Shepherd to the rescue

04 August 2015 - 10:06 By Wendy Knowler

The internet brings the world into our homes, which is mostly a good thing, but the downside is it's teeming with fraudsters intent on luring our money into their bank accounts. When doing business online with a company or entity which doesn't have a good track record, you're generally playing with fire.Over the years I've dealt with countless cases of consumers - buyers and sellers - who've lost money because they assumed the other party was genuine.The cameras, puppies and even, bizarrely, R800 worth of burgundy ostrich feathers they thought they were buying, after exchanging chatty e-mails with the sellers, never existed. The only thing that was real was the trusting consumers' money being transferred into the fraudsters' bank accounts.Often it's the seller who's faking it - earlier this year Michael of Durban advertised windsurfing equipment on Gumtree, and a foreigner claimed to have made payment.E-mails purporting to be from PayPal requested a series of fees from Michael, including "insurance" totalling R10,000 for the release of the money.It was all part of the fraudster's web of deceit, and unfortunately Michael fell for it.In short, fraudsters, exploiting online trade which doesn't enjoy the benefit of the face to face contact sale, have made it a high-risk activity.With this in mind, Port Elizabeth entrepreneur Martin Reynolds has launched a service called Shepherd, as an independent third party which "looks after" both the goods and the money, ensuring that neither party gets done down.Only when the buyer has inspected and accepted the item is the money they've paid - to Shepherd, via cash or credit card - released to the seller.Reynolds got Standard Bank sold on the idea to provide the banking platform. It helped that one of the bankers he liaised with had "sold" a R20,000 mountain bike on Gumtree to a seller who faked payment.He is partnering with RAM couriers and Gumtree on this venture.So aside from safeguarding the money, Shepherd eliminates the need for buyer and seller to meet, either in the virtual or real world.Soon after Shepherd's mid-July launch, for example, a seller in Swellendam sold LED lights to a buyer in Maraisburg, the money was paid to Shepherd and RAM collected the goods from the seller and delivered to the buyer.Who pays what?The seller pays a competitive courier fee and a transaction fee of 3.95%, which is deducted from the purchase price.When buyer and seller agree online to do the deal, either party can suggest using Shepherd, but it's the seller who must initiate it, by logging on to Shepherd - www.paywithshepherd.com - and e-mailing the buyer a unique transaction number.The buyer then logs in, using that number to pay the agreed amount to Shepherd, which notifies the seller that the money has been reserved. Shepherd pays the courier rate, and prints a waybill.The courier collects and delivers the goods and the buyer inspects and either accepts or rejects the item - on the spot.If the buyer rejects, they get their money back, minus the return courier fee.If they accept, Shepherd pays the money to the seller, minus the transaction fee.No doubt the fraudsters will start abusing the Shepherd name to con their victims, so never click on a link to "Shepherd" - except to confirm your e-mail address during the registration process. The "real" Shepherd can be contacted on info@shepherd-it.comIf you've used the system, I'd appreciate your feedback: consumer@knowler.co.zaIn Your Corner will next appear on August 17Twitter: @wendyknowler..

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