Seems suspicious.

[capital_nick]

Got an offer for $300 OVER on an item what I'm asking for "if I can ship today".  If they pay and I ship, is there a way they can screw me over?  Why are they offering $1500 on something I have listed for $1200?

Their msg is:
"Can you mail it out today? I am willing make an instant payment of $1,500 via pay pal.

Please reply."

[ckimodog · Accepted solution]

SCAM!  Do not reply.  Block and report.  As a seller, you can't accept payment via paypal.  They are looking to clean out your account and you will lose the item is well. 

[dentalsales4u]

If you accept their offer, the next thing they will do is ask for your email address so they can send you a fake PayPal payment made email.

They may even ask you to add a gift card to the order and state they will add that to the payment.

It's a total scam.

Never EVER accept an offer like this.

You will definitely lose your item and money.

[fab_finds4u]

A BUYER cannot pay more than the selling price. To pay more would be taking the payment off of eBay which is not allowed and you lose sel,er protection if you do that.  And the buyer loses protection too. So if you did not ship they would have no recourse.  NO buyer is going to pay with no way to get their money back.

The buyer is attempting to scam you. They'll get your email address and send you a FAKE payment notice supposedly from PayPal. It will say you have to ship and provide the tracking number before your money is released. They need it shipped ASAP before you discover the payment was fake. 

Don't do this. It is a scam. A well known scam attempt at getting an expensive free item.

[capital_nick]

I guess the part I missed was about Paypal.  I was just thinking "well sure, payment is through paypal", forgetting that's been eliminated.  Thanks everyone.

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@fab_finds4u wrote:

A BUYER cannot pay more than the selling price. ..

---

Sure they can, through a Best Offer, counteroffer, or even an inflated invoice.

[*_forum_id_*]

To be clear, Paypal has not been eliminated for a buyer to use for payment on eBay.

[klhmdg]

Yes they can screw you over. 

Even if this is a real offer once they receive the item all they have to do is file a Not As Described case.

Request a return/refund.

Once you approve the refund upon return, no matter what they send back, you refund in full.

SO you are most likely out shipping both ways and your item and the $1500 you sold it for...

[wildpitchsports]

That screams scam

[Anonymous]

Cancel any pending order and report buyer for taking transaction off eBay and/or requesting more than offered.

Absolutely a scammer......don't communicate with them again, just remedy the situation and BBL.

[soh.maryl]

Are you aware that you are not required to reply at all?

[dogchow747]

Agreed.

If he was legit and really had to have it, he would have offered you $1175 through the eBay system.

Which I assume you would have accepted.

Video equipment is unfortunately often targeted in these scams.

Glad you asked!

[nobody*s_perfect]

As noted in the other posts, there is no valid reason for the buyer to offer you more than your asking price, hence a giant red flag showing it's a scam.  One common scam is to send the seller a fake email from PayPal; recently I have read about fake messages that seem to be from eBay's new payment system. Or they will report that their account was hijacked, AFTER the item has been scanned in by the carrier.

The scammers want their item shipped immediately, using overnight shipping, so the item is in their hands before you figure out that you didn't really get paid.

[jayjaspersgarage]

Tell them to send you a gift card for $500 as a gift and see how fast they drop you.   Same thing goes for phone solicitors.  Ask them for the address where you can send them a hand written check.  90% of them will hang up.

[capital_nick]

Yes.  And I have not.