eBay

dasubman1138 · ‎04-09-2019

Hi,

I sold something last night, it was paid for right away through PayPal, but when I went to print out the shipping label, I googled the location. The first thing that popped up was an eBay community thread where this address was used previously by a scammer. Upon further investigation, the user that purchased it is in the Philippians and the ship to address is in the US.

I haven't sent the item out yet, still have the $ in my PayPal account. Who do I contact?

mysalonsavings · ‎04-09-2019

Well unless it is an item you can afford to lose I would cancel the sell. If it is a scam your going to get a defect regardless. All they have to do is say NAD. i would rather take the defect of canceling the transaction than the buyer the satisfaction of scamming me. Is principle! 🙂

fern*wood · ‎04-09-2019

I don't know if it is a scam or not, but what reason applies for cancelling in this situation? I never advise sellers to do this unless they are clear about the defect possibility for doing so. Any sale can result in a NAD---they are not defects unless you rely on ebay to handle the case.

myboardid · ‎04-09-2019

It is probably NOT a scam. It is a buyer from another country, as you stated, who is using a freight forwarding service to send him the item. The freight forwarders are not scammers, but have about the same percentage chance of there being a problem as there is with any other buyer in the US.

You are actually more protected, as the buyer loses his Money-Back guarantee as soon as the item is delivered to the freight forwarder. You are not responsible for it after that.

----------------------------
Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.

gracieallen01 · ‎04-09-2019

Just from what you posted, it may be a scam, or it may not.

Many people, around the world, use a freight forwarder in this country - their address, too - to be able to buy things from sellers that don't wish to, or like to, ship overseas.

On the other hand, it could still be a scam. You may have to dig deeper for better information on deciding.

(oh well, back to the slow typist corner)

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

a_c_green · ‎04-09-2019

@dasubman1138 wrote:
I sold something last night, it was paid for right away through PayPal, but when I went to print out the shipping label, I googled the location. The first thing that popped up was an eBay community thread where this address was used previously by a scammer. Upon further investigation, the user that purchased it is in the Philippians and the ship to address is in the US.

Nothing you're describing there is a red flag. Many international customers use reshippers in the U.S. so that they can buy from sellers who don't want to ship internationally; that is not a sign of a scammer. If payment has cleared and PayPal is telling you to ship, then you ship.

You need only prove delivery to the address you received with the payment, and if the customer wants to return the item for any reason, he will have to get it back to his reshipper in the U.S. first, because that is where your return label would be originating from. So if you've been paid, it's time to ship.

cka197818 · ‎04-09-2019

I agree with this reply. Just last week I had a buyer who bought 10 of my items. Saw that he was located in the United Kingdom. But was really happy and relieved to see that his shipping address was a U.S. address. My responsibility stopped the moment that is was left with an individual.

extrememobility · ‎04-09-2019

Did you check the fee`s of the PayPal transaction? sometimes a buyer from another country will use a credit card outside the US and you are charged extra for what they call a cross boarder Transaction. Not really a scam but you pay more"

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎04-09-2019

I have never in all my thousands of sales ever googled a buyer's address. They pay I ship.

calntom · ‎04-09-2019

@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:
I have never in all my thousands of sales ever googled a buyer's address. They pay I ship.

For me, it depends on the amount of the purchase and type of product. Some buyers get a thorough vetting before I ship including their Facebook and anything else I can find out about them.

calntom · ‎04-09-2019

@mysalonsavings wrote:
Well unless it is an item you can afford to lose I would cancel the sell. If it is a scam your going to get a defect regardless. All they have to do is say NAD. i would rather take the defect of canceling the transaction than the buyer the satisfaction of scamming me. Is principle! 🙂

Just be careful with cancelling sales. A couple too many of those and they could suspend your account and all the hard work put into this eBay endeavor could be down the drain.

jeannicho22 · ‎04-09-2019

As others have mentioned, this is most likely a freight forwarder and not a cause for concern..... unless you are selling computer parts or smartphones. I probably sell to buyers utilizing freight forwarders several times a week without incident. In fact on my website in my FAQ, I address that buyers in countries I do not ship to can purchase utilizing a freight forwarder and I give them the key search words to find one.

I mentioned above that computer and/or parts and smartphones may be of concern because this really seems to be a "thing" amongst international scammers, but then it is amongst domestic scammers as well.

Once again, as others have mentioned, buyers lose their eBay buyer protection once an item has been forwarded. Please note that I said they lose their eBay buyer protection once an item has been forwarded, I did NOT say that they lose their PayPal buyer protection, PayPal has no such stipulation. The only thing about PayPal is that if a buyer claims SNAD, they are required to pay return shipping. If the buyer loses the claim on eBay and doesn't want to pay return shipping, they have one more chance to open a claim with their credit card company.... Depending on which chargeback code they use, you're pretty much shafted whether the buyer is domestic or international.

mam98031 · ‎04-09-2019

@dasubman1138 wrote:
Hi,
I sold something last night, it was paid for right away through PayPal, but when I went to print out the shipping label, I googled the location. The first thing that popped up was an eBay community thread where this address was used previously by a scammer. Upon further investigation, the user that purchased it is in the Philippians and the ship to address is in the US.

I haven't sent the item out yet, still have the $ in my PayPal account. Who do I contact?

It may be that you are shipping to a company that reships things for an international buyer. It really isn't the address that is an issue as they likely services 100's of different customers.

So a seller may have ASSUMED it was a scam if they don't understand the Ebay rules on this and/or didn't understand what a reshipper does. Sometimes people are fearful of this only because they don't understand the process and the protections offered by Ebay.

It is HIGHLY likely you are just fine. I sell to international buyers using reshippers all the time. And it is rare to have an issue.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

jeannicho22 · ‎04-09-2019

@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:
I have never in all my thousands of sales ever googled a buyer's address. They pay I ship.

In my 70,000 transactions, I certainly have. When I see an apt # like BC20765P, I'm pretty darn curious. When I see an address that is familiar with a different buyer ID, I'm pretty darn curious. When I see a buyer in Singapore (had one yesterday) with a US address, I'm pretty darn curious.

Shrugs Different strokes for different folks.

a_c_green · ‎04-09-2019

@jeannicho22 wrote:
In my 70,000 transactions, I certainly have. When I see an apt # like BC20765P, I'm pretty darn curious. When I see an address that is familiar with a different buyer ID, I'm pretty darn curious. When I see a buyer in Singapore (had one yesterday) with a US address, I'm pretty darn curious.

After a while, you'll learn to recognize the pattern of a reshipper address, as well as their City and State (e.g. Doral, FL); it gets to be pretty routine.

Another variation of reshipper is one that's popular with the Japanese, where the reshipper is also the one doing the bidding, and after they win, you get this cheerful fractured-English message asking you to put the item number on the outside of the box so that they'll know whose purchase it is. I shipped one of those just yesterday; another one went out that way just last week.