Selling to Nigeria?

[rlvmaiden]

I just sold an item on ebay to a buyer in Nigeria. Everything seems in order, except the Nigeria part. I've read all the stories about Nigerian scammers but this one seems like it might be legit. I haven't received any sketchy emails from the buyer, and the shipping address from ebay matches the confirmed address from paypal, and I've received the payment in my paypal account.

Should I cancel or ship the item? What can I do to protect myself in the case that the buyer tries to file either item not received or item not as described?

[sam9876]

How would you get online viewable proof of delivery?

[loveyourimagination49]

Do they have any feedback?
When did they sign up?
Is it for the over $100 item?
Not everyone in Nigeria are scammers. Of course they are known for it.
What does your instincts tell you?
Can you afford to lose it?

edit: What Sam asked too.

[relaxintowealth]

How is the buyer's feedback.And you can exclude selling to certain countires,fyi.

[rlvmaiden]

@sam9876

Am I screwed if the buyer receives the item and claims I filled the box with rocks? How often do sellers win that battle, especially when shipping to Nigeria?

[rlvmaiden]

@relaxintowealth

0 feedback, 0 acitivity, etc. Typical red flags. I changed my shipping settings after this buyer, I'm not dealing with this again. Do I get penalized for cancelling the sale? I'd like to avoid that but my priority is obivously not to lose my item.

[loveyourimagination49]

You will get an out of stock defect on your account. But, yes you can cancel.

[rlvmaiden]

@loveyourimagination49

Feedback is 0. Red flag

Account is a week old. Red flag
Item is $200, electronic music device. Red flag
Instincts say bail. Is there a penalization for cancelling a sale?
I can afford to lose it but I'd obviously much rather not.

Is parcel tracking enough to protect me when the buyer claims the box is full of rocks/broken/etc?

What if buyer claims credit card used on paypal is stolen and paypal charges it back to me? Do I have any protection from that?

[southern*sweet*tea]

There are a lot of highly educated, very wealthy people in Nigeria. They shop online to get things they can't get easily in their own country.  There are also a lot of desperately poor con artists and scammers who make their living by stealing from people online.

I feel really bad for the honest people that don't deserve to be painted over with the scammer brush, but at the same time you don't know who you're dealing with and you don't deserve to lose your item.

It's up to you as to what you do. If you had shipping available to Nigeria, the honest thing to do would be to ship, but if it's an expensive item I can understand wanting to cancel the sale.

[sam9876]

"Am I screwed if the buyer receives the item and claims I filled the box with rocks?"

Yes.

[sam9876]

"Is there a penalization for cancelling a sale?"

Yes.

"Is parcel tracking enough to protect me when the buyer claims the box is full of rocks/broken/etc?"

No.

"What if buyer claims credit card used on paypal is stolen and paypal charges it back to me? Do I have any protection from that?"

Yes.

[relaxintowealth]

Just pick the out of stock option  you'll get a ding but if the item is expensive I'd not send it.Had to turn down an offer on a sword to the middleeast recently for the same reason, now I always check my exclusion list before I ist.

[sam9876]

There are better solutions to the problem.

[loveyourimagination49]

Me personally I’d call PayPal and asked if there was any problems with the payment they sent.
This is just for your issue, not everyone reading this.

[rlvmaiden]

@sam9876

Care to elaborate? I don't sell very often so my experience in these scenarios is limited