New buyer asking odd questions
I am pretty new to selling on ebay. I just listed a laptop for around $900. A buyer from Canada with no history that created their account yesterday reached out to ask if I can ship it to their daughter in New York. I did a search and it seems that this would be ok - that I just ship to the address on the order.
He then asks me to send a video of the laptop to his email address - which he provides piecemeal across several messages. I reply that I will add a video to the listing.
It's feels like a scam. Is there a way for a buyer like this to scam me out of the laptop?
37 comments
globaldeal749
·8 months agoBlock the buyer,Report them and verify funds.
You must use Signature Confirmation for items over $75 to stay protected.
inhawaii
·8 months agoI believe it's $750.
jonathanbrightlight
·8 months agoCorrect, but what gets sellers sometimes is that it’s not the item price, but if the order total (everything the buyer pays, so item price + shipping + taxes), so if that total is over $750, it requires signature confirmation.
reseller_plug8
·8 months agoYeah, you’re right to be cautious — that definitely sounds sketchy. A brand-new account asking you to ship to a different address and wanting you to email them directly are big red flags. Never send anything outside of eBay messages or to an address not listed on the order — that’s how scammers try to get around eBay’s seller protection. If they really want the laptop, they can buy it through eBay and have it shipped to the verified address on their account. You did the right thing by keeping everything on-platform and refusing to email them. I’d block the buyer and wait for a legit sale — better to be safe than sorry.
glenvonnie
·8 months agoToo dangerous, too many bad things and only one good thing can happen here.
If you use EIS, Ebay International shipping, Ebay takes all the responsibility once the item reaches their hub.
Why doesn't he just give his daughter his credit card number and have her buy it, which is still dangerous considering what he's already tried to do to you.
You don't want to come back here telling us that you lost the computer and gave him a refund too, bail out and block him.
ryry-jj
·8 months agoYour instincts are correct. Stay away from this buyer. Many many red flags, not to mention the buyer attempting to drag you down the rabbit hole that could get you restricted & lose the lap top. The video is a way to get your email to send you fake ebay receipts showing payment. The next thing they would ask for is priority shipping. Block them asap
Btw, as a new seller, bad idea to learn the ebay robes selling a laptop. Start out selling lower cost items, learn what you can do and cant do before jumping into an item that attract scammers
paperstuffandmore
·8 months ago2 ways to do this:
1. Block them from bidding (Blocked Buyer List) and be done.
2. Sell it to them and pay the stupid tax
toomuchstuffagain35
·8 months agoJust to further add. What's the bet the daughter's NY address is a freight forwarder?
robbie31415
·8 months agoId say you got the attention of a scammer.
I would probably delist high value and common scam items until your account gets a little more reputation so you can have more options when you end up officially being scammed.
tools*
·8 months agoIt could be a scammer, or it could just be a Canadian who doesn't want to pay exorbitant import duties, tariffs, and shipping.
reallynicestamps
·8 months agojust be a Canadian who doesn't want to pay exorbitant import duties, tariffs, and shipping.
International shipping is very high no matter what shipping service is used to or from the USA.
We have no duty on computer imports.
The US has a 25% duty.
We have no tariffs on computer imports.
The US just added a 25% tariff on computer chips.
Our federal sales tax is 5%, but many provinces combine federal and provincial tax with the highest combination being 15%.
The US has no federal sales tax and state taxes vary from 0% to 10%+.
Our de minimus (duty free allowance) ranges from $20 to $150 depending with USMCA produced goods qualifying for the latter.
The US has no duty free allowance.
A Canadian could import from the USA for as little as 5% sales tax
while an American buying from Canada could pay as much as 110% in tax, duty, and tariff to import a computer.
lakefor94
·8 months agoYou can smell it from here. Reeks of scam.
inhawaii
·8 months agoI would put something in my listings that say:
"Please, no asking odd questions."
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI am going to go ahead and call scam for a different reason. Only one of that exact laptop model has sold for your price in the past 90 days and it was a factory sealed new one. You can get it new with a for sure good legit warranty from Amazon for not much more than you are asking.
Yours is not that.
That puts you at least $150 high on the price (the comps go $600-$750). It is also an older model that is losing value by the day.
You know who doesn't care what they pay? Someone who plans on stealing the thing.
Also, demographically "daughters" are much less likely than "sons" to request a laptop that cost an extra $250 because of the video chipset installed. Meaningless on its own, only sticks out in relation to all the other collection of flags on this.
kandf_vintage_finds
·8 months agoIgnore future messages
Block
Consider selling the laptop locally
Move on
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoI am pretty new to selling on ebay.
Welcome!
I just listed a laptop for around $900.
Don't do that.
no history that created their account yesterday
Not a problem
to ask if I can ship it to their daughter in New York.
Not a problem*
send a video of the laptop
What is that supposed to do? But not a problem
to his email address
SCAM!!
*Actually a benefit since if their plan was to have it forwarded, that nullifies the Money Back Guarantee.
yeswayrecords
·8 months agoEbay has processes in place to protect both the seller and buyer.
Ebay requires both seller and buyer to follow those processes to protect the validity of each transaction.
Anyone operating outside of those accepted ebay processes - seller or buyer - is operating outside the rules.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoIt's feels like a scam.
Asking you to contact him outside eBay is one tool that scammers use.
Is there a way for a buyer like this to scam me out of the laptop?
There is a way for any buyer to scam you out of your laptop, whether the buyer is "like this" or seems completely trustworthy. Generally speaking, any buyer can steal any item from any seller at any time by filing a fraudulent dispute.
And rookie sellers with laptops and iPhones seem to be frequent targets.
chapeau-noir
·8 months agoI would try selling it locally first. It's not that you're selling a laptop (I've sold laptops, towers and just about everything else), it's the combo of you being very new with the high priced/high fraud item.
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoYou could tell buyer to give money to their daughter in New York through pen pal to buy the lap top.
Only send to address of the buyer.
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoOops...Pay Pal I mean.
jonathanbrightlight
·8 months agoI would guarantee there is no daughter in New York. It's just to add an emotional factor to convince a seller to fall for their scam.
stuff4divas
·8 months ago@therealluckiest take all the advice given and don't forget to block them
a_c_green
·8 months agoThese are two sentences that do not go together well. You should start your selling adventures with items that you can afford to lose entirely if things go wrong.
In this particular case, they are trying to get your off-email address so that they can send you completely fake payment notifications that eBay will never see. (If you send them anything to their off-eBay email address, that will reveal yours as well.) Just stop responding to that person; there will be no real sale happening there.
You should limit your laptop sale to a local pickup for cash. No one halfway across the country or halfway around the world has a pressing need for your particular laptop, and there are several scams equally likely to occur if you try to sell that here.
treschic53
·8 months agoI would recommend that a new seller start with less valuable, lower priced items until that seller is more familiar with the workings and guardrails/lack of same of eBay.
Get to know the tricks and ploys of scammers before listing expensive things. They love new, less-experienced sellers and and love to exploit them.
Very smart of you to come to the community...that's why we are here.
simba6
·8 months agoThey are trying to get your email address. Then with that, they can send a fake you have been paid notice in hopes of you sending out an item that was never paid for. It's a common scam. Do not reply.
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoYes, it is very easy for a Buyer like this to scam you out of that Laptop. Ebay is probably the easiest place on the entire internet for Sellers to get scammed out of items like this. Ebay is the Mega Capital of the World for Scammers looking to "Scam". Happens every day, by the thousands.
Good Luck.
kibble-net
·8 months agoIf you honestly feel this way about ebay.... why are you even here?
That being said, I've been selling laptops occasionally since 2013. I haven't had the same experience as you.
I would recommend OP trust their gut, and block this buyer if they feel uncomfortable. The email thing is definitely a red flag.
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoDo you see any Electronics, Phones, Computer Equipment, Jewelry, High Dollar Coins, Rolex's, anything of value in any of my listings?
No you do not. Only items you see is crap that should be at Goodwill or in a Thrift Store. It would be of no loss to me to lose any of this stuff. I'm here because I can possibly make some money off it all.
26, or 27 Years on ebay starting this year, I've seen a thing or two. Also seen enough that I'm not foolish enough to be listing, Ahem.....Electronics, Phones, Computer Equipment, Jewelry, High Dollar Coins, Rolex's, anything of value...... on ebay today. 😂
And Yes, the email issue is a huge Red Flag. New Seller here is learning today. Learning before they get scammed. An opportunity thousands of Sellers have not had a chance to learn BEFORE they were Scammed out of their Electronics, Phones, Computer Equipment, Jewelry, High Dollar Coins, Rolex's, something of value as a "New" Seller on ebay, THE ebay of today.
bashort
·8 months agoIf you were inclined to record such a video I would just add it to the listing for everyone to see
mtgraves7984
·8 months agoAnd to address your question... yes, there are ways that you could be scammed out of your laptop. Proceed with caution.
therealluckiest
OP8 months agoHow could they do that?
kensgiftshop
·8 months agoAny time they want you to contact them outside of Ebay, they are up to something.
They want you to contact them off of Ebay so they get an email address or phone number so they can send you a fake email/message saying you've been paid, hoping you'll ship before you find out you've been scammed.
caldreamer
·8 months agoScammers target new sellers or anyone selling "high value items" (especially electronics). Anyone can contact their credit card company to "reverse payment" after they receive your item.
There are many different types of scams on EBAY (scammers figured out how to get items "for free"). EBAY will NOT protect you if you get scammed.
Of course, this could be an honest person just wanting to be sure that the computer works before item gets shipped to his daughter. No way to predict, in advance, if a scammer or not.
Fortunately, most customers are honest. I have been selling for 15 years and never got scammed.
itsjustasprain
·8 months agoAbsolutely there is. In this case their attempt to get an off-Ebay email address to the seller by sending it in pieces is a big red flag. There is no legitimate reason to do that and it is a common tactic that has been seen in scams many times.
iamalwaysright
·8 months ago@therealluckiest To clarify, this is true with virtually any item sold on ebay and by any buyer (not just the one that messaged you). You can do everything right by the book, cross all your t's and dot all the i's. Without getting into the various complicated details, all that has to happen is a stroke of bad luck and a random buyer can scam you of your item and get away with it if they really wanted to and knew the ins and outs.
There is no fool-proof 100% protected way to sell an item on ebay.
bashort
·8 months agoscam or not If a potential buyer sends me a phone number or email address I never reply because of the potential of ebay seeing this as a attempt to take the sale off ebay.