Am I being scammed?

[qcables7]

I am auctioning an item with a decent value. A potential buyer with extremely broken english messages me asking if I would accept a much higher price than I expected the item to sell for. After I say yes, he says he placed a maximum bid for the proposed price. Because there is still some time left in the auction and the current highest bid is way lower than his maximum bid, he says he thinks the best option would be to cancel the auction and relist the item for the proposed price. I do this and do have a confirmed payment from him. Everything seems to check out, except the broken English, the fact that it seems to good to be true, and that the shipping address provided seems to be an airport shipping company (I assume it's going to China given the information I've been provided). Before I ship the item, I just want to make sure this isn't a common scam. I will be careful to document everything and get all the necessary tracking info and insurance. Thanks

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, below are two screenshots to a Worthpoint page showing some similar patches and their values, for your perusal. Some go for nice sums. Your specific patch did not come up when i searched there for it. 

 

 

[7606dennis]

I always advise someone that is selling something at auction not to entertain offers once the auction is started.  I usually block anyone that makes an offer such as you describe.  If you set the reserve or starting bid at the minimum that you're willing to sell the item for, let the auction run its course.

[a_c_green]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

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@dogchow747 wrote:

"airport shipping company"

Freight forwarder is not a confirmed shipping address.

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So long as it is the address on the buyers order FF is an acceptable shipping address

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"Confirmed" addresses are not a relevant detail anymore. You need to show a tracking status of Delivered to the City and ZIP of the address received with the payment; that's all.

Signature Confirmation is not required on sales of less than $750, and does not provide any additional protection for the seller on sales below $750 beyond what the regular Delivery Confirmation provides for free.

[7606dennis]

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@qcables7 wrote:

I relisted the item as a regular (non auction) item on ebay, so I'm not going outside of the ebay system. He bought the item and I have pending funds in my ebay payments center. Anything else I should look for?

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Which is it?  Either you listed it as an item being sold at auction or a fixed price listing.  I have already given my advice regarding an item being offered at auction, but if the item is being offered at a fixed price and someone is offering more than the asking price I be very suspicious.  Such offers are usually scams.

[caldreamer]

Many scammers on EBAY.   Customer can get your item and then "reverse credit card" (keep the item and your money).    EBAY will NOT protect you if you get scammed.

If it seems too good to be true...its probably a scam.

[1grandmashope_1]

@qcables7 

Could be.

But what really gets me is that your making the connection to being scammed by someone with "broken english!"

That is not only despicable but just plain ugly. 

You need some lessons on humanity and kindness.

Some of the biggest crooks come dressed in suits and speak well. Conversely, some of the most honest and humble people speak with "broken english." 

Be better,

Grandma 

[7606dennis]

After looking at the items that you have listed and seeing that they are being being offered at auction and many already have bids placed on them, I want to caution you about accepting offers outside of the bidding process if an item has already received a bid.  In many states you could find yourself with legal issues for doing so depending upon the laws governing auctions in your state.  A bidder could easily file a complaint that you were not conducting the auction in good faith which could lead to problems.  I recommend that you check with your state's auction regulating authority regarding your state's laws.

Recently, eBay has relatively recently been adding the BO option to auctions.  However, if the item receives a bid, any offers made and on the table immediately become void and the option is deactivated.  

[a_c_green]

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@qcables7 wrote:

I relisted the item as a regular (non auction) item on ebay, so I'm not going outside of the ebay system. He bought the item and I have pending funds in my ebay payments center. Anything else I should look for?

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Which is it?  Either you listed it as an item being sold at auction or a fixed price listing.  I have already given my advice regarding an item being offered at auction, but if the item is being offered at a fixed price and someone is offering more than the asking price I be very suspicious.  Such offers are usually scams.

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If someone is offering more than the asking price of a Fixed Price listing (not an auction), then yes, that is a scam. There is no valid reason to offer more than the Fixed Price.

In this case, the OP agreed to an offer received in messaging for a currently-running auction (that had no actual Make Offer button, apparently), but then ended the auction and relisted as a Fixed Price at the offered amount, which the buyer then paid.

[7606dennis]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@qcables7 wrote:

I relisted the item as a regular (non auction) item on ebay, so I'm not going outside of the ebay system. He bought the item and I have pending funds in my ebay payments center. Anything else I should look for?

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Which is it?  Either you listed it as an item being sold at auction or a fixed price listing.  I have already given my advice regarding an item being offered at auction, but if the item is being offered at a fixed price and someone is offering more than the asking price I be very suspicious.  Such offers are usually scams.

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If someone is offering more than the asking price of a Fixed Price listing (not an auction), then yes, that is a scam. There is no valid reason to offer more than the Fixed Price.

In this case, the OP agreed to an offer received in messaging for a currently-running auction (that had no actual Make Offer button, apparently), but then ended the auction and relisted as a Fixed Price at the offered amount, which the buyer then paid.

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In that case, the OP could still possibly find themselves in a precarious position if the item had already received bids depending upon the seller's state's auction laws.  Many state's have laws governing the conducting of auction sales designed to protect the public.  While sellers may withdraw items from a sale prior to the fall of the hammer, except in the case of absolute auctions, it must be done correctly or the bidders may have grounds for a legitimate complaint.  Such complaints could be more costly than any profit made from the quick sale made from the offer.  This is especially true in states that highly regulate auctions and have strict licensing procedures. 

[yasadasan0]

ggod

[janet9988]

EBAY  will read the messages from your cancelled auction and charge for those selling final vale fees as well ( ebay considers it a penalty when you are contacted and cancel bids to end the listing early,. It does not matter that you relisted it ans sold it again.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-auctions/canceling-bid?id=4140&st=12&pos=1&query=...

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/ending-listing?id=4146&st=12&p...

[dnasilver]

Just because they can not write "broken english" does not mean they are from another country. There are many Americans who have "broken english".

Why operate out of eBay's system? That opens a door to a scam. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I would never cancel an auction that had bids on it unless the item was damaged or broken. It is unfair to those who did bid on the on the auction. I would have let the auction run it's course and he/she could have bid on the item just like everyone else. With regards to the shipping I use the eBay GSC for anything that ships internationally and there are several countries that I will not sell to China, Russia and the rest of the FSU countries. This buyers use of the freight forwarder is a loophole around that and I usually cancel those sales noting a problem with the buyers address. 

     While a lot of the freight forwarding companies are legitimate operations it introduces a level of risk that I am not willing to accept. If you proceed I wish you the best but you may want to take a good look at the eBay buyer MBG. 

[katzrul15]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     I would never cancel an auction that had bids on it unless the item was damaged or broken. It is unfair to those who did bid on the on the auction. I would have let the auction run it's course and he/she could have bid on the item just like everyone else. With regards to the shipping I use the eBay GSC for anything that ships internationally and there are several countries that I will not sell to China, Russia and the rest of the FSU countries. This buyers use of the freight forwarder is a loophole around that and I usually cancel those sales noting a problem with the buyers address. 

     While a lot of the freight forwarding companies are legitimate operations it introduces a level of risk that I am not willing to accept. If you proceed I wish you the best but you may want to take a good look at the eBay buyer MBG. 

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OP really has no choice now except to ship.  The time to question if it was a "scam" was when her Buyer first contacted her.

[qcables7]

Thanks 'grandma' for your concern, but what made me suspicious was actually that the offer seems to good to be true. I am going off of very limited information and shipping to a freight forwarder adds complications. And, guess what? Do some research. A lot of scammers are in fact foreign, that doesn't mean I have anything against decent people who don't speak English. A lot of times, US law enforcement won't pursue low level scammers outside of the country, so buyers and sellers are on their own. Thanks for your very helpful and useful comment.