Buyer wants me to ship to Nigeria?!?

[matmont14]

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place, but this is my first time selling on eBay. I just "sold" an iPad Pro, and the buyer said in very broken english that I have to send it to his son in Nigeria? I know I selected "No International Shipping" during setup. 

He says that PayPal has a hold on the money until I ship with a tracking number, but when I go to PayPal I don't see anything on hold. I received an email in my spam folder that looks legit basically verifying what he says (money on hold, address to send it too), but all other email communication from PayPal that I've received has never  gone to spam. 

Everything about it just screams scam. I'm a first-time seller... what do I do?

[chinohighcowboys1963]

SCAM! File an UNPAID ITEM CLAIM in 48 hours, and follow through with it.

[ittybitnot]

. I received an email in my spam folder that looks legit..

It is fake.  This is one of the oldest scams on the site.  One could suppose that much of the Nigerian's electronics that they stole over the years have become outdated, and they need to re-supply. 

[matmont14]

So what can I do? I sent them an eBay message asking them to cancel the order as I "can't ship that far". 

Can I cancel the transaction and re-list? Do I need to wait 48 hours for the claim?

[qatara]

It's a scam. As one member said file in 48 hours of no payment and block the buyer.

[matmont14]

How do I block? I don't see that as an option on their profile page. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

It is a SCAM.

Have no more contact with this "buyer". They are not a buyer, they are a scammer. You are NOT going to get paid.

Block the buyer here: https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

After 48 hours of non-payment, file the unpaid item dispute in the resolution center: https://resolutioncenter.ebay.com/    96 hours after that, close it out so you can get your fees refunded.  Also, report the buyer.

You were sent a fake Paypal payment email. These scammers hope that you will be too naive/greedy/ignorant to actually log in to Paypal and verify a payment. ALWAYS log directly in to Paypal, using a new browser window and by typing paypal.com into that browser. NEVER log in through an email link.  Had you followed through, you would be out your iPad and have no money to show for it, and there would be nothing Ebay nor Paypal could do for you since you would have gone outside the process.

You were wise to come here and ask. Always trust your gut when it comes to things like this.

Editing to add: Also, ONLY ship to the address on the Paypal payment. NEVER ship to any other address, especially one sent in a message after a purchase.

[ittybitnot]

 I sent them an eBay message asking them to cancel the order as I "can't ship that far". 

Buyers, even fake ones, cannot cancel an order.  You are not going to get paid.  If you have your blocks set appropriately for no international sales, it is likely the "buyer" account is a hijacked one as well.   Do not communicate with this person anymore. 

You can file the Unpaid Item Dispute and close it after the allowed time.  Or you can cancel the sale with "problem with the buyer's address".    

If you insist on trying to sell that here, make the listing fixed price with "immediate payment required".  That will not insure your Ipad is not stolen by some other means, but at least the listing will not end until someone puts up the "front money." 

[zktalkj_0]

Is the item that (supposedly) sold listed on this page:

https://www.ebay.com/sh/ord/?filter=status:AWAITING_SHIPMENT

If no, then it didn't really sold but there is under your sold items listing an Ipad for $800, is that the one?

If so then you'll need to look into it further but just because it is showing doesn't mean you got paid.

Chances are with the whole Nigeria bit it's a scam however I think you should change your payment settings to:

IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED

You could also most likely cancel the order for reasons "making unreasonable demands" (requesting changes after payment falls under unreasonable demands) although some folks will state "problems with address," I believe either one would likely suffice as it is unlikely you will hear from this buyer again (on this purchase).

You may have to call Paypal to see if the money is in fact in your account (it could be on hold because you're a new buyer) however under NO circumstances should you ship to ANY address OTHER than the buyer's address of record at time of payment.

Read that again:

Always ship sold AND paid items to the buyer's address of record at time of payment.

If you go to that page referenced above and click on Print Shipping Label I think it will lead you to that address.

As to how a buyer would expect any different, that's beyond me but if they paid then the item needs to be shipped to (one more time) the buyer's address of record at time of payment.

You could alternatively cancel the order for reasons "problem with address" Or actually "making unreasonable demands" (requesting changes after payment falls under unreasonable demands).

Most likely if this were my situation I would cancel but also follow through on the research (for practice) and setting payments to IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED (aka IPR).

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@zktalkj_0 wrote:

You may have to call Paypal to see if the money is in fact in your account (it could be on hold because you're a new buyer)

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If the seller has actually been properly paid, the transaction WILL SHOW UP in Paypal, even if they have a hold.  Everything will be there - the amount, transaction ID, buyer name, etc. The funds will be pending until the seller delivers the item. There's no need to call Paypal.

[turquoisetulips]

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@matmont14 wrote:

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place, but this is my first time selling on eBay. I just "sold" an iPad Pro, and the buyer said in very broken english that I have to send it to his son in Nigeria? I know I selected "No International Shipping" during setup. 

He says that PayPal has a hold on the money until I ship with a tracking number, but when I go to PayPal I don't see anything on hold. I received an email in my spam folder that looks legit basically verifying what he says (money on hold, address to send it too), but all other email communication from PayPal that I've received has never  gone to spam. 

Everything about it just screams scam. I'm a first-time seller... what do I do?

Scammers like to pick on  new sellers  because they hope they don't have enough experience yet  to catch  onto them . I'm very glad  you became suspicious  at the onset  of this transaction . Everyone else is correct when they said you won't be paid ,, because you won't . Sadly third world nations are full of corruption  and they will take a seller for a ride  if given the chance . So please  just cancel the transaction by using the option '' problem with buyers address ''  and never ever ship  to an address  other than the one on the buyers account .  Tulips 

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[wesk_36]

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@matmont14 wrote:

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place, but this is my first time selling on eBay. I just "sold" an iPad Pro, and the buyer said in very broken english that I have to send it to his son in Nigeria? I know I selected "No International Shipping" during setup. 

He says that PayPal has a hold on the money until I ship with a tracking number, but when I go to PayPal I don't see anything on hold. I received an email in my spam folder that looks legit basically verifying what he says (money on hold, address to send it too), but all other email communication from PayPal that I've received has never  gone to spam. 

Everything about it just screams scam. I'm a first-time seller... what do I do?

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You took the correct action by logging in to paypal to confirm payment. Congratulations, because many who are touched by this scam don't confirm actual payment! Some spoofed emails have links to fake paypal websites where people click the links to log in and also get their account information stolen.

Of course, had it been legitimate, your paypal account would show payment. 

You can also send the email to paypal

(spoof@paypal.com)

by following these instructions;

"Help us combat fraud. If you see anything that looks out of the ordinary (including suspicious looking emails and websites), tell us and we’ll investigate."

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/report-problem

Paypal says that they will investigate but I don't know if that means that they will only determine if the email is spoofed or not, (you already know it is) or actually do more than that.

[csbbct]

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@matmont14 wrote:

He says that PayPal has a hold on the money until I ship with a tracking number, but when I go to PayPal I don't see anything on hold. I received an email in my spam folder that looks legit basically verifying what he says (money on hold, address to send it too), but all other email communication from PayPal that I've received has never  gone to spam. 

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As everyone else is saying here, this is definitely a scam!  

I also want to mention that you should never give your email address to a potential buyer.  Did they give you some excuse for needing you to send them an email instead of an eBay message or ask you directly for your email address?  They must have somehow talked you into giving it to them and once you did, they were able to send you this fake Paypal email.  Insist that all communication be through eBay messaging, never directly through email.  Using the eBay messaging system will allow eBay to see this communication should you need help.  When you communicate directly through email, eBay will not see those messages. 

They further try to trick you by telling you that Paypal will not show your money until you ship the item.  You will always at least see a record of the transaction in Paypal and do not ship until Paypal indicates it's ok to ship.  

I'm very happy you came here to ask for advice before continuing through with this.  Always trust your gut!  You might want to wait to sell this kind of item until you have more feedback under your belt or all those predators will be coming out of their slimy caves! 

[papermoneyforme]

SCAM

[hawkwind5454]

If your scammer seriously did slip through your preferences, you can cancel the transaction, and give the reason that the customer requested it.  You may want to go through a CSR for this, should you desire reassurance. As I did not read all of the threads, my apologies, should this be a reiteration.