Before you pay: check the whole transaction
Work through these checks before a deposit or balance payment. A professional website, a container photo or a business registration cannot verify the whole sale.
Use reviews and complaint searches as additional evidence. A low price, polished photos, HTTPS or a strong star rating alone neither establishes fraud nor verifies this purchase. Compare the complete delivered total and written terms before judging a price.
- Identify the seller. Ask for the business name, invoice entity, address and the person handling the sale. Record who is responsible for the container and who is responsible for delivery.
- Contact the business independently. Find its contact details outside the advertisement, invoice or payment message. Confirm that the business issued this offer and that the person handling it is authorized. An impersonator can borrow a real company's name and documents.
- Establish what you are buying. Is it the pictured unit, or will a unit be allocated later from an agreed condition grade? For an identified unit, ask for current photos of the unit number, doors, exterior, interior and disclosed damage. For later allocation, get the selection date, grade, inspection opportunity and substitution terms in writing.
- Agree how condition will be checked. Ask whether you or an independent inspector can inspect before acceptance, what the inspection covers, which defects or repairs are recorded, and what happens if the unit differs from the agreement. A number or fresh video helps connect records; it does not establish ownership.
- Pin down delivery. Confirm the depot or dispatch arrangements through the independently verified seller. Put the destination, delivery window, unloading method, site access assumptions and all charges in the offer. Ask who pays for waiting, failed placement, a return trip or equipment changes.
- Explain the deposit. Get written answers: what does it reserve, when is the unit allocated, when is the balance due, and what cancellation or refund terms apply if allocation or delivery fails? Confirm the recipient. A deposit or sample photos alone do not establish fraud; unexplained terms still need checking.
- Confirm the payee and payment route. Match the invoice entity to the recipient. If another entity collects payment, verify the relationship independently and get it in writing. Recheck any changed instructions outside the message thread. Ask the provider whether purchase protection covers this seller, container and exact payment route.
- Keep the agreement and pause on conflicts. Save the offer, terms, messages and payment instructions before they change. Stop while an unexplained identity, payee or delivery conflict is unresolved, especially if pressure to pay prevents independent checks.
Treat changed payment instructions as a new check
A familiar email thread can be compromised. If an account, recipient or payment procedure changes, contact the seller using details you obtained independently and confirm the change before paying. Do not use a new phone number supplied in the same message to authenticate it.
Ask what protections apply before choosing a payment method. A marketplace listing or linked card does not automatically give every transaction buyer protection. Pressure to use a hard-to-reverse payment route while avoiding independent checks is a reason to pause.
Two situations to work through
These are fictional teaching examples, not reports about any business or website.
| Situation | What to check | What the facts establish |
|---|---|---|
| A seller uses sample photos and allocates a unit after a deposit. | Ask what the deposit reserves, when the actual unit is selected, how you can inspect it, and what written remedy applies if it differs. | The photos do not verify the eventual unit. Later allocation or a deposit alone does not establish fraud. |
| A familiar invoice thread suddenly gives new bank details and says delivery depends on paying today. | Call the seller through the independently verified contact. If it denies the change, keep the message and stop the replacement payment. | The changed instruction conflicts with the independently verified seller. Preserve that fact without inventing who sent the message. |
Already paid? Contact the payment provider now
Start here if the container was not delivered as agreed, payment details appear false, or someone used your account. Preparing a website report does not contact your bank or stop a payment.
- Use a known channel now: the number on your card, your bank's genuine app, or the provider contact you independently verify. Explain the payment and what happened. Do not wait for a ContainerPick review or for the seller to promise another delivery date.
- Ask for the correct route: a purchase dispute, unauthorized-payment report, cancellation, or recall, as the facts require. Request a reference number, the applicable deadline and any required written notice or documents. Keep a copy and follow the provider's instructions promptly.
- Preserve the order and payment evidence. Save originals and make a short dated timeline. If your account or login was exposed, tell the provider immediately, change compromised or reused passwords and enable multifactor authentication.
- Report suspected fraud through official channels found independently. Keep the report confirmation. Reporting supports the record of the incident; it does not replace a dispute, required notice or recall, and does not guarantee money back.
Say who made the payment and what went wrong
If you approved and made the container purchase but the seller failed to deliver, describe an authorized purchase with non-delivery. Do not call it an unauthorized charge just to seek a refund. Report any separate charges or transfers made without your authority as separate events.
If another person initiated a transfer after tricking you into sharing account access or a verification code, explain that sequence. A fraudster-initiated transfer from a covered consumer account can be unauthorized even when access details were obtained through deception. If you are unsure, describe what you did and what the other person did.
A chargeback is a card-payment dispute process that may reverse a charge under applicable rules. It is not a guaranteed refund. A bank-wire recall is a different request, and payment methods do not share one universal deadline.
Use the steps for the actual payment method. If you are unsure, check your receipt and ask the provider to identify the transfer type.
Credit card
- Contact the issuer immediately. For a purchase you made that was not delivered as agreed, ask for the goods-not-received or billing-error route. For a charge made without your authority, report that fact separately.
- For a covered consumer credit-card account, non-delivery as agreed can be a billing error even though you authorized the purchase. A complaint about the quality of goods you accepted is a different issue. You do not have to wait for the merchant to respond before using the covered billing-error procedure.
- For a covered consumer credit-card billing error, ask for the required notice address or expressly permitted electronic channel, the receipt deadline and the evidence needed. Calling now helps you start, but a phone call alone does not satisfy that written-notice procedure. Unauthorized-use reporting follows separate rules; report it immediately.
Written notice timing for covered credit-card billing errors
For an applicable consumer open-end credit-card billing error, the creditor must receive your written notice no later than 60 calendar days after it transmitted the first periodic statement showing the alleged error. That period does not automatically start on the purchase date, when you discovered the problem or the promised delivery date.
Use the billing-error or dispute address disclosed by the creditor, which may differ from the payment address. An electronic notice counts under this procedure only when the billing-rights disclosure expressly permits that method and channel. Include the required identification, the amount and date if known, and why the charge is disputed. Keep the notice and proof of receipt.
If a delayed delivery takes you beyond that period, contact the issuer and send your evidence anyway. Some issuers may extend their own dispute periods, but a changed delivery promise does not automatically restart this federal period. Ask what other issuer or network process applies.
This is not a deadline for every chargeback or every payment. Unauthorized credit-card use has separate rules, and business-issued cards have a different billing-error scope.
Debit card
- Contact your bank or credit union immediately. If you made the purchase but did not receive the container, ask whether a merchandise-not-received purchase dispute is available and what evidence and deadline it requires.
- If someone else made a debit or transfer without authority, say so and explain any lost card, compromised account or fraud-obtained access. Ask about the applicable error-reporting process and any written confirmation required.
- An authorized debit purchase executed correctly is not automatically an unauthorized electronic transfer because the seller failed to deliver. Debit purchase-dispute options differ from the credit-card billing-error procedure.
Bank wire
- Call the originating bank now and explain the suspected fraud. Ask whether it can attempt a recall or reversal and contact the receiving bank. Give the transaction reference, date, amount and beneficiary details through the bank's secure channel.
- Ask what documentation is needed and obtain a case reference. Let the bank handle bank-to-bank requests; do not send another payment to release or protect the first one.
- A recall may fail once funds have moved. A wire is not a card chargeback, and ordinary consumer electronic-transfer notice rules do not apply to every wire system. If the transfer type is unclear, have the bank identify it.
ACH bank transfer
- Contact the bank promptly. Explain whether you sent an ACH credit or authorized a seller to debit your account, and ask what cancellation, return, reversal or dispute process is available for the actual transaction.
- Report any debit or transfer you did not authorize separately. For an account established primarily for personal, family or household use, covered electronic-transfer protections may apply according to the facts.
- An authorized ACH purchase executed correctly does not automatically become an electronic-transfer error because the container was not delivered. Ask for the specific process, required notice and deadline; do not apply the wire or credit-card instructions by guesswork.
Payment app
- Use the genuine app or independently verified provider support immediately. Ask whether cancellation, reversal, a purchase dispute or eligible buyer protection is available.
- Explain whether this was a purchase payment or person-to-person transfer and how it was funded. Do not assume a friends-and-family transfer, wallet balance or linked card has the same protection as a protected purchase.
- If someone took over your account or initiated transfers without authority, report that to the app and the account-holding bank as relevant. Describe who initiated each payment, ask which institution handles the dispute, and keep each reference.
Cryptocurrency
- Contact the actual exchange or cryptocurrency ATM operator promptly to ask what action is possible. Completed cryptocurrency transfers are typically irreversible; provider contact does not mean the blockchain payment can be undone.
- Preserve the receiving address, coin or token, amount, transaction hash, date and time, and messages. Share these through independently verified provider or official reporting channels.
- If an account or wallet was compromised, tell the provider and secure the exposed access. Do not pay an unsolicited recovery agent who promises reimbursement or asks for credentials or another transfer.
Another method or unsure
Contact the company you used to pay immediately and ask which cancellation or dispute process applies. If you used a money-transfer company, contact that company directly through a verified channel.
If the card or account is for business use
The federal credit-card billing-error procedure described here does not apply to a card issued for business use, even when occasionally used for a personal purchase. A consumer-issued card retains that procedure for occasional business purchases. Tell the issuer which account you hold and ask what contractual or network purchase-dispute process applies.
Business-card billing-error limits do not mean every unauthorized-use protection disappears. Unauthorized-use rules are separate. The consumer electronic-transfer protections described here concern accounts established primarily for personal, family or household use; do not assume a business bank account has the same coverage. Report promptly and ask the provider for the process applicable to your account.
Keep a factual evidence packet
Keep originals securely. Build a dated timeline that distinguishes what you observed from what you suspect; a delay alone is not proof of fraud.
Send sensitive transaction details only through the payment provider's or an official agency's independently verified secure channel. Do not post account numbers, card details, identity documents or raw evidence publicly. The website report tool below asks only which records you hold; nothing is uploaded.
- The listing or offer, its website address, seller identity, invoice and contract.
- The agreed size, quantity, condition, unit number if supplied, or later allocation and inspection terms.
- The delivery destination, promised date or window, unloading agreement, and later delivery explanations.
- The payment receipt, transaction reference and payee details, plus any changed instructions.
- Original messages and emails, including full headers where available; saved web pages and relevant photos.
- Inspection, depot-release or delivery records you received, cancellation or refund requests, and bank or official report references.
Prepare a short message for your bank or provider
Use the template below to organize the facts, then edit it in your own document or the provider's secure channel. Choose the description that actually happened and remove unused placeholders. Add any required name or account identification only in that verified channel.
Ask the provider how to deliver the required notice. Copying this template or preparing a website report does not send a dispute, satisfy a deadline or start a recall.
Subject: Container payment problem — request for the appropriate dispute or recall Payment date: [date] Amount and currency: [amount] Payment method and transaction reference: [method/reference] Seller or payee shown in my records: [name] What was agreed: [container, allocation terms and promised delivery] What happened: [short dated facts and checks made] Who initiated the payment: [I made and authorized this purchase / another person initiated it without my authority / I am unsure — explain the steps] Please identify the correct dispute, error-reporting or recall process for these facts and my account. Can you take any urgent action now? Please give me a reference number, the required notice channel or address, the receipt deadline, and the records you need. I hold: [offer/invoice/payment receipt/messages/delivery records]. I can provide relevant copies through your verified secure channel.
Secure exposed accounts and make an official report
If a login, verification code or account access was exposed, alert the provider immediately. Change compromised and reused passwords and enable multifactor authentication. Do not share a new code or transfer money because a caller says it will protect the account or reverse fraud.
For suspected fraud, find the FTC's official fraud-reporting service independently. For cyber-enabled fraud or non-delivery, use the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3. Keep a copy or confirmation before leaving the reporting screen. These reports are separate from your payment-provider dispute or recall.
Keep original evidence even after reporting. IC3 does not accept evidence attachments through its complaint form; an investigating agency may request records later. An official report does not guarantee an investigation or a refund.
Be alert to a second scam. Someone who unexpectedly offers to recover your money in exchange for an upfront fee, credentials or another payment may be targeting you again. Verify an alleged agency through a contact you find independently. Government agencies do not guarantee recovery.
Check or report a website
Use the tools below to check a hostname or organize your account of events.
Check the reviewed website reports
Enter the exact website domain. A missing result does not mean a website is safe.
No reviewed reports are published yet.
Enter a domain or paste an HTTP or HTTPS website address.
We compare the exact hostname you confirm. Other subdomains are checked separately.
A reviewed report describes a particular case. It does not establish that every offer from a domain is fraudulent or that a domain with no entry is safe.
Prepare your account of events →Prepare a website report
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Your draft stays in this open page. You choose whether to copy or download it and share it with your payment provider or an official reporting service.
Review your draft
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Copying or downloading does not contact your bank or an official agency. Contact your payment provider directly about a payment.
Common questions
Does a deposit mean a container offer is fraudulent?
No. Check what it reserves, when the unit is allocated, when the balance is due and what written cancellation or failure terms apply. Verify the seller and payment recipient independently.
Is a container number or a fresh video enough to verify a sale?
It can connect unit evidence to an offer. It does not establish ownership, authenticate the payment recipient or guarantee delivery.
Can I wait for the seller before contacting my bank?
Contact the payment provider promptly and ask for the correct process and deadline. For a covered credit-card non-delivery billing error, prior merchant contact is not required. A new delivery promise does not automatically extend your notice period.
Does no website report mean the seller is safe?
No. It means no reviewed report is published for the exact hostname checked. It does not verify the business, its offer or a related subdomain.
Will preparing a report recover my payment?
No. It prepares text for your own use and sends nothing. Contact the provider directly for a dispute or recall and follow its required notice process.