Thanks to everyone who's replied
Most (good) exom systems records the IP address of the transaction - block that.
Ensure you tell the card provider that these are fraudulent transactions. the cards they are using have to be in their name, so if the name doesn't match the card and the transaction is going through, there is a more worrying issue.
Tell the payment provider of they do not bann the card you want the charges cancelled or you will take them to court for costs.
Change your payment provider.
Without incurring legal costs, not a lot else rondo.
BTW, who is the ecom platform and payment provider?
I found an option for IP blocking, so will be giving that a go, thanks for the suggestion!
The card is in their name, so it's pretty strange, but will be informing the payment processor anyway.
Platform is Shopify and the payments are through Stripe (partnered with Shopify).
Not sure of a long tern solution, but if as you say, they're using a debit card, then you should be able to *void* the transaction before the day is out (i.e. settled) and not incur any fees.
I did ask them about this, and fees still apply, even if the payment isn't "captured" and I cancel the order beforehand. Ridiculous, but unfortunately their rules.
Can you change your method of payment to only take the money when you mark the order as dispatched? If so then when they cancel no money has been taken and thus presumably no fees.
Otherwise how much are we talking about ? both actual order amount and fees incurred.
You have to refundthe full amount, but you can take up to 14 days. It is not unreasonable to delay refunding in this case as you can say that it is suspicious activity and needs investigation. If it is significant money then this could give your competitor cash flow or credit limit problems.
Further look into your ecommerce system. It may record the IP address of this buyer. Talk to your host and get that IP banned from accessing the system.
Yeah I did look into manual payment capture, so the payment is only authorised, but apparently they will still charge fees, even without capturing the payment. Not sure how they can justify that.
It's not a huge amount of money, but it's near enough an order (or two) every day. He's spending £75-£150 per day, so it's not a huge amount of money involved regarding fees, but I could certainly do without it. Nothing to stop him switching to higher priced items and costing me a more significant amount though.
His first orders were refunded immediately, as I do for anyone who asks for a refund. But since he's started doing it repeatedly, I've been doing as you suggested, delaying and not informing him of anything.
As you and Paul Kelly suggested, I'm going to try IP blocking to see if it stops it.
Do you know which competitor it is?
No I'm not sure, and it was only a guess that it was a competitor. I can't see why else anyone would be so motivated to do it.
Not my field but this sounds more like the behaviour of a buying bot than a competitor.
If it is a person why are you making their life easier by doing all the work ?
Yes, you have to give a refund within 14 days but...
1, Do you have to acknowledge their request for a refund ?
2. Do you have to action the refund before the 14 days are up ?
3. Do you need to inform them that a refund has been issued ?
Keep them guessing and force them to keep checking.
I thought maybe a bot too, but his cancellation requests have through on multiple platforms (not just email), so made me think there's an actual person behind it.
Very good point on taking my time and not informing him. Will be doing just as you mentioned and making him work for it.
If he IS a ompetiitor and so buying for business purposes and is , therefore, not a consumer, he is not entitled to cancel (save of course for fault/misrep[resentation) . You should , therefore, not refund. , Inform the card companies the reasons so they do not, If price over £100, refund themslves under s75 of the Consumer Credit Act
It was only a guess that he's a competitor, and not easy to prove that's the case. The only thing that maybe could suggest he's operating as business, is the fact that he keeps buying the same item repeatedly - systematically and clearly not acting as a private individual. Though I doubt the law would see it that way.
You could always write to him saying that in view of his buying history you will be applying a £50 handling charge to all future purchases, and that continued purchasing from your website will be deemed acceptance of this additional term. Then if he buys another product send him an invoice for the £50.
I'd really like to have done this, and almost did, but as far as I can tell, the Distance Selling Regulations would override it. I'm not sure where the law would stand in this case, but I'd guess with the customer.
Change your Ts&Cs so that buyers are responsible for the return postage cost when they decide they simply don't want an item.
Then tell him:
Sorry, your order is already in the system and past the point of cancellation.
If he has changed his mind he will need to wait for delivery and then return the goods at his own expense,
You will process the refund on receipt of the return, less the shipping costs.
Make sure your shipping costs cover the transaction fees.
That's a possible option too. Assuming he doesn't steal/damage the item, which is a concern. But would definitely put an end to it once it begins to cost him. I'll keep that idea in mind.
- if he buys the same product every time, immediately, what happens if there is no more stock?
- can you apply some sort of restocking fee?
When stock runs out, it would prevent him buying that item, but I suspect he'd just switch to another product.
As far as I can tell, it's not legal to apply a restocking fee, when someone just wants to cancel a transaction.
