Am I being scammed or am I just a paranoid first time seller?

[dysautogirl]

Hey everyone I'm new to eBay, and I originally made my account to buy a few things but now that money is tight right now I decided to sell. I posted a listing for a iPhone 4S with bad ESN, please know that it's not stolen like people think bad ESN phones are, I simply couldn't pay the bill and I stated that in the listing. Within FOUR minutes of posting the listing someone bought the phone, for $200 plus $4.95 shipping. I read some fourms on here about people buying iPhones,paying for them, then claim they did not receive it and open up a claim or they will take stuff out the phone then make up a lie to get a fund. The buyer has good feedback, and I decided to see what he bought from those people, to my surprise he bought all iPhones (all 16 feedbacks were from people he bought iPhones from) I dont understand why someone would want all these iPhones, he bought all of them within 30 days. His account address is to a suite in  NY. After reading all the fourms about the scammers I am kind of nervous. Can someone give me advice? He just officially paid for the item 20 minutes ago so I dont have long before I have to head up to the post office and mail it. Do you think its a scammer or not? It surprised me someone bought it within 4 minutes of posting it, and the fact it sold for $200 with a bad ESN - $200 can buy a new iPhone with a contract and clean ESN so that's why I'm surprised

[soliddealsonline]

The fact that the buyer has purchased a number of other iPhones, as well as the fact that their address is probably a business address tells me that they are likely a business that buys them for business purposes (such as using them for parts or reselling them).

I would not be worried about it.

[dysautogirl]

Thank you 🙂

[legal_m_eagle]

To confirm that they received it, you may try mailing it Certified Mail through the post office. It may cost a little more but it may be worth it to make sure they go it.  Or you can mail it using UPS or FedEX to confirm a signature.  Hope this helps.

[groortis]

Just had the same experience with that buyer? Did it work out OK for you?

[soupy1951]

I always ship items with tracking numbers and delivery verification. That waay if the buyer claims non-receipt you have proof of delivery and a signature. If it truly gets lost you have the post office or delivery service insurance to reimburse you for the funds after giving the money back to the buyer.

[jllacy9510]

I have somewhat of a similar situation going on and maybe I am just being paranoid, but I would like another person's input... listed an iphone 4, auction style for 3 days, person bid on it but then contacted me saying they were willing to offer me a higher amount if I ended the listing and sold to them. After looking over his feedback, it's all positive, so I agreed to end auction and sell to him. He has great communication and paid pretty quickly. Now, after reading over his messages it seems English is not his first language, so I looked at other items he has purchased and there are quite a few iphones. The shipping address looks like a business address in PA, but his ebay ID is registered as "Russian Federation" and his paypal is non-US verified.

Should I be worried, or do you think I will be safe as long as I do tracking, and delivery confirmation/insurance when I mail the phone out tomorrow?

Thanks

[stuffonline]

Things to look for, eBay feedback PayPal Verified and communication. As long as he doesn't ask you to ship to an address different from the PayPal Verified address AND you ship with delivery confirmation ($2.10 with USPS) you will be fine.

This situation is not uncommon having your auction ending early, here are a couple of reasons why:

• Buyer needs the item immediately and doesn't wish to wait for the auction to close


• Buyer may feel that by offering you a slightly higher amount than the current bid he will ultimately get a better deal than bidding till the end of the listing.

As to the original poster, I have sold iPhones to Auracom in the past and have had no issues, that doesn't neccesarily not make them scammers, it just means that they aren't scamming via eBay. It is really hard to be scammed on eBay if you are following the proper protocols.

• Never ship to any address other than the PayPal verified addres, no matter how much they beg and plead or what story they give. (Take this on a case by case basis mind you, some people do have good reasons like the holidays having something shipped directly to a family member) My instinct hasn't failed me yet.


• Never accept Cashier's Checks, Money Orders or Western Union Transfers, I ONLY accept PayPal. Double the protection for me and the buyer.


• Never declare value less than what the item is sold for. (Brazilian buyers love to do this because their import taxes for US products are EXTREME)


• Request delivery confirmation for all purchase over $250.00 USD ($250 includes the shipping cost of the item, I learned this the hard way)


• Make sure that you have photos/documents with the Serial Numbers of the items you are selling (I post them in the listing). This prevents someone from returning their broken item and keeping my working one. (We aren't Walmart!!)

[rhudeboy]

he just purchased a i4 with a broken camera from me. how did things work out for you?

[jsrusco]

If the transaction went through and Paypal has confirmed the payment then go ahead and ship it. You're protected.

[jms.inc]

Thank you so much for writing about this guy.  I am having problems with him too.  He is trying to get some money back from me after 10 days

[opperman6765]

Same guy bought my phone in minutes, and then immediately wrote to ask me to lower the shipping cost. When I politely said I wouldn't, he paid anyway. I'm hoping he doesn't try to get a refund later. Please post results with him if you've had them, good or bad.

[10cisco2010]

I'm also having problems with this company. I sold them an IPhone 5 for 185 dollars with broken screen. Everything else worked. Now the person is claiming the usb port isn't working. The weird thing is he contacted me outside email; directly to my email. The person asked me to give him 50 percent refund. Or the he was going open a case against me.  What should I do? 

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@jms.inc wrote:

Thank you so much for writing about this guy.  I am having problems with him too.  He is trying to get some money back from me after 10 days

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[us-jc00]

did the same exact thing to me now he wants me to cover repair for something that was clearly stated in discription 

[cham3061]

have you had any luck resolving these issues with this seller? I too have sold a phone to him but now I am afraid the imei and serials will be stolen. 😞