipment.

I have lost sales because of this, but at my margins, I have lost much less than I would by being ripped off just once. As Dubbya says, if you're leery, trust your gut.

[I7coder]

well, i have used their service. They are very costly and service is not upto mark. infact since 2 years i am using viaddress which is much cheaper than freight forwarding . and yes i have heard so many cases of payment conflict with freight forwarding .

i never have any problems with viaddress payment process.everything is available there. also items are shipped in 2-3 days with no issues and they are always in excellent conditions.really fast and reliable. i would highly recommend viaddress