Am I being scammed?

[itrifles]

I offered an electronic device shipping only to U.S. and it has been purchased by someone in Azerbaijan - they wanted it shipped to a someone with a different name in Delaware that has a questionable address.  My first sale in 15 years or so - I'm not comfortable with this.  Can I cancel the sale?  Any advice?

[bearswatching]

You can cancel as problem with buyers address. Don’t let buyer intimidate you to sell to an address you are not comfortable with.

[fab_finds4u]

They're using a freight forwarder.  They can't claim not received if you have tracking showing delivered to the Delaware address. If they wanted to return you would only have to provide a return label from their Delaware address. 

[mtgraves7984]

Too soon to tell if you'll be scammed or not, but Delaware has legit freight forwarders. Here's to a successful sale!

[vintagecraze50]

They  may be an international buyer using a freight forewarding service in Delaware. If the shipping address comes up as legit on the ship to address from Ebay then it is probably legit. If they are asking you to change the address for them to a different one than what is showing on your ship to address, then it may be a scam. Never change an address on here unless the buyer changes it on their account with ebay.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@bearswatching wrote:

You can cancel as problem with buyers address. Don’t let buyer intimidate you to sell to an address you are not comfortable with.

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It's a U.S. address--probably a freight forwarder. There's no legitimate reason to use "problem with buyer's address" to cancel this transaction. To do so would be an abuse of the seller cancellation option.

From a post by an eBay employee in this thread:

Note the second sentence:

"The delivery address being that of a forwarding service would not be a valid reason to cancel the order in itself."

@itrifles 

To cancel this order based on a "problem with buyer's address," as suggested, would violate eBay's seller cancellation policies.

[fashunu4eeuh · Accepted solution]

They are using a freight forwarder. The order will be forwarded to the buyer by the reshipper. Overseas buyers use the forwarders to purchase items from US sellers who only ship domestically. So you ship it to the company in Delaware. From there, the reshipper will ship it to Azerbaijan. Your responsibility is to get the package to the address of record on the transaction. None of this is a red flag necessarily, as many buyers use such setvices.  Plus, you have a higher feedback number which makes you less of a target for scammers, who often prey on new sellers with high-priced electronics. 

If you cancel, be aware that it could earn you a defect on your account. Ebay frowns on seller-initiated cancellations. You would also be vulnerable for negative feedback. But you must weigh the risk as there is no way to avoid it. Online selling has inherent risks. Ideally, the time to address your risk tolerance is prior to listing. Once the sale is made, eBay expects you to ship. So trying to manage one's liability after the sale by canceling is problematic, due to the penalties levied on sellers by eBay. Cumulative defects can hurt your standing on eBay. Good luck to you whatever you decide.

[jscar59]

What no one has told you is that the seller could file a dispute with the credit card company

the used, you would be charged back by eBay and you are left with NO MONEY AND NO ITEM.

[itrifles]

This is exactly what I'm concerned about.  I guess there's no way to protect yourself from this.  Except - don't sell via ebay.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@jscar59 wrote:

What no one has told you is that the seller could file a dispute with the credit card company

the used, you would be charged back by eBay and you are left with NO MONEY AND NO ITEM.

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That is true of any transaction consummated on eBay. Any buyer can file a chargeback with their credit card issuer. There's certainly nothing about freight forwarders that makes chargebacks some kind of unique risk. It's a risk with any sale.