I just received an order for about $2,000 from a customer that's never e-mailed or spoken to me. It's for advertising services through one of my websites. The WHOIS info on the domains being advertised are in the same state but not the same address as the billing info for the credit card.

I'd like to send over a PDF invoice to this customer and have him sign it and fax or mail it back before providing the services. What information can/should I also ask for to confirm the billing information -- is it reasonable to ask for a copy of the front of a credit card? And for ID?

What about bank wire transfer?

Did you scrub via CVV and did it match? You may also want to check the IP address of the order to make sure that it matches geographically with the state they are from.

In terms of asking for ID - I think that would be a prudent step to take as well as verifying the order by calling them at the listed number. For a large ticket order with no prior contact, you will want to be very careful and make sure that everything checks out 100%.

I would also definitely recommend obtaining a signed fax from them. The fax should list out exactly what they ordered, any special terms or conditions of the order and it should also list their complete credit card #, expiration, the amount to charge and their name, date and signature.

for such high order i would recommend you to use wire transfer

This isn't an inquiry... as I said, he's never contacted me, I already received an order paid by credit card through the website (which means AVS and CVV did pass), and I simply want to verify the identity since the sale amount is large for a new customer.

Thanks for the advice :)

I would ask him to sign the invoice as well as provide you with the following:
* copy of identification
* copy of the cc that he submitted (from and back)
* signed invoice

if the customer is serious, then he would have no problem in sending this information

I agree with jenstone. We do this ourselves for any order over a certain amount. We require them to send a scan or fax of their credit card (and signature), along with the invoice.

This way, if they do a chargeback, then we have written proof of the order, etc...

It is also prudent to set your billing system to ONLY do an "authorize" (not charge) for orders above a certain threshold. This way, you can validate the order before it is actually charged to the customer's card. (It gives you more time...)

He never sent back the fax. What a waste of transaction fees that was.

Big ones out of nowhere (especially internet advertising) and several $100, $400, $500-ish charges, both should get the hair on back of your neck standing up going forward.
People like that (if you let them) can really ruin your day, don't let it ruin yours Dan.