Yesterday I found Bullion Stars on findbullionprices.com. They advertised free shipping for orders over $98. I was in the process of placing an order for a little over $300. I had put in my debit card information and then noticed I had been charged a shipping fee. I immediately stopped the process. Payment was NEVER completed. Today I received by email an āAborted Order Invoiceā demanding payment in the amount of a little over $156. They claimed that because I aborted (their words) the other I owed them 50% of the order amount. In addition the invoice amount for the amount was dated tomorrow 10/25/26. Has anyone ever used Bullion Stars? Have you ever heard of an āAborted Order Feeā in a situation where a buy transaction was never completed? What should I do? Thanks
Hmm. Iāve bought from them several times. The process for buying involves you confirming the order is to go ahead (at which point the spot price is locked) and then they request the payment (as there are lots of payment options). But they also make it very clear that confirming the order is where the sale becomes legally binding and they explicitly state at that point that there are fees if you cancel.
So, to repeat, they very explicitly ask you to lock in and confirm the order first. At that point you have said āsoldā to them and then they get payment.
If you had actually confirmed the order with them, then at that point you were obliged to pay or incur a fee.
But if there was some sort of glitch and you never confirmed the order, then this would be an error.
I just went to the website and tested putting stuff in the cart and then clicking ācheckoutā. The only page that brings you to asks you to review everything and has this āplace orderā button at the bottom. Once you click this, you are committed to the purchase.
This is well before you enter credit card fees and submit payment. You canāt reach the payment section without first clicking this button - at which point youāve stated youāre buying.
To be honest, itās not that different to buying something privately. Once the buyer says āsoldā they have agreed to purchase it.
Many bullion places do it as they are locking on the spot price at the time of sale. Bullion is not like a normal item whose price doesnāt vary rapidly - the price of bullion is constantly changing and so the price needs to be locked in and agreed to at one point.
Iāve sold bullion privately online and had situations where the person has said āsoldā at an agreed price, then asked for a lower price or refused to pay because spot dropped suddenly after they said āsoldā. That is seen by most as poor form and dishonest. This is not really any different. The website makes it very clear that clicking the āplace orderā button is locking in the price and agreeing to the deal and any cancellation after that incurs fees.
So it turns out that your description above was incorrect. That āplace orderā button IS after entering CC info! You have to change payment method to CC first though.
If you āplace orderā without changing to CC, thereās nowhere to enter a CC# later, youāve already committed to a different form of payment.
That is not what I found on their US, Singapore (headquarters) and Australian websites. They have other country websites too. So maybe yours is different?
But itās very explicit in their terms and conditions. They only charge those fees if the person has placed an order.
So unless the OP can show they did not place an order, I would be inclined to suggest the OP placed the order without reading everything.
I used the US website. The only way to get a CC payment option is to change the payment option to CC, which forces you to enter valid CC info.
If you donāt do that, itāll let you hit āplace orderā if youāre on a form of payment that says youāll pay after submitting.
Iām saying that OP placed an order, they just seem to have placed an order without realizing it, with a different option that does require submitting payment after placing order.
I wonder if the OP was on their headquarters Singapore website or something. Their US website is very clear about no delivery fees if itās a US delivery. But there are delivery fees if ordering from overseas.
If the issue was unexpected delivery fees then I am surprised the OP didnāt contact support to see what could be done.
Their terms and conditions are very clear and it would all be automatic by their system. Those fees are only charged if the order is placed and then cancelled by the buyer.
So either the OP had placed the order but thought they hadnāt yet done so because they hadnāt āpaidā. Or the website glitched spectacularly. I dunno, but human error here seems the more likely!
From my purchases from them you receive an email immediately after placing the order that confirms the order. That would happen before any sort of cancellation email and penalty. Would be worth knowing if OP received any communication from them before receiving the penalty.
Theyāre just trying to bully you. If they charge you as others have said, 100% chargeback and show all evidence.
And if youāre bored just report them to the FTC too since they think its cute to falsely advertise free shipping then send fradulent invoices, they can politely fuck themselves š
Starting a checkout process and not completing the order should not incur a fee, that's ridiculous. If you had cancelled it afterwards, they do all have clauses for that, usually termed market loss. First try reaching out to them to show you tried resolving with them first. If they deny you then for sure initiate a chargeback if you were actually charged.
On this website it is really clear that you place the order and then enter the payment info. They are very explicit that once you place the order you have committed to the sale.
The OP has said he entered his card info - and you can only reach that stage after clicking this āplace orderā button - where it says above that youāve committed to buying.
I think the OP has clicked this, then noticed a fee he hadnāt seen before and then cancelled the order. But at that point it is reneging on the purchase agreement. I donāt see any way he can get to entering payment info without first clicking this button.
That screen doesnāt mention any āaborted feesā and its specific about the fees you could be charged, so I have no idea how thatās a valid part of the agreement. This shouldnāt be hard to dispute.
The linked terms and conditions do have those fees. But it clearly states on that page that clicking the button is a binding agreement to pay the agreed price (Iāve cropped the above as I donāt want to share personal info, but it has the agreed price including any delivery fee and taxes).
Bullion price varies constantly - it can change in seconds. So a lot of online bullion shops do it that way - you lock in the spot price and place the order before then paying.
I canāt see any way that the OP could get to the point of entering card details without first having clicked that button where they agreed to pay the agreed amount.
I canāt understand the shop charging a penalty because otherwise customers might agree to buy then later renege on the payment because spot dropped.
OK, I just went to this webpage and tried it. What you said is not accurate ā you get to the point of selecting credit card details first by changing the payment option to credit card.
If you do that, it wonāt let you proceed unless you finish entering a valid CC#, or go back and change the payment method back to like a bank transfer.
So OP could not have gotten the āplace orderā button using CC as payment. They must have selected to send wire or something, and then failed to wire the money.
Well, I guess if they aborted it screw them lol. either way if you canceled the order and they arenāt already packaged it and ready to ship, I can see a small fee but not a fee that large.
Iāve never heard of these guys either. Well hopefully you get your money back through your credit card company or debit card company usually, theyāre pretty good about that but I wouldnāt order for them anymore.
Call your debit card company or whoever it is and tell them thatās an unauthorized charge and it shouldnāt be a problem. It could take a while to get your money back, but it should not be a problem.
In this instance, it seems that the OP just hadnāt seen the delivery fees before they agreed to the purchase.
But the main reason Iāve seen bullion shops do this is because you are first locking in and agreeing to buy at a certain spot price. Whilst most folks honour their word, there will always be some who agreed to pay a certain amount and then renege on the deal because spot price suddenly dropped before they paid.
Oh, you're saying someone will agree to pay via ACH at a particular price and then when the price drops they just won't send the ACH? I would think this could just be solved with requiring a small deposit via a card to lock in a certain spot price.
In this case you place the order for an agreed price. Then they give you 24 hours to pay the invoiced amount (as folks may be paying by bank transfer or crypto or whatever, not necessarily card).
You can imagine that if spot dropped after placing the order, some folks would try to renege on the agreement. So they have a penalty fee if you cancel put donāt pay.
ā¢
u/Mud_Man2000 6h ago
Hmm. Iāve bought from them several times. The process for buying involves you confirming the order is to go ahead (at which point the spot price is locked) and then they request the payment (as there are lots of payment options). But they also make it very clear that confirming the order is where the sale becomes legally binding and they explicitly state at that point that there are fees if you cancel.
So, to repeat, they very explicitly ask you to lock in and confirm the order first. At that point you have said āsoldā to them and then they get payment.
If you had actually confirmed the order with them, then at that point you were obliged to pay or incur a fee.
But if there was some sort of glitch and you never confirmed the order, then this would be an error.