Your Online Business Opportunity Could Create an Opportunity for Fraud

A Home Business Article Contributed by Donna m. Brown

Every Online Business Opportunity Accepts Some Risk of Fraud

The world of electronic money exchanging has made it possible for your online business opportunity to become a viable and flourishing business. Most transactions are completed quickly with satisfaction for buyers and sellers the world over. However, fraud and the chargebacks that result from fraud can cause inconvenience (not to mention a lot of money) to any business.

There are things you can do to protect your online business opportunity from fraud.

Protect Your Online Business Opportunity before Problems Arise

PayPal.com offers many suggestions for business owners who want to protect themselves, and their customers, from fraud. One of those ways is to ship products only to the address listed on the transaction details page.

"When you're not covered by the Seller Protection Policy, shipping to a buyer's confirmed address helps to reduce your risk of dealing with a fraudulent buyer, " according to information published on PayPal.com. Confirmed addresses are checked against the billing address that matches the one the credit card company maintains. Addresses that are confirmed have to be in the name of an account holder. It's very difficult to confirm gift addresses and would be very time consuming for you.

Shipping services can track packages that you ship. Have every package tracked so that if someone tries to commit fraud you will know exactly when, where and to whom goods purchased with a credit card were delivered. USPS, Fed-Ex and UPS all offer these services. PayPal recommends you keep a file of shipping receipts for the protection of your online business opportunity and your customers.

Be especially careful about shipping products outside of the country. Make sure every shipping address is verified and that all contact and credit card information is complete. If you suffer a loss in another country, it could be much harder to recover.

Your Online Business Opportunity Needs Confidence in Customers - When in Doubt, Check Them Out

When buyers and sellers have the opportunity to offer feedback about each other, it tends to hold them accountable for their actions and transactions. Make a habit of checking your customers out, especially those that make big purchases and promises. Look at a buyer's speed of payment, experience, number of cancelled purchases and sellers comments. PayPal recommends you, "Look for buyers with long histories of successful transactions who have a number of positive comments from other sellers."

Some consumers don't care how much they spend on a product and don't mind paying for speedy delivery or little extras. Sometimes that's because they're splurging. Sometimes it's because they are independently wealthy. Sometimes it's because the money they are spending did not belong to them in the first place.

Don't let your online business opportunity become an opportunity for buyers to make purchases with stolen credit cards. Check out these kinds of customers carefully. If they turn out to be legitimate, treat them with the utmost of care! Those kinds of real customers are hard to come by!