Scam?
Yesterda (3/4/26), I sold an expensive item almost as soon as I listed it as BIN ($1300)
I checked the shipping address:
[Edited by Moderator]
I've sold on eBay a long time...and the address (esp. suite #s) looked suspicious, so I did a google/eBay search of address.
The response came up mixed...some responses were favorable...some not so favorable, with the reply of "Beware-Scam".
The bought & pd for item is a set of 1940s Bakelite drawer handles and the buyer bought & paid for the lot for $1300...not a cheap purchase and my biggest one ever. A sale I'd love to complete, but not any kind of money I'm willing to lose.
Looking up his feedback...he's been a member since 2012, has 100% positive f/b (1082 f/b since 2012...230 for last 12 months). F/b is as a buyer (although what was purchased and the item cost was not posted---may be nickel and dime stuff, not pricey). No f/b as seller and no items for sale. Feedback "Left for others" has quite a few negatives mixed w/ positives.
He has left a couple messages to me since the sale, (How he'd like the drawer pulls wrapped...wrapped individually before boxed, sent, etc and I've noticed that his location on these messages is not the Florida mailing label address. ( It's Chicago, I recall).
He paid the asking price , but did not include tax. I've learned Florida is a user tax state...evidently he doesn't have to pay tax to me or eBay...he pays to Florida (and I certainly don't sell $100,000 in my small business, so I'm not responsible for tax).
Please advise me...is this a scam? What is this address? How can this sale come back to cause me negative issues? Just shipping costs (extra insurance, signature confirmation) will cost me about $30. I know that's minor...but I don't want to get involved with a potential fraud/ scam.
Thx for any info you can help with.
PS. I thought I posted this issue last night (3/4/26 about 10pm EST), but it didn't show up this morning. I remember "Posting" it, but maybe I didn't. Do these "?Scam?" questions get deleted somehow?
I know I can cancel the sale based on address...I would just as soon cancel the sale and refund his money than have any negative issues w/ this sale
Again, thank you
pickapaper
·5 months ago@jimw1776
I just kind of skimmed this thread so if anyone else mentioned this, sorry.
The items are vintage Bakelite. People in other countries love vintage Bakelite, watch for new items to be listed, buy immediately, often as quickly as listed, and will pay ridiculous money for it. Backgammon chips are popular, as are other things like your drawer pulls. Bakelite jewelry, I'm not sure how popular it is with foreign buyers; they seem to prefer other things. A lot of these listings usually go to Freight Forwarders and on to other countries. I have sold several listings and had no problems.
kdebo2014
·5 months agoThis scammer freight forwarding company changed 3 addresses in 3 years to commit fraud
[Removed]
Be wary of the freight forwarding company located at [Removed]. Chinese buyers ship their purchased items to this address; the freight forwarder then steals the high-value goods and falsely claims that the shipment was lost, prompting the buyers to request a refund. In this scenario, both the buyer and the seller lose—the only winner is the freight forwarding company.
angelno9
·6 months agoA sale I'd love to complete, but not any kind of money I'm willing to lose.
There is no way to completely avoid the possibility of fraud on eBay.
You risk losing any item you sell on eBay (unless it is local pickup for cash).
Period.
janet9988
·6 months agoYou can NOT do that. There is nothing wrong with the address.
dr.vankmann5
·6 months agoI’m a bit confused on what it is that you’re asking, I will explain why it’s confusing and I’m pretty sure that everybody is a bit confused as to why you’re posting this, you see there is no risk here, as long as they purchased it and you ship it to the address provided by the seller, you get your money. There is literally no risk, now if you’re asking about tax implications, that’s another thing altogether. You likely will have to pay taxes on that money that you made selling that item, and you have an obligation to ship what the customer purchased, I don’t understand why you were going out of your way to find out as much as you can about the person that purchased this from you, that kind of behavior really points to a bigger issue that should be addressed outside of eBay.
jimw1776
OP6 months agoSorry if I offended you. There's so many scammers and it's a big purchase.
bdmh-enterprises
·6 months agoActually there is a great deal of risk involved in EVERY sale one makes on eBay. ANY buyer intent on stealing your item can EASILY do so and eBay will back them 99% of the time.
While freight forwarded orders actually provide slightly more protection due to eBay policy voiding the MBG for buyers using them, it is a huge PITA for the seller to get this enforced and several ways to avoid it, so it is best to mitigate any potential problems beforehand. This is why it is important to identify when an order is going to a forwarding company, I doubt OP is researching every customer they get.
gurlcat
·6 months ago@dr.vankmann5 While it's true that the vast amount of seller protection is in the seller's own hands, I'm sorry but it's very naive to think there is "literally no risk" here. You must be either a new seller or new to the Community forums. Stick around, you'll see some horror stories, and face them yourself at some point.
dr.vankmann5
·6 months agoExplain to everybody here what the risks are! I’m sure everybody is curious as to what it is you’re referring to. I mean, as long as they pay and you ship it to the address they provide you get your money, what’s at risk? Explain yourself, otherwise you just look like a fool, making a comment and not explaining. You are at risk if you send your package to a buyer. If I said that and left the conversation, you would jump on here and Tell me to explain myself as well, so we are all waiting.
gurlcat
·6 months agoI assure you "everybody" is not curious, because everybody (but you apparently) are already aware that there are risks.
I'm curious, what would you do if a buyer filed a return and sent a bag of used coffee grounds back to you?
soh.maryl
·6 months ago" . . . and you ship to the address provided by the BUYER. "
As for tax implications, speaking of state sales tax as collected for about 45 states, most freight forwarders that I am aware of are located in states that do not actually have a state sales tax law. Oregon and Delaware are among those. In Florida, there is evidently a specific zip for some of them.
You mention that the seller will have to pay taxes on his sales. Another matter altogether. That's income tax and is another animal totally. The BUYER pays the state sales tax per his delivery address.
To other responders: If you disagree with what I have to say, feel free to respond. I do not wish to be giving any wrong information in a situation which seems already confused enough.
nyr134
·6 months agoIt is extremely unlikely that a buyer who has been active on this platform for more than 13 years and has bought at least 1,000 items has now turned into a scammer of some sort. Especially over vintage drawer handles, alluring as they may be.
stephenmorgan
·6 months agoWhere are you seeing their location?
A person can have an item shipped to another address if they choose to. They just change the address during check out.
gurlcat
·6 months ago@jimw1776 Okay NORMALLY a Freight Forwarder address is nothing to worry about. That is, the ones in Deleware, New Jersey, California and Oregon -these are not risky whatsoever, in fact because doing a return would be so difficult for the overseas buyers, those sales are actually safer than a regular domestic sale to somebody in Iowa or whatever.
HOWEVER ... I see you mentioning Florida. And I'm going to guess the address is in Miami or Doral. If so, that is a whole other animal, potentially very risky, because of the screwy system they have for zipcodes there. Basically what it often amounts to is tracking never getting a Delivered scan. Now even that is not automatically problematic, because the buyer will still see the next leg of transport carried on through whatever shipper the FF sent the package through next. And if the buyer doesn't file an INR, you have nothing to worry about. BUT there are a concerning number of buyers out there who are aware of the situation, and take advantage of it to get free stuff on eBay.
As to whether your signature requirement would be enough to thwart this kind of scam, I don't know. Drawer handles don't seem like a particularly high scam risk item, but their high value as bakelite ones might just be compelling enough for a scammer to use the Miami loophole for. I mean, a $1300 free item is a $1300 free item, whether it's a laptop, a gold necklace, or a set of drawer handles.
I'm not suggesting any particular action, just wanted to point out this Florida factor because so far nobody else had.
jimw1776
OP6 months agoSarasota 34249...Is this locale a red flag?
bdmh-enterprises
·6 months agoThat zip is a unique zip code that belongs to a MASSIVE distribution center within the regular Sarasota zip. Freight businesses often get their own zip because they get so many packages delivered to them.
If that's the zip you were given it should be good. What @gurlcat is talking about is when the crafty buyer uses the outer zip code and the item will be marked delivered to the unique zip. This buyer seem to have used the correct one.
IME getting signature confirmation almost always results in the last scan being "picked up by individual" from the PO and generally avoids this problem. I usually get sig on FF order higher than $300 or so.
gurlcat
·6 months ago@bdmh-enterprises Thank you. I've seen so many posts about Florida FF's, the details are all kind of a blur to me at this point. I was hoping someone like you would chime in, and you did!
@jimw1776 This^ info, along with the fact that the item is not a typical scam category, and the fact that the buyer has been communicating with you (which scammers usually don't) .... all points to this looking like a good and safe sale.
Congratulations!
adamcartwright
·6 months agoHoly cow, I have a bunch of those and need to list them.
And, for what it's worth, I made a sale last year -- a bit higher than yours.
Buyer was Canadian, but used a Freight Forwarder in the Pac NW.
I would have preferred EIS, but this worked out fine. I never heard a peep from the buyer.
gator08041971
·6 months ago@jimw1776
The only advice I would add, is to require a signature for delivery since its a large amount. eBay will probably suggest that anyway when you go to buy the label, but make sure the option is added before you pay for the shipping. Then they have to sign to accept, even at the freight forwarder. Nice part is, once its sent to them, your job is done.
I don't like selling overseas, so I don't, however eBay still doesn't have a way to block forwarders from being the "middle" of the transaction. But again, as long as you ship promptly, insure it, and it is signed for and delivered, you should be good.
Nice sale though, congrats!
jimw1776
OP6 months agoThx for response and advice. Part of the $30 I'm paying for shipping is for signature on delivery (about $4.00). Yes, eBay did suggest it. The rest is the added insurance, which I'm covering. he's paying about $9 shipping.
albertabrightalberta
·6 months agoNote that although you claim ebay "suggested" signature confirmation, for any sale in which the total payment is $750 or more, they REQUIRE it.
Even with tracking showing delivery, without s.c. (for $750+), sellers will lose every INR (item not received) claim.
jimw1776
OP6 months agoThat's right...Thx for correction.
jimw1776
OP6 months agoReally, I don't know if this is going overseas.
The mailing address shows it going to United States, not overseas.
Why did you mention selling overseas?
jimw1776
OP6 months agoI got the message to not include any personal info...but, Is saying United States against the rules? If I mention the state, is that wrong? Not trying to be snarky...just trying to follow the rules.
soh.maryl
·6 months agoNo one has implied that saying "United States" is against the rules nor is mentioning the state wrong.
Again, sounds like a freight forwarder.
12345jamesstamps
·6 months agoYou go into the 'eBay ID buyer feedbacks' and look to see what country it states.
What country is it?...and get back to me if you want.
So if item is going to a USA address...hopefully it' get's a scan as 'delivered'...it will be in a locker of the hub and sent out which will probably be another 2 weeks before buyer gets it if it's another country.
albertabrightalberta
·6 months agoWhen a buyer finds an item from sellers who don't do international shipping, they often hire a domestic company to receive the items. That company then forwards the items to the buyers in their country.
Freight forwarder - AI definition:
"A freight forwarder is a third-party logistics agent that organizes the safe, efficient, and legal transportation of goods from origin to destination on behalf of shippers. Acting as an "architect of transport," they do not typically move the goods themselves but instead manage carriers, negotiate rates, consolidate shipments, and handle all international customs documentation and, where necessary, act as a carrier."
soh.maryl
·6 months agoSeveral features you mention in your 1st post made it sound like it's going to a freight forwarder.
Someone else explained how a freight forwarder works. That's what made us believe that it's going to a FF.
Freight forwarders in general are located in the US, which means you're shipping to an address in the US.
inhawaii
·6 months agoMy advice...
All sales involve some degree of risk.
There is no way to avoid it.
The more expensive the item, the more the risk.
The time to worry about risk is BEFORE you sell something, not after.
All that stuff you mentioned doesn't matter.
You listed it, you sold it, you should go through with the sale and ship it.
Don't worry about what MIGHT happen.
You shouldn't have to "investigate" each and every buyer for every item you sell.
They buy, they pay, you ship.
jimw1776
OP6 months agoHi. thx for response. Fyi, I don't investigate "each and every buyer for every item I sell". I wonder what made you say that. However, I have investigated some buyers if their offer is high and they have no f/b, or are 1st time buyers. But "each and every buyer"...no...lol Just wondering, though, do you check any buyer and what's your reason for doing so?. Thx again I love this board
inhawaii
·6 months agoCome on, who are you trying to fool? 😉
Of course you check them all. How else would you know which ones to check and which ones not to check?
To answer your question honestly, NO, I do not check my buyers addresses -or- their purchase history.
I don't know/care if they are 20 year ebay users or just signed up today.
They buy, they pay. I ship.
gurlcat
·6 months agoLOL they literally said which ones right in that passage.
adamcartwright
·6 months ago@inhawaii
I always check on high value sales.
But that's just me.
gurlcat
·6 months agoNOPE, not just you. 😉
And I would definitely call $1300 high value.
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoIt's a freight forwarder used by a lot of International buyers.
You ship there, then they ship to the buyers country.
As far as the buyer not having anything for sale or feedback as a seller, doesn't mean anything.