Shady order (dropshipping)

[issakhamb]

Hi everyone !
I accepted an order to edit an ad.

The buyer just sent me the website it’s for, but it looks like a scammy dropshipping business:
-The product costs 35€ but is 10-20€ on aliexpress
-The terms and conditions are not complete
-The refund policy implies that you can’t get a refund
-It’s a shopify website so it can close anytime with no explaination

The buyer assured me that it’s a clean business, and that the site just isn’t finished and it will be as soon as the ad is published. But I’m still not convinced, I don’t want to take part in something scammy.

I want to ask him to cancel the order (I’m morally against doing it if it’s a scam) but I’m not sure about it… (for my stats etc)
What would you do?

Thanks,
Issakhamb

[issakhamb]

Can someone give me their opinion about it?
He needs it for this evening and I would like to cancel asap if I have to

Thanks 🙂

[issakhamb]

I didn’t get any reply so I asked him to cancel the order.
I don’t feel good taking part in a possible scam, I prefer losing this order.

Thanks anyway,
Issakhamb

[graphtersawyer]

I don’t really do the sort of orders that could be illegal or shady, so I don’t get approached for those sorts of things either. If a buyer was doing something I’m morally against and is illegal, I’d cancel (though I’m not sure dropshipping is illegal, not in the USA, at least).

If buyer insists it’s not illegal, I don’t think you’ll be able to get CS to cancel for you, so you’ll probably just have to cancel and let your stats be hurt.

It’s a sad solution but probably the only one if you don’t want to complete the order. :woman_shrugging:

[deborah_folse]

you did the right thing… i would cancel if my guts is telling me same. Although dropshipping isn’t illegal and I do marketing for lots of them.

Did great. More orders will come in

[issakhamb]

Thanks for all your replies !

Dropshipping isn’t illegal itself, but this kind is, or at least quite immoral and shady.

In my country (France) you’re legally obligated to have complete terms and conditions, and add legal mentions to your website (name, address, phone number etc).
On this website, buyers don’t have any way to contact the owner except a "business"email

I know a lot about internet scam etc so I immediately had suspicions from the link (usually the domain name is the name of the product, and it’s the only thing they sell).

It’s sad that this happens a day before my stats check but i’ll someway recover from that haha

Thanks again,
Issakhamb

[lloydsolutions]

Thanks for all your replies !

Dropshipping isn’t illegal itself, but this kind is, or at least quite immoral and shady.

In my country (France) you’re legally obligated to have complete terms and conditions, and add legal mentions to your website (name, address, phone number etc).

On this website, buyers don’t have any way to contact the owner except a "business"email

I know a lot about internet scam etc so I immediately had suspicions from the link (usually the domain name is the name of the product, and it’s the only thing they sell).

It’s sad that this happens a day before my stats check but i’ll someway recover from that haha

Thanks again,

Issakhamb

It’s sad that this happens a day before my stats check but i’ll someway recover from that

Everyone agrees with your moral stance. Always follow your gut instinct.

Good luck as you go forward. 🙂

[mariashtelle1]

Thanks for all your replies !

Dropshipping isn’t illegal itself, but this kind is, or at least quite immoral and shady.

In my country (France) you’re legally obligated to have complete terms and conditions, and add legal mentions to your website (name, address, phone number etc).

On this website, buyers don’t have any way to contact the owner except a "business"email

I know a lot about internet scam etc so I immediately had suspicions from the link (usually the domain name is the name of the product, and it’s the only thing they sell).

It’s sad that this happens a day before my stats check but i’ll someway recover from that haha

Thanks again,

Issakhamb

In my country (France) you’re legally obligated to have complete terms and conditions, and add legal mentions to your website (name, address, phone number etc).

To be honest I don’t see anything shady in it :thinking:

Drop shipping is not illegal even in Europe. If you are a sole trader you don’t have a “company” address which is also normal and not everyone will provide their phone number on a website if you are a sole trader to get unsolicited calls.

The product costs 35€ but is 10-20€ on aliexpress

That’s how drop shipping works. He can add whatever margin he wants to.

-The terms and conditions are not complete

That is not ok but it also might be website in progress.

The refund policy implies that you can’t get a refund

Which is ok, every company can decide on their own refund policy.

It’s a shopify website so it can close anytime with no explaination

Most websites are on platforms like shopify and there is nothing shady about that too.

But if you feel safer to cancel then so be it.

[spark4hope]

In my country (France) you’re legally obligated to have complete terms and conditions, and add legal mentions to your website (name, address, phone number etc).

To be honest I don’t see anything shady in it :thinking:

Drop shipping is not illegal even in Europe. If you are a sole trader you don’t have a “company” address which is also normal and not everyone will provide their phone number on a website if you are a sole trader to get unsolicited calls.

The product costs 35€ but is 10-20€ on aliexpress

That’s how drop shipping works. He can add whatever margin he wants to.

-The terms and conditions are not complete

That is not ok but it also might be website in progress.

The refund policy implies that you can’t get a refund

Which is ok, every company can decide on their own refund policy.

It’s a shopify website so it can close anytime with no explaination

Most websites are on platforms like shopify and there is nothing shady about that too.

But if you feel safer to cancel then so be it.

I agree with @mariashtelle1. It’s nothing shady doing dropshipping. I do that as well. It doesn’t mean I am a scammer. Most people don’t know about Aliexpress.

Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product using the dropshipping model, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the seller doesn’t have to handle the product directly.