Ebay: Is this a scam?

[Matt Meiser]

I sold an item on Ebay and specifically said I would only ship to the US. Someone contacted me and asked if I would ship to the UK and I said no. Then when the auction ended today, he bid at the last second an won. I emailed him to find out what was going on and he replied that his brother in the US pay me and will be shipping to it to his brother who will handle it from there. Assuming I only accept Paypal (as I stated in the auction) and ship to the confirmed address on the account that pays me, does anyone see any unusual danger here?

[Doyle Alley]

There are things that our English brothers simply cannot get over there (dado blades for example). If he really wants something in this category, he may be willing to go to extremes to get it.

There are some videos on Youtube talking about how Paypal scammed them. you might want to check them out before proceeding.

[John Bailey]

I can't tell you why, but I'm suspicious. Doesn't sound right. Make sure you have the money before you send.

I would transfer the money from PayPal to your bank account (hopefully you have a separate account for internet dealings) and make sure with your bank that, in fact, the money had transfered.

In any event, let us know.

John

[Matt Meiser]

Thanks for the responses guys. It could very well be legit, but it is really suspicious, and it is definitely a violation of Ebay policy for him to have bid since his listed address is out of the area where I said I would ship (even before he asked.) Just based on my gut feeling and this fact I emailed him and suggested that we agree to not complete the transaction which will allow me to get my fee back. I doubt he'll pay me based on that email, which means even if he doesn't agree, I can still get my fee back from Ebay. If he does pay, I'll have to reject it I guess. The feedback is of secondary concern to me but I told him we should either agree to leave each other no feedback or positive feedback. Either way I won't leave him feedback until I receive it.

I also sent the backup bidder a Second Chance Offer. He only bid $3 less, so that's not too bad.

[David G Baker]

Matt,
I have done this several times in the past and did not have any problem. Most of the time it was someone that lived in Canada and frequently made trips to the US. I was irritated that the bidders did not contact me prior to bidding but the transaction went fine. The only thing I would recommend it that the money part of the transaction be 100% confirmed prior to shipping. I would let the buyer know that the shipping may be delayed for 2 weeks or more due to the unusual way the bidder is having you ship the item.

[Joe Pelonio]

It could go either way. I too have sold to Canadians then shipped to a border town in the US, where they had a PO box at a postal/shipping store.

On the other hand, if it was a lot of money, I'd say you did right. It's not worth the risk. If it's a scam he'd send you more than the amount due and ask you to send a check to his "brother" to pay for the international shipping. You'd send the check and be out that money when his PayPal account turned out to be fraudulent. This can happen when someone phishes another person's PayPal account. Many of them do come out of the UK (no offense to our British members) and typically have a free e-mail account like Yahoo.

[Matt Meiser]

Another concern--he has Hotmail and his brother, who has now contacted me, has MSN. Both have a lot of mispellings.

[Leigh Costello]

Matt,
Walk away from this guy. I had this happen to me and it turned out to be a bad transaction. Fortunately, I did not have any repercussions. Misspellings from a British customer with ties to the US. I would really walk away. Good luck whatever you decide.

[Terry Kelly]

It's a SCAM..I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago..I didn't fall for it... I asked alot of questions when I seen they just registered the day they sent the question and a day after I sent the questions they were no longer a member....

[Greg Funk]

Matt,

For any questionable transactions I have always found it useful to talk to the individuals involved. It will give you an opportunity to get some details on them and just a general feeling on how legit they are. If they are British you wouldn't normally expect a lot of spelling errors.

Greg

[Phil Thien]

Why didn't he just have his brother bid, pay, and ship? Now he wants you to accept winning payment from a non-bidder. I'd say no-way.

[Chris Damm]

If you get your money before shipping, what's the problem?

[Matt Meiser]

The problem (that I can think of) is that Paypal can back out the payment if the guy has somehow hijaacked someones account.

They continue to make me suspicious. The brother sent payment. It did have a confirmed address. But the buyer seems to have ignored the email I sent telling him I wouldn't go through with it. So I refunded the payment restating that. Even with the confirmed address I'm still worried because the whole thing is wierd. Maybe its just bad communication, but I can't be sure. The brother's email address on his Paypal account is different from his Ebay account--this one's a Hotmail account. Anyway I'll risk the feedback reprocussions over the financial ones. Also, I received a response back from Ebay saying that I shouldn't go through with the transaction because of the risk. They said to go ahead and file a dispute and they will refund my fees.

This will probably be the last time I try to sell on Ebay--I usuall sell stuff on there every once in a great while. Its getting more expensive and more risky in my opinion--to the point where it probably isn't worth it.

[Jake Helmboldt]

I would walk. Though at this point I have another reason for not using ebay at all. Their customer service regarding security sucks! Someone managed to get my credit card info and opened an ebay account. They informed me of the activity by email, but won't give me any information at all. It took them several days to even respond to my email about the incident (they don't have any phone number for security violations). They have not been at all cooperative and suggest cancelling my credit card (no kidding!), and contacting the police.

"Hi Police, someone, somewhere, somehow got my credit card info and opened an ebay account and charged $4 to it. Go get them and arrest them!" We'll get right on that sir!

Ebay won't give me any info at all claiming member privacy. Some tool stole my identity and they are concerned about protecting their privacy but suggest I call the police with no information to propvide to them! ARRRGHHH! Who are these morons?

[Jon Lanier]

I'd contact the folks at Ebay. Or just sell it to the next highest bidder.. or put it back up ..?