Scammer? Unsure About a Buyer?

[chic-waffles]

Hi everyone,

I've been a small seller on ebay since 2022. My feedback score is 100% and I've sold about 50 items. 50% of my buyers leave feedback so I have 25 feedback left all positive.

I put all of my items up on 7 day auctions with the option for buyers to make offers and it works well for me and my buyers. Probably 90% of my sales are from auctions and 10% are offers I accept. I'm not out to gouge people while I casually sell my used items.

So yesterday my auction was coming down to the last few hours and I get a message asking me:

"Hello dear..Does the auction include shipping costs within the states?"

Written just like that with the dear...Does underlined and looking like a link. I responded that the shipping cost is calculated and that it should  show there on my auction for the item.

My spider senses are alerted...and the potential buyer has a zero feedback score.

My auction ends and he is the winner. He sends me another message:

"Hello dear, what is the final price? Please reply"

So now my spider senses are tingling. I responded by sending him an invoice. He paid it and the address is:

****

Everything I've read online says it's MyUs and it's okay to do this transaction. But is it? Everything is telling me to cancel it. My item is not small and costs roughly $30 to ship to the US (I am in Canada). I've seen that sellers say that it's no problem and that I'm not responsible for the item once it's arrived at MyUs and if something goes wrong the only thing I'm on the hook for would be the return shipping from his location.

So then couldn't the international return shipping on this item be potentially quite expensive for me as the seller?

My first instinct is this is a scam targeting me a small seller who they think doesn't know any better. I ship the item to the proxy company and then a month later they make a claim even though they receive my item. Then they have my item and I'm out the international return shipping costs if they even send the item back.

I sure would appreciate some opinions and feedback on this sale. I appreciate any comments and please weigh in with your opinions...maybe I'm just being paranoid but I genuinely don't know.

P.S...perhaps I'm being paranoid because he keeps calling me dear 🤦‍♀️

[kenneth686321]

They pay you ship. Period. It sounds like they haven't paid. 4/10 of my buyers are 0 feedback buyers usually sign up same day to buy the one thing. Never had a problem... yet 

If your buyer files a return, you are only obligated to issue a return label from the Florida address not from the international location. Remember any buyer can return an item for any reason due to the MGB and you give a full refund including shipping depending on the reason. Thats the risk. 

I had 2 returns/100,  1 from a 6000 feedback buyer and 1 from a 300 feedback buyer both from the US to Canada. If that happens sign up for a Shippo account because Ebay does not provide US to Canada return labels.  

Never sell anything that you are not prepared to pay the return shipping from the customer or loose outright. Thats why I only ship to Canada nd the US. 

[chapeau-noir]

They're probably using a translator to communicate with you, so the 'dear' and the weird underlying may come from that (sometimes it looks like the translation is in a text box). When I used to broker velvet yardage from Pakistan my supplier would address packages to me with "Dear [my name]".

They've given you a freight forwarder address (MyUS) and you ship there, they forward the item onto the buyer. I've shipped to FF companies quite a bit without any problems at all. If you're extremely uncomfortable with the transaction I guess you could cancel citing "problem with address" but for my money, shipping through FF is pretty fool proof. So it's up to you.

[chic-waffles]

Ah okay thank you for your reply. I haven't had this situation come up before. I thought from what I read about buyers that use proxy shipping that I would be on the hook for the potentially high international shipping costs to return the item. I have no problems with refunding a buyers money including their shipping costs to where I sent the item to.

Thank you for the clarification.

[chic-waffles]

Thank you for your reply. I guess I've seen so many scam emails that start with "Hello Dear" that I'm totally paranoid now lol 😆

Thank you for putting my mind at ease.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi @chic-waffles 

Being a zero feedback buyer is not a criteria for fraud. One cannot glean any information about a buyer’s intentions from a feedback score alone. More information is required. Scammers always tip their hands, so i reserve judgment until there is evidence of untrustworthiness. (A zero account could  also be a guest account.)

OP wrote:

”…I've seen that sellers say that it's no problem and that I'm not responsible for the item once it's arrived at MyUs”

You are responsible for getting the item to the address of record in as-described condition. But once/if they forward the item to another destination, under most circumstances, eBay policy states the buyer is then not covered by the Money Back Guarantee. Your responsibility ended at the first location.

This is all spelled out in the Money Back Guarantee policy. (See link below.) 

There are bad buyers out there. But in 15 years selling on eBay, i have never been the target of fraud from a buyer. (From a seller, yes. But not a buyer.) So if a buyer has an issue, i give them the benefit of the doubt. Sellers bear all the risk on eBay, but it is better for buyer-seller relations to not jump prematurely into an us vs. them attitude.

Good luck with your transaction and hope everything gets resolved to your benefit.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

”Not covered [by MBG]

• The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection”

[chic-waffles]

Thank you for your response and helpful information. I jumped to the wrong conclusions about my buyer due to my inexperience.

I am grateful to this community for helping me out in this situation. 🙏 

I've learned a lot today thank you all.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Spending time on this forum promotes paranoia.

You have no tools to vet buyers after they have made a purchase.

I too have spider sense, and it is often wrong. I recently had a zero FB buyer who had the address of a freight forwarder, and nothing untoward has happened.

I had another order the same day which set off alarm bells because of a suspicious message, and nothing untoward has happened.

My fingers are crossed that I have not jinxed things.

I would not sell game consoles online because of the terrible stories I have heard from game sellers, but that is all second hand, and the folks who sell consoles and games keep selling them so what should one conclude.

[chic-waffles]

Thank you for your insight into my questions. When I was researching whether or not this buyer was okay to ship to it seemed to be a 50/50 split for and against...it also didn't help that I was confused about what I as the seller would be on the hook for if things went south with a buyer. I've learned a lot and I'm so glad that everyone who replied has been extremely helpful.

I'm just a casual seller of my games and consoles that are taking up too much room in my storage lol.

I'm still so nervous every time I list anything worrying that I didn't set up my listing correctly or forgot some important information or something. Hopefully the nerves will calm down over time as I become a more seasoned ebay seller.

[fashunu4eeuh]

---

@chic-waffles wrote:

Thank you for your response and helpful information. I jumped to the wrong conclusions about my buyer due to my inexperience.

I am grateful to this community for helping me out in this situation. 🙏 

I've learned a lot today thank you all.

---

Hi @chic-waffles 

Always happy to help.

You’ve been here over a year now. I wouldn’t say you are inexperienced.

You did right listening to your gut because you are privy to more information than we are. Coming to the forums can be beneficial, give you some alternate viewpoints and advice, but wanted to add that few things can replace one’s own instincts.

You are doing well here and wish you much continued success!

[dbfolks166mt]

Hi @chic-waffles 

Being a zero feedback buyer is not a criteria for fraud. One cannot glean any information about a buyer’s intentions from a feedback score alone. More information is required. Scammers always tip their hands, so i reserve judgment until there is evidence of untrustworthiness. (A zero account could  also be a guest account.)

     You can't use a guest account on an auction and OP's item was an auction. 

OP wrote:

”…I've seen that sellers say that it's no problem and that I'm not responsible for the item once it's arrived at MyUs”

You are responsible for getting the item to the address of record in as-described condition. But once/if they forward the item to another destination, under most circumstances, eBay policy states the buyer is then not covered by the Money Back Guarantee. Your responsibility ended at the first location.

This is all spelled out in the Money Back Guarantee policy. (See link below.) 

There are bad buyers out there. But in 15 years selling on eBay, i have never been the target of fraud from a buyer. (From a seller, yes. But not a buyer.) So if a buyer has an issue, i give them the benefit of the doubt. Sellers bear all the risk on eBay, but it is better for buyer-seller relations to not jump prematurely into an us vs. them attitude.

Good luck with your transaction and hope everything gets resolved to your benefit.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

”Not covered [by MBG]

• The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection”

[dbfolks166mt]

     fashunu4eeuh provided good advice. About the only thing I would add and this should not add to your concerns as I am sure you are already aware that scammers tend to target many of the electronic items you sell. You also specify in your listings, at least the following one which I assume is the one you are talking about, that  "seller does not accept returns. You may want to read through the MBG and understand that no returns does not mean no refunds. It is generally always better to simply accept returns. 

[chic-waffles]

Thank you for all of your help...and yes you are right...I went into selling these items on ebay really worried that scammers would come for my items the first day or something but surprisingly after about 50 sales that hasn't happened at all. The buyers of my items have been amazing so far...now let's hope I didn't jinx it lol 😉