Am I being scammed?

[ladra-87]

I just had a buyer send through and offer for my add but in their profile it said to “check bio”

And their bio said they would like pictures for comparison to the add and to ask more questions. But through their email. And because I am new to this I didn’t know you could message through the eBay app itself and sent an email to them with pictures.

If it is a scam, what can I do to protect my email? I feel really stupid if this is the case 

[mam98031]

I have no idea what this "check bio" thing is.  Or why you would be interested in their "bio".

If the buyer sent you an email asking for more pics, if you are willing to do that, then there is no problem.  But if you have more pics of the item you are selling and you don't have them in the listing, just update your listing and then tell the potential buyer that you revised the listing.

To be a "scam", you would have to be out money, product or both.  It does not appear that is happening here, as far as I can tell from your post, the buyer just wants more pics.

[itscalledapostingid]

There is a common scam where they put that message with an email address in their profile...

Now that you have given out your email address you need to be SUPER CAREFUL to avoid any phishing emails and scam attempts coming to your email.

The scammer will probably send you a fake payment confirmation email trying to trick you into shipping without being paid or trick you into clicking some malicious link.

The person most likely won't pay so after 4 days you cancel the order using the reason "buyer didn't pay."

[adamcartwright]

@ladra-87

You made the mistake of communicating with a buyer outside of ebay messaging.

Ebay rules prohibit you from exchanging email addresses with another member.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/membertomember-contact-policy?id=4262&st...

You've already violated ebay policy yourself, by emailing this person.  What I would do now is add this account to your blocked buyer list. If you receive a reply email from the person, just delete it.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

Before you list anything further, you should also spend some time learning ebay rules and policies, so you don't make another mistake which could jeopardize your account.

[chapeau-noir]

You sell, they buy. Beyond answering questions via eBay messaging, that's it.

When I was new on Poshmark I had all kinds of people posting on my items (it's social media selling so public posts are made) with their email wanting this and that. After I had some experience, it stopped.

You sell, they buy. That's it.

[reallynicestamps]

If you are an optimist, at one time we could not send pictures through Messages, so that was one way of getting more pics.

If you are a pessimist, they want to get your email address.

My response would be: "Thank you for your interest. I have attached the pictures you requested to this Message and also to the listing itself."

If one customer wants more pictures, so do others.

[ladra-87]

Thankyou, I appreciate the help. I’ll definitely be more careful in the future and now that I know there is an option to message via the eBay app that will be the only way forward

[kensgiftshop]

Yes, it's a scam.

They want your email address so they can send you a fake email saying you've been paid, hoping you'll ship before you find out it's fake.

You can add the member to your blocked buyers list here
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

[vintagecraze50]

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@ladra-87 wrote:

I just had a buyer send through and offer for my add but in their profile it said to “check bio”

And their bio said they would like pictures for comparison to the add and to ask more questions. But through their email. And because I am new to this I didn’t know you could message through the eBay app itself and sent an email to them with pictures.

If it is a scam, what can I do to protect my email? I feel really stupid if this is the case 

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As long as your communication and the buyers communication id being done exclusively through ebay messaging system it is probably not a scam. However, you should never ever respond to a buyer trying to contact you through ANY messaging system outside of ebay. Those buyers are scammers trying to get you to sell off ebay and you have NO protection. Never ever do a transaction outside of ebay.

[toysaver]

Any legitime sale will appear in your seller hub.  Most sales go through without a question needing to be asked.  Never go by anything in your outside email account.  New sellers will be targeted. 

Trust your gut, sounds like you did for coming here.

[mam98031]

It is a potential scam.  The OP is not out money or product at this point and is now aware that this is an issue to have communications outside of Ebay.