Buyer wants to buy my item listed on ebay as a local pickup but does not live near me?

[dietsoap]

Basically a buyer from the bay area says hes interested  in my funko pop bundle listing and asked where i live to meetup locally to save me from paying fees? I tell him i can not meet with him because i do not live in his state. I found it kind of suspicious that he asked where i live because it shows in my listing where its being shipped from.  He then goes on to say that hes thinking of letting his family member here where i live pick it up locally for him. Basically he wants me to change it to a local pick up and have his family member pick it up for him instead of just paying shipping to have it shipped on to the bay area where he lives. Is this some kind of scam or am i just paranoid. Im fairly a newer seller so ive never experienced this before. What are yall thoughts about it

[qatara · Accepted solution]

Don't do it. Reeks of a scam to me. Scammers love to take advantage of new sellers.  Best thing to do is put the buyer on blocked bidder/buyer list.

[slippinjimmy]

Just tell them that you do not do Local Pickup.

I doubt this is any type of scam but rather just a buyer trying to save on shipping.

Asking where you are located is a reasonable question, I do offer local pickup and get this question from time to time,  sometimes a buyer will respond that it's too far away so they will pay the shipping instead of picking up.

[tinsoldierunderground]

Since your listings show shipped from Hawaii, and he's in the SF bay area, wanting to meet up with you is an asinine idea  on his part.   Then wanting a relative to pick it up locally?  DO as qatara says: BLOCK!

[refdef]

Yeah, no.  Not a chance that I would do such a thing.  I've done one local pick up, but I met the buyer at a restaurant and I had friends with me.  Don't even consider honoring this scammer's request.

If nobody else has told you, when you are a new seller, you will get scam attempts frequently.  I had plenty and I used this board several times to ask for advice.  You did the right thing by trusting your gut reaction and posting here.  If it feels wrong to you, it probably is.

Send DataSend Data

[davidstarcher]

  I routinely have people asking for local pickup sometimes by themselves, family member, or even an employee from the local branch of a larger company and have never had a problem.  What's important is that you can prove it was picked up.

Proof of pickup is required to protect you against item not received cases. 

For proof of pickup you can:

• use the eBay app to scan the QR code the buyer received through email
• use the eBay app to manually enter the 6-digit code the buyer received through email

To scan the QR code:

1. Go to Selling on the eBay App.
2. Go to the Sold tab.
3. Select the Arrange Pickup banner.
4. Tap the Scan to confirm pickup button.

If the buyer doesn't have the QR code available, ask them for the 6-digit code they received through email and manually enter it in the app.

[inhawaii]

This is an easy one.

If you don't want local pick up, don't offer local pick up.

If the potential buyer asks for local pick up, tell him NO.

My work here is done.   😉