Please advice [pay for the item on eBay]. Is it can be a scam?

[rustel9502]

I won an auction.
The seller is from Germany, I'm from Portugal.

When I made my first bid I saw the message, that delivery in Portugal is not granted.
I wrote to the seller and asked about the possibility of delivery in Portugal.
He confirmed that it is possible, so I made a bid and finally win the lot.
When I tried to pay for the lot, eBay said to me that it was not a possibility so I should ask for a "Total Payment Request" (something like that in the seller).
I made that request and the seller answer me with the following:

"Please send 443,- EURO (inkl. shipping) via paypal «as friend» (to save fees) to xxx@yyy.zzz

Or make a EU transfer to
FirstName SecondName
DE00 0000 0000 0000 0000 00

I will be back in my hometown tomorrow and prepare the package for you to send — No Problem!
"

If anybody understands how it should be, could you please advise is it a scam or not?
I doubt it because if I understand correctly if I send money via PayPal «as friend» I do not have any guarantee that the seller send me my winning lot?

And I always think that eBay should be a third party that guaranty that?

Correct me if I'm wrong, and advise how we can make a safe deal?

BTW I checked the information about the seller, and he has only 2 positives for the last 12 months, and 215 for all time.

Thanks.

[transamcc]

Good luck. You are completely on your own and Ebay will not guarantee anything, as well as direct paypal send is violation of ebay policy.

[rustel9502]

Thank you for the answer!

I do not want to violate any eBay rules, therefore I ask about that here.

Let me clarify one moment if I ignore this win (because I want to violate any rules), is the seller can punish me?

And if yes, how I can protect himself?

For example, if it happens, can I show a message from the seller as evidence to avoid any penalty?

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

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@rustel9502 wrote:

Thank you for the answer!

I do not want to violate any eBay rules, therefore I ask about that here.

Let me clarify one moment if I ignore this win (because I want to violate any rules), is the seller can punish me?

And if yes, how I can protect himself?

For example, if it happens, can I show a message from the seller as evidence to avoid any penalty?

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Not only is this a violation of policy on Ebay, it is on PayPal too.  Your seller asked you to send them the money via Friends and Family in PayPal to avoid fees.  That is a breach of the PP rules too and it would leave you with ZERO protection, so it is likely that your seller was trying to steal your money.

You should seriously consider reporting this seller.  That type of seller is NOT what we want on Ebay.

Online Customer Service - Report an issue with a seller (ebay.com)

As for your current issue.  On day 5 if your seller is not paid, they could file a Cancellation for non payment  an get it.  Nothing to worry about really, you could easily contact Ebay and they would likely remove the strike from your account due to the circumstances.

Also something you could try now is sending the seller and email and request a cancellation.  Just tell them you are unable to pay them through Ebay and have the item shipped to your address, so please cancel our transaction.

They could opt to do that if you ask them and that doesn't hurt you or the seller in any way.  You would get an email from Ebay notifying you of the cancellation, and it states in the email what the reason for the cancellation is.  So you would know all is taken care of and you can take this off your list of things to be worried about.

[rustel9502]

Thank you for the full explanation!

Of course, I will cancel this order.

In the future, If I understand correctly I should make a bid only on lots that have "Free International Shipping" or on the lots that can be delivered in Portugal?
There no exist any way to make a safe deal via eBay if the lot can't be delivered in the country?

[mam98031]

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@rustel9502 wrote:

Thank you for the full explanation!

Of course, I will cancel this order.

In the future, If I understand correctly I should make a bid only on lots that have "Free International Shipping" or on the lots that can be delivered in Portugal?
There no exist any way to make a safe deal via eBay if the lot can't be delivered in the country?

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That is the safe way to go for sure.  But know if you ever run into a problem again, you are welcome to come back here and let us know so we can try to help you.  

I wish you nothing but the very best.