I just got an email sent through the comments section of our store.

AM MR SCOTT SMITH I WILL LIKE TO MAKE AND ORDER FOR SOME ITEM IN YOUR STORE SO I WANT TO KNOW THE TOTAL COST OF THE ORDER PLUS SHIPPING COST TO NIGERIA.VIA FEDEX EXPRESS 3 TO 5 DAYS DELIVERY OR DHL 3 TO 5 DAYS DELIVERY. Seiko SR-G10000–3 qty THE SHIPPING ADDRESS 43 GBAMGBOSE STREET CITY; LAGOS ISLAND STATE; LAGOS STATE COUNTRY: NIGERIA ZIP CODE;23401 PHONE….23414192536 BEST REGARD SCOTT

• All CAPS
• A name like “Mr. Scott Smith”
• Uses ‘Mr’
• Broken English
• A Yahoo email address  (not shown)
  
• A sense of urgency
• Express Mail shipping
• Several expensive electronics
  
• To Nigeria

No, thank you.

If you have an online store or are thinking of selling online, don’t ship to Nigeria period.  I know there are some really nice people in Nigeria, but it seems none of them are on the internet.

I have heard horror stories.  A friend told me of a friend of hers who months after opening a shop selling expensive knick-knacks got this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ order from an ‘art dealer’ in Nigeria.

Excited at the prospect of her first huge sale she immediately made arrangements with the ‘art dealer’ and received what seemed to be a perfectly valid money order.  Upon receipt she paid hundreds of dollars for DHL to ship the order in 3 days to Nigeria.  She lost thousands and I believe had to shut down her business.  She had only been in business a few months.

Online business is great, but you have to be extremely careful.