How can you tell a real order from a fraud? You’ll know the answer after learning three ways to detect fake gift basket orders.
You’ve got money?
It’s exciting to get a gift basket sale, especially when it arrives by email.
Here’s one I received copied and pasted exactly as written.
Hi
Am Mr John Stones.I would like to place an order of (Heat Shrink Wrap)from your company to Haiti,kindly email me with the types you have and their prices and also ,your term of payment.Waiting for your prompt responses.
If you believe that this is a real sale, think again.
This email order is fake. Three ways to detect fake gift basket orders, as shown in this example are:
- Bad grammar
- Incorrect punctuation
- One run-on sentence
Not everyone around the world writes perfectly or understands punctuation. However, such communication as you see above screams “don’t fulfill this order.” You can understand how important it is, when you start your gift basket business, to be aware of this fact.
Watch your time uncovering the facts
Similar emails were frequent in the early 2000s, and unfortunately some gift basket designers allowed these fake communications to waste their valuable time, taking them away from real business.
Online discussions featured one designer asking others for their opinions about the communication before she learned the truth and discarded the fake order.
Some designers shared their responses to the email, asking for a detailed account of what the criminal wanted and how they expected to pay.
While you can spend time doing the same, the wise choice is to delete the email and take action on marketing to prospects and customers who are true buyers.
Such marketing ideas (104 in total) are found in the Gift Basket Marketing, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 e-books.
Fake sales arrive in other ways
Fraudulent orders can also arrive by telephone. This type can be more difficult to detect.
Years ago a person called me to order a gift basket, stating that she did not want to put her credit card number into my online store.
I wrote down the order, but an hour later I realized I neglected to ask one question. I called the phone number and began the conversation.
“Hello, is this Amy?”
“Yes.”
The voice didn’t sound the same, but I continued.
“This is Shirley George Frazier with GiftBasketBusiness.com. I have one question about your recent order.”
There was a short pause, and then she said:
“I’m eating.”
“Okay, Amy. Thank you.”
I immediately knew Amy did not order the gift basket. If she did place the order, Amy would have taken a few moments to hear me out and finalize the details.
How to arm yourself against fake orders
Starting a gift basket business, or any business, is fraught with details. The last thing you need is giving your goods to a thief, so be sure to do the following each time an order arrives.
- Match all details required for payment (know what to document)
- Get in-person or digital signatures (very easy process today)
- Review the credit card company’s fake credit card notifications
What gift basket order did you almost complete before learning it was fraudulent?
