Prepayment for ordered goods: how not to fall for fraudsters and not to lose a client

Nova Poshta has relaunched the Safe Service, which is available in its mobile app.

This service has long been in demand among both buyers and sellers, as the issue of prepayment for orders has created some tension and sometimes leads to unpleasant consequences:

• On the one hand, fraud by unscrupulous people pretending to be sellers (especially on Instagram),
• On the other side of the transaction, it can lead to the cancellation of the order, because the seller is always unsure that the buyer will pick up the purchase and therefore asks for a symbolic "insurance" - a 100-200 UAH advance payment for the goods, and the buyer is either afraid, lazy, or forgets, and the sale of the goods is disrupted.

From now on, the buyer doesn't have to make a 100-200 UAH prepayment to the seller's card, and the seller gets free return shipping if the buyer refuses the goods.

How does Nova Poshta's prepaid service work?

Purchases with the Safe Service are made exclusively through the Nova Poshta mobile app - the buyer receives a notification with the invoice number and the option to pay for the order. After paying for the goods, the funds are reserved until they are transferred to the seller's account. Thus, the buyer can inspect the parcel at the post office and does not take any risks with prepayment to unfamiliar sellers on the card.

Only after the buyer has inspected and picked up the parcel, the funds are transferred to the seller.

If the goods do not fit and the buyer refuses the parcel, it is returned to the seller free of charge, and the money for the goods is automatically returned to the buyer.

At the same time, payment card data remains confidential for both parties, which is important to avoid manipulation and public dissemination of card data.

How much does the service cost?

For sellers, the Safe Service is free of charge, and the buyer pays a commission for the money transfer.

How to send a parcel safely with Nova Poshta?

Create an express waybill in the Nova Poshta mobile app.

In the "Additional services" section, select "Safe service".

As soon as the express waybill is created, the buyer will receive a push notification with its number. The buyer has 2 days to pay for the order through the Nova Poshta mobile app.

As soon as the parcel arrives at the post office, the buyer must inspect it and decide whether to pick up the goods. If so, the money for the goods will be transferred to you as the seller within 30 minutes. If not, the parcel will be returned to the seller free of charge, and the cost of the goods and the money transfer fee will be returned to the buyer's account.

A parcel that has been issued through Safe Service can be stored in the branch for five days. On the sixth day, it will be automatically returned to the sender, the funds to the buyer, and the transaction will be canceled.

Currently, the service operates exclusively through the Nova Poshta mobile app to ensure a secure communication channel between buyer and seller and to avoid repeating the mistakes of 2020, when fraudsters sent buyers SMS about fake invoices with links to phishing sites.

So, be careful, and if you agree to use the Safe Service, do everything through the Nova Poshta mobile app.

"We have updated this service, kept it easy to use and left a single channel for payments and communication - the mobile app. That is, now all information about the progress of the online purchase and payment for the order are made in the most secure channel - in the Nova Poshta mobile application. And this gives us confidence that the Safe Service will be safe and useful for sellers and buyers," said Andriy Kryvoshapko, CEO of NovaPay.

As soon as the service is available via API, we will add it to the synchronization module with Nova Poshta.