How to deal with suspected scammer who already paid
Hi everyone, recently I'm in a bit of a dilemma. One of my items sold but I feel there is something very strange going on.
First of all, the item had been listed for several months with very few views and even fewer watchers (only a single one prior to sale). Despite buyers being able to make offers for a lower price, this buyer did not attempt to. Now perhaps they just really really wanted my item (it is a small rotating head to be mounted on a tripod for photography use, sold for about $300) but when I take a look at the buyer's profile it gets a little stranger.
The first issue is the fact that their profile is only a few months old and their profile image is literally a stock image of a random man. I managed to find the same image on shutterstock and a few other stock image sites. Second is that they only have 10 feedback received, all as a buyer, and all are from sellers with feedback in the tens of thousands, i.e. large ebay stores. Basically I think they just bought from sellers who leave feedback automatically, whether it was a real purchase or not, I can't say. Third issue is that their location is listed as Kazakhstan but I was given a US address. And when I look at their address is where it gets even stranger!
So at first glance the address looks weird, and if input into USPS's address checker it won't recognize it. It is grossly misspelled, but after managing to find the correct address on google I am led to a thrid party logistics company, probably providing freight forwarding services to overseas users such as the buyer. The biggest red flag is that googling the address shows results for other ebay forum posts talking about scams from the exact same address (Wilmington, DE). Basically involves asking for a return because item was not as described and sending out a fake return.
Anyway, my question is, what do I do in this situation? The item is marked as payed with payment still processing, and based on what I've read from other ebay forum posts, cancelling the order myself will lower my seller rating and the buyer could still leave a negative feedback. I can ship the item out and take as many precautions as I can to protect myself, but again based on what I've read here, it could be a difficult process and Ebay themselves may not offer much help, and supposedly may even require filing a police report? Open to any advice, thanks.
jameshen1
·2 years agoI will never understand people. Post after post of sellers complaining about no sales or slow sales. Practically begging for customers. Then you make a sale of long tail item and rather than being happy, you look for reasons to kill the sale. Truth is stranger than fiction yet again.
yuzuha
·2 years agoRight? I'd had something listed for the better part of a year with zero interest once. Then one day a buyer from Spain bought it using a freight forwarder and I was thrilled. They got a thing they wanted, I got a sale of a long tail item. Everyone was happy.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoThey buy, you ship when ebay tells you to.
Just because they are an international buyer, using a freight forwarder, doesn't mean it is going to be a problem or it is a scammer. Even EIS has codes and numbers on it. Don't dox your customers. You will drive yourself nuts.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoIn addition to what others already provided if the item you are referring to is the following first you do not accept returns. Make sure you understand that does NOT translate to no refunds. The shipping information for this item shows you do ship internationally to some countries but not to others. For regular type international sales it looks like you items would go through the EIS program and you get the excellent seller protections under that program.
That being said FF's are pretty safe in most cases. The sellers responsibility, for the most part, ends when the package is delivered to the FF, you could bolster this by adding a signature requirement to your shipment. While the buyer looses their protection when they use a FF that is only applicable to the eBay policies and in some cases eBay has waffled on this. You have NO protection if the buyer files a CC chargeback for NAD but that is no different than domestic sales.
I have sold a number of items that have shipped through FF'ers and have not had any issues but I go by the #1 rule as a seller and that is to never list anything you cannot afford to take the loss on. If the buyer happens to be in a country that you do NOT sell to according to your selling preferences simply cancel the order using problem with the buyers address. If however they are in a foreign country that you do sell to you should honor the sale and ship the item. Not shipping simply because it is not going through EIS but shipping to a FF is not very valid reason for canceling the order due to a problem with the buyers address.
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoI don't see ANY red flags of ANY sort.
Buyer pays, seller ships, it's as simple as that.
EVERY payment you ever get on eBay will say "processing" for the first 24 - 48 hours then it will change to "completed".
If you make a purchase anywhere with your credit card if you look at your card account online the charge will appear in the "pending" section for up to 48 hours until the merchant settlement is initiated.
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoWhat exactly is "grossly misspelled" in the address? Forwarder addresses almost always contain a code to identify the customer, it should be on a separate line but is often a Suite or Unit Number which would not be in the USPS address database.
heckofagame
·2 years agoMany international buyers use a freight forwarder. Many eBayers have a recent account or low feedback.
If the buyer paid, you ship. I recommend that you stop creating a problem where there isn't one.
hartungcards
·2 years agoJust cancel the sale as "Problem with Address." Any issues with your seller rating (if any) will be peanuts compared to being out $300. If they neg you as well, just leave a response on it that the address provided was invalid.