I researched about possible scams that could arise and I've found there are plenty of scams involving orders over the phone, but have any of you had any problems with scams in person? Such as Fraudulent charges, stolen credit cards and the like.... also what measures have u taken to prevent such problems?

Possible scams from what? Customers?

there are several great websites dedicated to warning people of current scams.  If you think you may be a target, go check out scamwarners.c o m  and you can post your questions.  You can also scroll through the forums and find other people that have been a vicitm of the same or similiar scam... HTH

Wow. I am still new to all of it. He deployed about a month after we got married. Got home in November. He's in 7th group. Stationed at Eglin AFB. It definitely takes a special kind of person!

I meant customers trying to scam me. I've worked in retail awhile and the ways I've seen them scam the system is ridiculous. Although i know it's not exactly the same i know that there are people out there that would try to get free product. For instance, with regards to accepting credit cards whether it's for the total amount or just the remaining balance after the deposit, what if someone tries to give you a stolen credit card to pay for their order or if they encode someone else's information on the back of their card so that they give you their card but someone else's card is charged instead?
 

I applaud both of you by the way for being army wives, i don't know how u handle it. I would never have any peace of mind, i would always be worried for their safety. I don't think i would sleep a wink. You do have to be tough to be military.

Oh and just for clarification. i haven't been scammed but I'm being proactive by trying to keep it from happening to me. Learning all the ways that someone can scam, other than the ways i already know about.

AI wouldn't worry too much about stolen credit cards. If someone steals a card they will likely be buying durable goods that can easily be resold in order to make a profit. Cake is neither durable nor can it be resold easily.

The issues with accepting credit cards are how easy it is for a customer to dispute a charge and the merchant account fees. If you are paying a 3% fee and you have an average of 3 orders per week, every 8 months you are working one week without getting paid.

Exactly, that's why I've been going back and forth between accepting credit cards or not. I was thinking cash only, but with people always paying with plastic i was wondering if that would hinder me in my customer base. I would make it clear  that i only accept cash if i was to do that. I realize that thieves buy/ steal  things they can resell but i thought about like you said someone disputing the charge with their credit card company. my fees wouldnt be as high as 3% but still i'm trying to figure out if there is a way to not have to deal with this, How does it work when someone disputes a charge on their card? I mean i would think the credit card company has to do alot of investigating to see if it was a legit dispute or just someone buying things on credit and then trying to get out of paying it because they just want stuff for free
 

AGenerally credit card companies tend to start out favoring the customer (unless they have a history of unfounded disputes, as you mentioned) so the merchant would have to show proof that the order was fulfilled. If the complaint is a subjective one (especially if it's about something that can't be documented, like taste) it could go either way.

I don't recommend cash only, accepting personal checks should be fine as long as you give them enough time to clear and have a process in place for checks that bounce.

I'm thinking i won't accept checks because of the time they take to clear, with it being up to a week or more in some cases. don't want to have to worry about checks that bounce. cash is easy to check to see if its fake and i'm thinking i'll accept forms of plastic, since i've worked in retail awhile i can usually spot fraudsters since they all act the same. Nervous to get the transaction over with and not wanting to show any forms of id or personal information. Of course with the cake industry i'm not too worried about that as people do have to give up information in the process somewhere.
 

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I could never imagine. And to have two people away instead of one. That's double the worry. I'm glad you'll be getting some peace here soon.

A

How did you "catch him"? How do you know he didnt intend to pay for the bologna? Because it isn't stealing until you walk outside the doors with it. I never did it before I had kids, but after I had them, I remember opening a box of Teddy Grams, the first time I did it, and having my 1 year old twins eat them to stop yelling they were hungry, while I shopped. I was nervous, but have since graduated to drinking my Gatorade while shopping and handing an empty bottle to the clerk to scan. I would never eat though, since that requires clean hands. In my own defense, I would pay first, but they commonly have 1 line with a minimum of 4 people in it, and it takes a half hour to get through it.

AI see people eating food they haven't yet paid for in the grocery store all the time, I unfortunately had to pay for a banana my toddler managed to break open and eat once but luckily it was Trader Joes where they're sold by the unit! The cashier said it was totally fine, so long as you pay.

The only scam I've run into is the hearing impaired, want 400 cupcakes picked up by courier one. I've gotten that a lot, but just delete and move on with my life.

I only accept cash or credit cards for final payment. I started selling a little less than a year ago and within the last few months tipped the point where I'm selling more to strangers and less to family/friends so I've become a bit more cautious about forms of payment and a bit more diligent about requiring deposits. I think to be competitive, credit cards need to be accepted. Cash only isn't practical, especially once you start selling orders for several hundred dollars a piece. And for deposit purposes, Paypal is fantastic (minus the fees, of course!). I tend to do almost all of my communication via email so it's super easy to send a Paypal invoice and collect deposits. I will accept checks, but only for deposits so there's plenty of time for it to clear. And I let the customer know that until the check clears their date is not reserved. Most choose the Paypal option.

And I agree that the credit card fees stink, but I think it's just another cost of business that needs to be worked in. I haven't been scammed accepting one yet, so fingers crossed. And I tend to agree with others that a custom cake would not be the likely target of someone with a stolen card. Usually there's several weeks of back and forth communication with the customer, it's not an impulse buy. And if you require a deposit you would hopefully find out about the fraud well in advance of any actual baking or delivering of the final product.

AI'm gonna accept Paypal as well and cash. I was going to accept cash only for deposits and then accept cash, credit for final payment but taking a check for deposits is an option too. I hadn't thought of taking checks for deposits only and then waiting for it to clear before confirming orders. I initially wasn't going to accept checks. My first customers will be people I know and people they know but I figured I should have everything figured out for when I have strangers place orders.

APayPal gives u chances to get your fees down depending on what services you use and how many sales u do. Like Jason said we do have to worry about someone calling the credit card company to dispute the charge

AFYI it's also easy for a customer to file a PayPal dispute, and since they are not a real bank they can do things like freezing your entire account during a dispute.

A

Now my ex stepfather (a real tool) would act like he couldn't let go of my Mother's hand, and would use his free hand to stuff merchandise in his pockets, then pull it all out into the belt once we got up there... It was horrifying! (They were "so in love" they drank out of the same cup, too :-P )

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It depends on the stores policy and how they feel. At the store where I worked it was considered stealing if you opened product before paying for it whether you've left the store or not.

AI've seen many a person get confronted by store employees for opening product before its paid for

I wouldn't be worried about face-to-face customers scamming me. I've only had two bounced checks in 8 years and both were from a friend who made a mistake. 

There are 419 scams out there and if you're in biz long enough you will receive emails from people trying to get you to accept a large bank draft for a cake and return some of the money to them in cash.