Buyer bought an item after messaging me several times offering to mail cash

[uzumakey]

I know I probably should have blocked them after getting the first message, but it's been a hectic couple of weeks. 

This person messaged me a week ago asking for a discount on an item with Best Offer enabled, then requested my address so they could mail me cash. Super shady, so I ignored them. Several days later they sent me an offer (albeit a very fair one), and again offered to pay me in cash via snail mail. I ignored again, they retracted the offer, and I thought all was well. 

The next day though, I see the same buyer who's been messaging me has purchased through Paypal. What's the likelihood of getting scammed here? Everything about this person screams "scammer" to me but they literally have tends of thousands of feedback and appear to be a big-time seller themselves. I can't even find feedback left for sellers because they sell such a high volume. 

I suppose it's too late at this point  to do anything but mail out but wondering what you guys' thoughts were on this.

[emerald40]

Just one more caveat.

Since this is so unusual for a buyer to send cash, get one of those pen thingies to make sure the cash is not counterfeit.

[loveyourimagination49]

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@emerald40 wrote:

Illegal on ebay.  Not elsewhere.

But definitely dumb as you often read about postal workers opening cards envelopes looking for cash.

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So, everyone that’s ever sent cash in the mail is dumb? Gotcha. 

[emerald40]

Show me one link that says sending cash through the mail to a stranger is a good idea.

I will show you many that says it is not.

[missjen831]

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@emerald40 wrote:

I have been here since 1999 and according to ebay rules, cash in the mail was never allowed.

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False. eBay allowed cash through the mail for years. Before electronic payments were a thing. And even after PayPal became a payment option, cash was still allowed here. 

[emerald40]

Again, from what I remember since 1999

under not allowed

was cash through the mail.

That is how I have always remembered it.

[missjen831]

I remember correctly.

In the 90's and early 2000s when ebay was nothing more than a simple platform, we were allowed to take cash. There really wasn't much of an accepted payments policy back then because there was no buyer protection. In those days, ebay never even knew how the buyer paid. It would have made no sense for them to prohibit cash. The buyer was never protected anyway.

[loveyourimagination49]

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@emerald40 wrote:

Show me one link that says sending cash through the mail to a stranger is a good idea.

I will show you many that says it is not.

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I don’t have a “link” but I know I’ve always received any cash that was sent. Sorry if you haven’t experienced the card with money falling out of it.

[robot-hands]

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@emerald40 wrote:

I have been here since 1999 and according to ebay rules, cash in the mail was never allowed.

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It's not a matter of allow or not allow. 

What you say is simply impossible unless ebay stations a person at each buyers residence and then slaps the money out of their hands every time a buyer tries putting it in an envelope.

Discourage...maybe, I mean it is straight up a terrible idea, but "not allow" isn't a thing they could do.

[a_c_green]

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@robot-hands wrote:

Discourage...maybe, I mean it is straight up a terrible idea, but "not allow" isn't a thing they could do.

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I'd put it this way: back in the day (I've been here since 2004), paying by check was allowed, and mailing cash is simply a less-secure version of mailing a check (or, a check is a more-secure version of mailing cash; take your pick). 

One of the reasons eBay transitioned toward making PayPal the required payment method for almost everything was that it gave them control over whether the seller's funds could be reclaimed if the sale went sideways and the buyer needed to be refunded. (I know, there's a whole lot more history to it than that, but I hope the basic point is clear.) With cash, check or money order in the mail, eBay doesn't have access to the funds. The FVF gets billed regardless.

[emerald40]

I still remember back then reading the ebay pages.  Money orders and checks were allowed.  

I believe cash and sending money by Western Union was not even in the early days.

As to the poster above you, there are many things you can do on ebay - both sellers and buyers - that are against ebay rules.  So of course a buyer can send cash if he wants.

That is not the point I was trying to make.

From what I remember reading the ebay pages, cash was never allowed under ebay's rules.

[missjen831]

Both cash and western union were allowed at one time. Again when eBay was merely a platform.