Has anyone else received payments from a non-existent domain via paypal

Hi,

Today i received a payment from a gentlemen for one of my addons. I usually will send the addon file to them via their paypal address seeing how that is the only email address i have. When i sent the customer an email it came back undeliverable. So i checked the email and it came from a domain that is for sale via a domain name broker company.

At first i thought that maybe it was a new domain and that the registration had not gone thru yet, or maybe they sold or gave up on the domain but forgot to change their email address on their paypal account.

So i called paypal and ask them about the sale. They said there was no history on the account at all, and that the customer chose to pay with a credit card which does not require a paypal account. They also can use any email address they want to use as it does not validate that email they use when paying with a credit card.

So this has me really curious as to why anyone would use a credit card and a fake email to pay for a simple $10.00 addon when they should realize that i have no way to contact them at all without a valid email address. Paypal was nice enough to put a note on the account in case the customer contacts them or wants to reverse the charges and they will let the customer know i was trying to reach them.

I probably should not release the name of the email domain due to fakers taking advantage of the deal. However, i was curious if anyone else has ever received a payment in such a way. Its very strange, you would think that someone would be chomping at the bit to get ahold of their new addon ASAP.

dave

What email address did they use when placing the order on your billing system? Was it the same one used to pay via Paypal?

Something like this should absolutely be reported to fraudrecord

Something like this should absolutely be reported to fraudrecord

Wouldn't it need to be fraud to elicit that reaction? So far it's just the delivery of the product that's not happened. He paid, no chargeback and so on (yet).

Fraudrecord does more than just fraud. You can report anything from spam to staff abuse to charge backs to early cancellation (i.e.: breaking contracts). This is one of those things that is suspicious enough that should be reported.

They bought the addon directly through the WHMCS marketplace which goes directly to paypal (per WHMCS rules) and so it did not go through any other system. Bear is right its not fraud yet, it could simply be a mistake by the customer who forgot to change their paypal email address but has another domain to use the addon with. If it goes any further south i will for sure report it.

I think there is a paypal option on a button code to force them to either have or create a paypal account before the sale, maybe thats the best option going forward. As for now i guess ill just wait to see if the customer contacts me.

Dave

They bought the addon directly through the WHMCS marketplace which goes directly to paypal (per WHMCS rules)

is it in the rules that you have to do that? yours is the first i've seen that does that, every other entry i've tried always goes to the authors own site - and from their, the user can buy the addon from you.

Yeah im not sure about that, it may be something new in the last 6 mos or so with new entries. All i know is that when i added that back to the marketplace about 6 mos or so ago i had intended to have it go to my site but it said it has to go directly to paypal. They may not enforce it or they may just have grandfathered in old entries or it may be a premium benefit im not sure. Maybe WHMCS can shed some light on the rule and why some do and some dont.

I honestly cant remember if i asked someone with a ticket or just reading the docs, but i do remember getting clarification somehow that it has to go directly to the payment page and cannot go to a website page.

Here is the rule when you post a new entry:

The URL to download the product. Please note we do not allow linking to external landing pages or requiring users to provide their details prior to download.

I just found the ticket number dated Aug 9th 2016 ticket number is XTC-198003 and here is an excerpt from that ticket.

As part of our commitment to ensuring the Marketplace maintains the highest quality of add-ons and extensions for WHMCS and that users have the best experience possible, there are a number of criteria that listings must meet in order to be approved. I am writing to you today regarding your listing submission which has not met our criteria. Please review the information below and re-submit in order for them to be included in the WHMCS Market Place.

 

 

Download/Purchase urls must go either directly to a download or purchase url (shopping cart checkout). It is not permitted to link to landing pages on your website or pages that provide more information about the add-on. All information should be provided in the Marketplace listing.

This was from John K. WHMCS (last name removed)

So maybe the just dont enforce it for older entries or premium members, not sure.

i've seen a few that go to a landing page, but probably most go to the author's cart URL.... only free files tend to have a direct download URL (obviously!)... as you don't, I don't think it's policed - or more likely it's policed in a WHMCS sort of way.

yeah, every marketplace product I've looked at goes directly to the author's checkout / WHMCS page.

With licensing, you have to do this that way. The client needs to login, have an account, and have the product in that account for licensing reasons.

WHMCS terms are strictly to prevent things like 'more information' pages I do believe?

i've seen a few that go to a landing page, but probably most go to the author's cart URL.... only free files tend to have a direct download URL (obviously!)... as you don't, I don't think it's policed - or more likely it's policed in a WHMCS sort of way.

WHMCS allow their partners to link to pages with more information about the product or landing page, but for regular listing items it should directly link to download/buy URL

So basically this is another gap in the sale process where someone using a credit card can do so without a valid email or any way to contact them. But why? Is it to just spend money on someone else's credit card maliciously? They don't receive a product without a contact address, so i wonder what the end game is?

brian! wrote:

or more likely it's policed in a WHMCS sort of way

Yes i am thinking this is exactly the case.