Hi fellow makers, I have only recently opened a shop here, and just this week made my first sale (yay!) Tonight I have had notification of an order placed. I checked it out and the name and address are obviously false. I cancelled the order. Five minutes later the same item was ordered again by someone with a different name, but the same fake address. So I’ve cancelled it too. Has anyone else had this problem? Are they just time wasters or is this something more sinister?!!!
I’ve heard of people doing this and had a few myself, I have sometimes thought it’s just chancers hoping you will post without checking if you have been paid, especially if it’s a guest buyer (if it’s a guest buyer they will only have an e-mail address in the ‘bought by’ line at the top of the order). I would just report them to Folksy Admin as suspicious so that they can check it out.
Your items are lovely by the way 
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Really lucky you didn’t fall for it. Maxine is right they would have been people hoping you would post the item without noticing. You should make sure you report the people to Folksy, they will follow it up and prevent them accessing the site.
I’ve had this too - as the address was obviously fake, I don’t think they were hoping to get anything, I think they’re just time-wasters. At this time of year, you get a few idiots playing on the internet!
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I get two or three custom order enquiries a week, to which I always reply with the details they have requested, but many of whom I never hear from again. I never can tell if they are timewasters or a prospective big order.
Any requests for quotes are just that until the potential customers accepts your quote it’s not an order. Many potential customers will make these inquires but tend not to get back to the seller unless they decide yes this is the one. Often they’ll have asked more than one seller. It’s the nature of doing business.
As for the ‘Fake address’ are you sure they paid ie did you go into your paypal account and check’?
How did you know it was a ‘Fake’ address? Did you contact the potential buyer to confirm their address details? Maybe they’ve simply not filled in their details correctly and need to go back and redo them.
I sometimes get odd addresses but check with google maps that it is a genuine building and I always check in my paypal account that payment has gone through before posting anything.
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Thanks replying - but the had given a fake address, so I couldn’t have sent it anyway! It’s just really annoying because I only list one as I make to order, so it disappears from my shop until I cancel the order or relist.
Here is the address that was given:
kathmandu
Baneshwor
Santinagar
uk
2222
United Kingdom
I’m pretty certain that it’s a false address! Lolololol!
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I had one that i reported to Folksy admin. The buyer placed the order then asked if I took any payment other than paypal. I told them that I’d be happy to have cash or cheque posted to me before dispatching the items. They wanted my bank details to do a direct transfer. I refused and they were all ‘what harm could I do with them’ as if i’d i would give them to a stranger!!! They refused to post a payment giving me some rubbish about working in the country and not having the time to. They never responded any further. Folksy found they were a guest buyer so could not do much more.
One of those poor hard done by oceanographers perhaps ?
I’ve often wondered how genuine oceanographers get on when they try and buy off the internet.
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Paula, @PRaysonDesigns - I don’t know if your buyer was genuine or not but just for future reference it is quite safe to give your bank details (account name, account number and sort code) for a bank transfer. The information can not be used to access your account and is no more than is printed on any cheque you write.
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I reported them to Admin, and provided the false address - their account has been suspended. On other online market places you are required to give genuine personal details, including address and banking, which are checked out before you can buy or sell. I would feel much safer on here if something like that was in operation.
Possible not but are our addresses not also visible to a buyer, once a sale is started? Thanks for the info though, I am just the suspicious type I guess.
I’m not sure at what stage our addresses become visible to buyers but I would assume not until the item is paid for which would be after any bank transfer has occurred and the item is paid for, not different to payment by paypal really. At that stage you would also have their bank details and address! I do understand you being cautious and sometimes you just get “a feeling” that something isn’t right but I wouldn’t worry too much about accepting other forms of payment - some people just don’t like paypal!
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Your email address and business address are provided with the order apparently. This thread give a bit more detail
Thanks Lily, it’s a concern if Folksy haven’t implemented the changes yet! Having said that, I haven’t heard anything more from the fake buyer since cancelling the second order, and their account has been suspended, but as they had two user names, have both accounts been suspended? Probably not!
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If anyone else has this happen to them might I suggest copying and pasting the name and address to forward to Admin, as once the order is cancelled the details disappear.
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I had the same thing, with the same address! I cancelled it straight away, but could find how to report it 
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It is a legal requirement if you are trading for you to provide your address to the prospective buyer before payment - after all, they are the one taking the ‘risk’, not you. I think it is only Folksy’s 2 stage order/payment process where an order e-mail is sent out before the item is paid for that means you don’t have to declare your trading address in your profile for everyone to see.
Bank transfers are an increasingly usual way to pay for things, and are also used far more in Europe where Paypal is not so common. Also, some people simply do not want to sign up to a Paypal account and I believe you are limited as to how many times you can use it as a ‘guest’ before you have to sign up? Certainly this used to be the case.
I think if you are asking a buyer to pay you when actually all they have in return is your word that you will send them their goods, you should be prepared to divulge information about yourself.
Having said all that, there are ‘fake’ or timewasting buyers out there, as someone else said you just have to go with your gut instinct.
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