Buyer wants me to contact them thru email before they purchase

[artd-8723]

Buyer selected 2 of my items so I found out how to send them an invoice to give them a discount on the shipping fees. I  sent it & now the buyer messaged me to email them with a question before they send payment . eBay tells me not to respond. Why?? 

[toysaver]

They're trying to get your email address to send you a fake payment notice.   Every listing has a link to ask the seller a question so no need to use outside emails.  

[evry1nositswindy]

Never communicate outside of eBay messages.  Besides being against the rules, it is also dangerous.  You risk falling for a fake payment notice and  shipping your item without being paid.  I just read a thread this week about someone doing this and they lost a very expensive this way.

Come here if you have questions about what to do if this buyer doesn't pay.

[inhawaii]

Buyer messaged you to ask you a question via email? Why not just ask the question via the message?

[toysaver]

answer of the year

[luckythewinner]

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@artd-8723 wrote:

Buyer selected 2 of my items so I found out how to send them an invoice to give them a discount on the shipping fees. I  sent it & now the buyer messaged me to email them with a question before they send payment . eBay tells me not to respond. Why?? 

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The buyer messaged you with a question, asking you for an email so they could email you a question. 

You realize that this is convoluted and violates eBay policy and makes absolutely no sense, right? 

When a buyer does something that is convoluted and violates eBay policy and makes absolutely no sense, that is a huge red flag. 

[murph1727]

Keep all messages within ebay and if they don't pay in 4 days you can cancel the transaction because "buyer did not pay" and then put the buyer on your blocked buyer list.  

[byrd69er]

Why?

You'll be soooooooorry.

Run that way, toward the light.

[ckimodog]

@artd-8723 

You're a new seller.  Ebay is telling you not to respond because no doubt this person will try to scam you out of the item you sold them.  If they ask you for your Paypal account number or tell you they can't pay you thru Ebay because they're new...it's a scam attempt.  Correspond ONLY thru the Ebay platform. 

Make sure you block this person as well. 

[evry1nositswindy]

@inhawaii 

KISS right?!

[southern*sweet*tea]

@artd-8723 

Scammers will try to get you to take the sale off of eBay, or get your personal information so they can send you a fake payment email, hoping you are too new and naive to verify that you have actually been paid. No LEGITIMATE buyer needs that information.

Here are some red flags to watch out for.

1. Buyer asks for your email address, Paypal address
2. Buyer sends you a phone number to text/call him/her
3. Buyer asks you to buy gift cards to go with the order
4. Buyer asks you to send the item to a different address after paying
5. Buyer wants you to send the item overnight/express and will pay you a lot extra to do this
6. Buyers says that they cannot pay through the eBay website and sends you a link to click on so that the payment will go through
7. Buyer offers more for your item than the price you have it listed for

If ANY of the above happen, do not contact the buyer or respond to any messages from them. Block them here: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock This will prevent them from buying from you.

If they actually purchased, after four full days do an unpaid item cancellation. You can do that here: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/cancelling-transaction?id=4136 Once you do that you can relist. The non-payment cancel option will appear after 96 hours + one minute after the sale exactly.

Also, if they purchased by buy it now, if you accepted an offer or if they won an auction, report the buyer: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084 Use the reason "asking to complete a sale off eBay".

I hope this helps.

[chapeau-noir]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Buyer messaged you to ask you a question via email? Why not just ask the question via the message?

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That legit boils it down.  Why do they have to chat by email/text when they can just do it on-site?  There's no answer to that which is a good answer.