How to respond to scam buyer

[annoswal-0]

I made a sale yesterday and "for fun" I always look up the address to see where my item is going.  This time the mailing address was flagged all over the Ebay Forum and Reddit as a scam - the old "I never got my item" routine.  So I cancelled the sale and chose as the reason why was that there was a problem with the address.  Now the seller has messaged me asking why I cancelled because he/she paid.  Do I respond?  Can they see the reason I chose to cancel?  Should I just not respond and leave it alone?  

Also...how long should I wait to relist?

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I don't blame you at all. You are the owner, and you have to calculate any risks. 

Was the item expensive? I have at times shipped to a freight forwarder with signature required just for tracking purpose. Once delivered to F.F., it is out of my hands and responsibility. 

There have been some F.F. buyers who try to play the game. When they see tracking shows delivered (to the F.F.), they try to open a case of not received. It can really frustrate say a young / new seller. 

When a package is delivered to the F.F., the seller will never see a tracking number and deliver date when the package is delivered to the buyer. Big buyers using F.F. usually have multiple items packed up together  and shipped to save on shipping. 

Might entertain eBay international shipping. They back the seller. I would like to use it for certain listings, but I have to figure out if that can be done. I don't think it can. I think it's all your listings or none. 

[lakefor94]

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@annoswal-0 wrote:

Okay.  I'll be on the look out with the watch.  Didn't think it would be such a "thing" to sell.  Oh well.  Such is life.  Have a great day!

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I dont know squat about watches, just noticed the price.

Have not worn a watch since I got a pager back in the early 80's......

[broto_64]

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@annoswal-0 wrote:

I made a sale yesterday and "for fun" I always look up the address to see where my item is going.  This time the mailing address was flagged all over the Ebay Forum and Reddit as a scam - the old "I never got my item" routine.  So I cancelled the sale and chose as the reason why was that there was a problem with the address.  Now the seller has messaged me asking why I cancelled because he/she paid.  Do I respond?  Can they see the reason I chose to cancel?  Should I just not respond and leave it alone?  

Also...how long should I wait to relist?

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Yes, they can see the reason you chose to cancel and they can report you for "seller does not want to complete the sale" as well which is a violation of policy.

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

[broto_64]

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@heckofagame wrote:

More sales for someone else, I guess.

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I believe these sellers have no business selling on ebay, they can't even fulfill an order.

[powell-memorabilia]

Glad that you received the very reliable vibes.  I’ve been asking eBay for years to update the cancellation reasons to include “vibes” and “spidey senses.”

[snoopwiz]

Scam buyer?  How were you scammed?  You posted something for sale. They bought it. Assumed they paid. 

If your buyer was in Georgia USA,  I don't think they would not be using a freight forwarder.

Block a buyer who bought and paid, no grief?  Not sure if that is taught in sales 101.

Peace.

[nickelsanddimes2015]

No reason to cancel orders. It mostly was a freight forward address and once it how's delivered there by the post office you're good to go . Now whoever you opened yourself up to a chance for a negative. Contact the buyer and tell him the address was flagged and you were advised to cancel and see what he wants to do. If he stays in contact with you I'm sure you'll be fine.

[reallynicestamps]

but because the package I wrapped will be opened and repacked by the freight service and then again by customs.

Piffle.

How long is that going to take?
How much does that cost the forwarding company in wages- even at minimum wage?

At BC's minimum wage taking 10 minutes to open, inspect, and repack an item would cost the employer $2.70.

Not gonna happen.

And customs officers are unionized.  Approximate cost to open, inspect, and repack an item would be $6.80.

Unless there is a question about the contents, again not gonna happen.

Sometimes a shipment is opened. But normally that is because there is a potential problem, like the shipment being marked as "documents" which would not be dutiable, but is actually a book, which is.*

If the shipper/seller marks the package with the correct contents, it is very very unlikely to be opened. To move international shipments even faster, use the HS system which codifies products for the benefit of customs officers.

About 90% of my sales are international (mostly to the USA) and I keep a list of my most used HS codes in my daybook.

Books are 4901.99, philatelic items 9704.00, plushies are 9503.0041.

Here is a guide to the HS codes. It's from Canada , but the system is international.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/wtz/business/findHsCode?execution=e1s1

*Or a book like "Mein Kampf" which was banned in Germany for decades.

[johnrj1226]

FYI If your buyer paid for your item and eBay provided a valid ship to address you may have  earned a ding on your seller performance - not a good thing.  Having a VIBE is not a   valid  reason for cancelling.

[pjcdn2005]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@toysaver wrote:

EBay used to allow you to block buyers that lived in a country you didn't ship to but changed the wording in preferences to had a shipping address in a country you didn't ship to.  This created a loophole for the freight forwarding services.  

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I’ve been using eBay from Canada since the early 2000s when there was no ability to block or restrict buyers whatsoever and I don’t recall sellers being able to block buyers based on their country of registration.  I do recall Griff posting his input on a discussion board thread that had several posts from sellers irked by only being able the block being based on shipping location.  His explanation was that blocks based on buyer’s location or country of registration were considered discriminatory.

The use of Freight Forwarders or Uncle George’s house in Idaho by a buyer living outside the US is not a loophole.  It’s a means for the buyer to meet the seller’s “Ships to US only” terms.

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@marnotom! 

When our payments were processed by Paypal, you could block a buyer from paying if the buyer was using a non US payment source. Obviously Canadians couldn't use that as we would then be blocking Canadians from paying. If a US seller used that PP block and a buyer from another country was using a freight forwarder, the buyer would be unable to pay for their item.  They would still be able to click on buy it now (if the seller didn't use ipr) or bid on an auction on eBay because that block was for payment only. But since they couldn't pay, the sale wouldn't go through. The seller would either cancel it for problem with address or in a lot of cases, file an unpaid item case after the required waiting time.  

There was also a block on PP for buyers using a different currency and a lot of sellers here used that thinking that it blocked buyers from outside of the US. However, that block didn't affect an ebay sale since buyers always have to pay in the same currency that the listing is in. 

[marnotom!]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

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@marnotom! 

When our payments were processed by Paypal, you could block a buyer from paying if the buyer was using a non US payment source. Obviously Canadians couldn't use that as we would then be blocking Canadians from paying. If a US seller used that PP block and a buyer from another country was using a freight forwarder, the buyer would be unable to pay for their item.  They would still be able to click on buy it now (if the seller didn't use ipr) or bid on an auction on eBay because that block was for payment only. But since they couldn't pay, the sale wouldn't go through. The seller would either cancel it for problem with address or in a lot of cases, file an unpaid item case after the required waiting time.  

There was also a block on PP for buyers using a different currency and a lot of sellers here used that thinking that it blocked buyers from outside of the US. However, that block didn't affect an ebay sale since buyers always have to pay in the same currency that the listing is in. 

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I probably should have clarified my post to say that there was no way on eBay to block purchases from international bidders.  What you've posted is one of the schisms between PayPal's workings and those of eBay, another one being the different handling of buyer claims/cases.

Funny you should post that, though.  A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled on this archived thread from over thirteen years ago.  The GSP wasn't a thing then, but I bet heated discussions like this one persuaded some of the suits associated with eBay that they needed to consider alternatives to seller-driven international shipping as well as its then-in-house payment system:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/A-Part-time-eBay-Sellers-Group/How-To-Prevent-International-Sales/td-p...

[dbfolks166mt]

@toysaver wrote:

EBay used to allow you to block buyers that lived in a country you didn't ship to but changed the wording in preferences to had a shipping address in a country you didn't ship to.  This created a loophole for the freight forwarding services.  

I’ve been using eBay from Canada since the early 2000s when there was no ability to block or restrict buyers whatsoever and I don’t recall sellers being able to block buyers based on their country of registration.  I do recall Griff posting his input on a discussion board thread that had several posts from sellers irked by only being able the block being based on shipping location.  His explanation was that blocks based on buyer’s location or country of registration were considered discriminatory.

     I don't recall eBay ever having the ability to block a buyer based on their registered account address. Prior to managed payments when PayPal was the financial processor you could block payments from certain countries. 

The use of Freight Forwarders or Uncle George’s house in Idaho by a buyer living outside the US is not a loophole.  It’s a means for the buyer to meet the seller’s “Ships to US only” terms.

     And the Russian's love that fact and they are using it to get around the current sanctions not only on eBay but other ecommerce sites as well.