Does your shipping policy protect against fraud

January 7, 7:20 PM Seattle Credit and Collections Examiner Debie Batterson

Most of you are probably scratching your head over this one, but it’s true, you should look at your shipping policy to see if there is a way for you to protect your company from fraud and shipments that are sent out in error. There are a lot factors to consider when contemplating your shipping policies, and there is no way to cover all of them in this article. Much depends on what, where, and how you are currently transporting your products.

Having said that, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to determine if it’s possible to protect yourself from releasing your valuable goods to a dishonest buyer.

Could I ship my product COD, or charge for the product up front, before shipping?

Could I set up an up front down payment for my goods, followed by a payment plan structure?

What is the best vendor to ship my product? Do they have insurance, tracking, COD delivery?

Does my shipping vendor verify addresses prior to shipping?

What will my vendor do for me if I suspect I have been ripped off?

Does the vendor have a process to verify signature?

Do they offer any kind of investigative help?

Are there choices for how my goods are delivered? If so, what are the safest choices?

If I discover I have made a shipping error, what are my options?

How much time do I have to stop a shipment which has been sent out in error?

The recommendation is that you interview a number of shipping services and then compare answers to these questions.

Also, important to mention is to be careful to use vigilance when investigating shipping companies unknown to you. There are all kinds of shipping frauds being perpetrated by companies claiming to have the cheapest shipping rates available, and many of these are scams to be avoided at all cost.