Buyers are listing a US address with accounts registered in other countries

[samklus_0]

Hey!

I haven't seen a forum post that addresses this directly yet so I thought I would ask. I'm a newer seller, so I can't hit "instant payment" (I think? I can't seem to find it.)

I have the normal protections set up, like I don't accept payments in non USD in PayPal, only people with US addresses can submit offers, and I don't do transactions outside of eBay.

I've gotten 3-4 offers within the first hours to a day of listing and every single account has a low review count and their stated shipping address doesn't match the country their account is registered in. I'm a little leary because I've already had 2 people send me direct messages asking to do payments outside of eBay and that just seems a little scammy to me. 

So, what's the verdict? Do I trust the buyers? Do I wait for a North American account with a North American shipping address?

Any insight is appreciated!

[coastaltechsolution · Accepted solution]

Scammers target new sellers but the good thing is you are aware of the scams so continue to build up your selling profile while you keep your guard up for these scammers.  

[samklus_0]

Okay! So I should decline the weird offers that have been coming in?

[bonjourami]

You cant use the immediate payment required option because you have best offer on your listing..it has to be a fixed price listing...it weeds out a lot of scammers. Those 'weird offers' are probably buyers who are using a freight forwarder to their country.

[samklus_0]

Where can I un-tick the "best offer" option? Below is an image of my current options

[bonjourami]

You cant untick it..you will have to end the listing and relist it as fixed price. You are a scam magnet as a newbie seller with such an expensive item listed..be very careful.

[azh-71]

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@samklus_0 wrote:

Okay! So I should decline the weird offers that have been coming in?

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For  $2600 Canon DSLR?   Most certainly.

[samklus_0]

Thank you!

[samklus_0]

Thank you so much!

To anyone wondering this help article helped me switch over to advanced tools and you need to be in the advanced tools section to turn off the "or best offer" option.  

Thank you for your help, I've relisted and revised my listing using the advanced seller tools!

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@bonjourami wrote:

You cant use the immediate payment required option because you have best offer on your listing..it has to be a fixed price listing...it weeds out a lot of scammers. Those 'weird offers' are probably buyers who are using a freight forwarder to their country.

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The "Immediate payment required" option CAN be checked off even if you have checked off the Best Offer option. But the IPR requirement doesn't apply to accepted offers; it's activated only if somebody is willing to click on the full BIN price.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Many buyers who are registered overseas use US-based forwarding services so they can purchase from sellers who only ship to the US.  There is nothing underhanded about this, and most of these type of transactions are completed smoothly.

Requests for direct communication are shady, regardless of where the potential buyer is located.

[bonjourami]

Good for you op, that you took all the good advice you got in here..many newbies dont.

[hvytoys2000]

those are the rip off's after you.  don't do anything more than report them to ebay and hopefully they would do something about it and wipe those accounts before they do get someone to do that and rip them off.  too many of these get away with it for too long.  have cost me literally thousands of dollars by taking my item and stripping it and returning it and then howling when i say i'm not refunding them their whole amount or something of that sort.  how brave they are when they aren't standing in front of someone and they can hide behind their lies and vindictive feedback threats and be defended by ebay...  it's sickening and ruining this whole industry.

[dw_finds]

I'm in similar boat but been selling awhile. Think part of it is just switching to free shipping but my listing say us only and I do not have international selected but I had a buyer today and when I went to print the label it was going to be $21 to this foreign island.  Really odd, unless they are registered with another us address I don't see how I can prevent this other than canceling and using wrong address as issue. 

[tifthav_0]

What if you do live in the US but the seller said your address is registered in another country (Chile).  Does that mean someone hack into the account?