Another small business shut down.

[MakerofThings]

Hey guys, I'll try not to make this a rant.


As I am sure some of you know I transitioned into making specialized nano reefing gear in the middle of 2020 as a way to offset my loss of losing my main business.

To date, I have done over 200 sales and have lots of happy customers.

I've had a few people get broken items or defects, and I have done my best to keep on top of those and make things right were I can.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a new scam going around...

For the last 3-4 weeks I have had a dozen false chargebacks against me. Several thousand dollars.

2 of them had reached out for support in setup, but were unhappy that it was "too hard" to do, so they filed claims and kept the items.
4 of them literally bragged about "this is the easiest way to get free stuff"
and the rest had never reached out to me at all.

Each time there is a chargeback, several things happen.
- I lose $15 from my payment processor
- I lose $34 from my bank as fees
- I am left with a negative balance in my account (I am not getting rich off this stuff)
- I am forced to take a loss on future orders until the chargeback amount is covered or returned.
- The customer in every single case gets to keep their products that in every case I can tell, are fully working.

Behind the scenes, the customer instantly gets their money back and the bank takes it away from me, they then get 3 months to decide the outcome.
That is 3 months I am just OUT that money.

So far I have won 3 of the oldest fake claims, 3 out of the 3 that have been completed.

Look, I understand if you're unhappy and want your money back, but AT LEAST reach out to me first, work with me, be understanding.
REMEMBER how cheap my products are... imagine how little money I am making because I actually care about the reefing more than the money.
I tried to be a good guy and it bit me in the butt.

I did custom fabrication work and rapid prototyping for 10+ years and saw the occasional attempt at this scam, but its way out of hand now.

But I simply can't afford to do this anymore.

I can't afford rent, I can't afford to fill current orders, money is back on credit cards, my credit score is being crushed.

Thank you to all my great customers but I won't be doing further business until next year when I can afford to setup chargeback protection insurance.
Unfortunately the damage is too great, too quickly.

This is a third job, I am just one guy trying to give back to reefing and help make it more fun and easier for nano reefers.
Now due to a significant percentage of them I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow.

All open orders will be filled, beyond that I can't afford to take any more as the account is negative.

Thanks, and goodbye,
Jesse.
- Maker of Things Design.

 

[Rubberfrog]

That blows. I'm a small business fabricator myself. I hope the scammers and losers are proud proud of themselves.

 

[MakerofThings]

That blows. I'm a small business fabricator myself. I hope the scammers and losers are proud proud of themselves.

Thanks.

Honestly I'm just disappointed.

As I said, I understand not being happy with a product or having an issue, but don't be lazy and just steal from a small business. Just seems like the laziest way out. The majority of chargebacks had never even messaged me once.

Oh well. Always some bad apples.

Happy reefing everyone!

 

[SPR1968]

That’s very sad to read Jesse, I really hope it works out for you.

There are unfortunately some people out there who just want something for nothing, wether it be your reefing gear, a free meal by complaining or whatever else they can get for free rather than working and paying for it

I think most people are good. I’m also in business myself for over 25 years (UK) and I sort of have a motto developed over the years, that I don’t trust anyone until proved trustworthy. That doesn’t mean I’m off with them in anyway, it just means I’m cautious.

So my advice, for what it’s worth, unfortunately treat every customer like they ’may be a problem’ and have protection in place in case it happens. Hopefully it won’t but then if it does your covered. If you make a mistake then fine, make it good, but be ready for the others.

PS I like the Co2 scrubber by the way, and the other kit!

 

[MakerofThings]

That’s very sad to read Jesse, I really hope it works out for you.

There are unfortunately some people out there who just want something for nothing, wether it be your reefing gear, a free meal by complaining or whatever else they can get for free rather than working and paying for it

I think most people are good. I’m also in business myself for over 25 years (UK) and I sort of have a motto developed over the years, that I don’t trust anyone until proved trustworthy. That doesn’t mean I’m off with them in anyway, it just means I’m cautious.

So my advice, for what it’s worth, unfortunately treat every customer like they ’may be a problem’ and have protection in place in case it happens. Hopefully it won’t but then if it does your covered. If you make a mistake then fine, make it good, but be ready for the others.

PS I like the Co2 scrubber by the way, and the other kit!

Thanks! Yeah, unfortunately I've seen people like this before, but never at this scale.

I completely agree with you about trust. The nicest seeming people can turn out to be such bad customers.

I had been meaning for a while to setup chargeback protections but ironically didn't have time due to orders taking up a lot of time.

Oh well, lesson learned!

 

[fade2black]

Does your bank offer any kind of assistance? Might be worth a conversation with them if you let them know what is happening. Maybe they have some advice or ideas to help protect you.

I'm also a small business owner, but I'm more B2B so that helps eliminate a lot of these types of issues. It just brings the "yeah, we don't pay net 30, we pay net 120" issues. I hate hearing stories like this.

 

[MakerofThings]

Does your bank offer any kind of assistance? Might be worth a conversation with them if you let them know what is happening. Maybe they have some advice or ideas to help protect you.

I'm also a small business owner, but I'm more B2B so that helps eliminate a lot of these types of issues. It just brings the "yeah, we don't pay net 30, we pay net 120" issues. I hate hearing stories like this.

Unfortunately the way sales HAD been going through my site, no. The chargebacks go directly through my payment processor, not a bank.

There are ways to have them insure transactions to protect them from this sort of thing, but any previous sales haven't had those features enabled because I'm going to have to jump through a few hoops to get it to work.

Hindsight is 20/20, and 2020 sucked. Lol.

 

[fishlover1478]

dang I wish I ordered a co2 generator before you shut down :(
i hope things work out.

 

[Alchameth]

Crappy when people abuse a system that's supposed to offer consumers protection from shady business practices to hurt honest businesses.

 

[TheHarold]

That really sucks. I wonder if requiring their screen name from this forum and then referencing how long they’ve been a member (I.e. minimum eight months, 300 posts, etc.) could help.

 

[MakerofThings]

That really sucks. I wonder if requiring their screen name from this forum and then referencing how long they’ve been a member (I.e. minimum eight months, 300 posts, etc.) could help.

Unfortunately I doubt it. And I should have to work so hard to make sure people aren't going to try to cheat me out of products.

 

[JumboShrimp]

You stated your position very well; hope you can bounce back in the future with an improved "Plan B" business model that offers you for protection from unscrupulous individuals. Best wishes.

 

[MakerofThings]

You stated your position very well; hope you can bounce back in the future with an improved "Plan B" business model that offers you for protection from unscrupulous individuals. Best wishes.

Thanks! Yeah, I've got plans to try differently next year... I do love my good customers.

For now I'm focused on other things and now have a lot more time to do so. Just gotta keep rolling.

 

[blasterman]

I know small biz owners and even doctors offices that will only take cash or debit. Tired of scams, which unfortunately favor the scammers.

Sooner or later credit card numbers will have to be 256bit encrypted because they are too easy to mine and fraud.

 

[Mike from TN]

I’m sorry to hear that you are going through this Jesse!
I constantly try to convince myself that, in general, people are good. The fact is, there are many “takers” out there that are willing to harm others without giving it a second thought.
Im sure you’ll bounce back from this.
Wishing you great success in the future!
Mike

 

[MakerofThings]

I’m sorry to hear that you are going through this Jesse!
I constantly try to convince myself that, in general, people are good. The fact is, there are many “takers” out there that are willing to harm others without giving it a second thought.
Im sure you’ll bounce back from this.
Wishing you great success in the future!
Mike

Yeah, honestly I can deal with the money and the stress of disputes and other customers breathing down my neck.

The thing that's really been hard this week is my disappointment in people and it just hurts being treated so poorly when I'm trying so hard to do what's right.

 

[Mike from TN]

Yeah, honestly I can deal with the money and the stress of disputes and other customers breathing down my neck.

The thing that's really been hard this week is my disappointment in people and it just hurts being treated so poorly when I'm trying so hard to do what's right.

Just hang in there Brother! It’ll get better.

 

[MakerofThings]

Just hang in there Brother! It’ll get better.

Thanks man, doing what I can! :)