Am I About to get Scammed?

[greatlifereserve]

I'm a new ebay seller, so far I have sold a few small items. Yesterday I decided to kick start my cash flow by listing a couple of more expensive items, a DSLR camera and a telephoto lens. I wake up this morning and the camera has 10 offers on it, most over asking price, and the highest almost $250 over. Seems exciting, however not a single one of the potential buyers have any feedback. Anyone else r uh n iij not this situation? How did you handle it, and what would you do differently next time?

Thanks!

[duncanvr]

Stick to selling less expensive items on here for now as your new. The offers of over $250 seems fishy with all new guests accounts, I'd block them. Take caution, build a strong level of positive feedback selling high volume on lower value stuff first. Some high value stuff like phones and cameras can be a target for scammers if your a new seller. 

[greatlifereserve]

Should read: "Anyone else run into this situation? " ...oops!

[tunicaslot]

OP - Duncan is spot on - until you have some sales under your belt and a lot more feedback - I would never list something that expensive hereat this time. Anyone who offers you more than you're asking is not legit. They wait for sellers like yourself to list a high value item and no good even comes from it for the seller.

Had you accepted an offer - 10:1 - you would have received a fake Paypal letter telling you that the item has been paid for and it's OK to ship. Being they know newer sellers don't verify the payment in their Paypal acct - you would have shipped the item and been out both the money and the camera - Ebay would not have your back.

[greatlifereserve]

So the best option would be to decline the offer and block the buyer?

[duncanvr]

When ever you get a payment always confirm the money is in PayPal. Watch for fake emails and messages. Being asked to ship to another address you'll loose seller protection. As a new seller I would not accept those offers and block them. I would remove the listing and list 10 other cheaper products instead. Try and build your store to 250 listed of stuff $60 or under. Remember if buyer opens a case on you, then you can loose the product and the money. And the point being that you can't recover the money. Its not as bad if you loose $25 but compared to loosing $250 that's terrible. I maintain about 200 listings, the bulk of these are not that expensive so it won't hurt as much if I get scammed. On the otherhand my feedback is over 11,000 so I am less likely to be targeted by a scammer. That is why I suggest you build your feedback to a much higher level before rushing in selling expensive items.

[southern*sweet*tea]

You aren't going to get paid if you accept any of those offers.

Why would someone offer MORE than the asking price? Because they're not actually going to pay for it, that's why. They're going to steal your stuff.

If you accept one of those offers, there is a 99.99999999% chance that you will get a very real looking fake Paypal payment email. Scammers do this in hopes that the seller is too naive to actually log in to their Paypal account and check for payment. This scam is very prevalent because it works quite well - many sellers both new and experienced have been scammed by it because they do not check their Paypal account to verify payments.

If this happens to you, neither Ebay nor Paypal can help because no payment actually takes place. Your only recourse is through law enforcement, and the chances of ever getting your  money back are slim to none, because most of these scammers are halfway around the globe.

BLOCK the IDs that make these offers  https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

Do NOT respond.

File unpaid item disputes in 48 hours, and close them out 96 hours later if you actually accepted an offer.

[snowic_49]

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@greatlifereserve wrote:
So the best option would be to decline the offer and block the buyer?

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and remove anything you can't afford to lose

[eleanor*rigby]

Only problem with removing the listing(s) is that now eBay will see the offers and the fact that the listing is gone. They'll then accuse the seller of consummating the transaction off eBay and will charge them the FVF for a sale that didn't even happen.

The now infamous Catch 22.

[a_c_green]

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@greatlifereserve wrote: 
So the best option would be to decline the offer and block the buyer?

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The best option, other than not listing high-scam high-value items here in the first place, would be to list the item as a BuyItNow for the desired price, with no Make Offer option (if you are able to stop eBay from adding that automatically) and with the Immediate Payment Required checkbox option selected when uploading the listing. (Look on the full Sell Your Item form to find it; I don't think the express form offers it there.)

With IPR in place, no one can snatch your item off the market without actually paying you for it first. Then you can move on to the risk of an empty-box or shipping-damage claim when the item is delivered. 

For those items you mentioned, and your need to jump-start your cash flow, I would suggest selling them locally for cash.

[a_c_green]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:
Only problem with removing the listing(s) is that now eBay will see the offers and the fact that the listing is gone. They'll then accuse the seller of consummating the transaction off eBay and will charge them the FVF for a sale that didn't even happen.

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There is that risk, yes, but what if the item is immediately relisted under different terms? (i.e. BIN/IPR)

[eleanor*rigby]

Worth a shot!

[gracieallen01]

What about just declining all offers, blocking those bidders, letting the item run it's course, and not relisting it?   If it gets a 'buyer', handle that event, when it comes.