eBay

alecrosswel_0 · ‎02-22-2021

I just sold an item today at auction for a fairly large fee. All I’ll say is it’s well over £100. Anyways, I’m feeling a bit suspicious about the buyer.

First he sent me a message asking for the cost of 24 hour postage so that he can receive the item for a specific date (of course he hasn’t paid yet).

Also in the message, he asks me to send to an address different from the one attached to his profile. I have screenshotted pictures of his eBay address and asked him to confirm the address (which I then took a pic of too). I have also sent a message saying I will not send the package unless his PayPal address matches the shipping address.

Finally, I go through his feedback (buyer feedback only as there is no seller feedback) and whilst it is all positive, I noticed that some of the feedback remarks are exactly the same from different sellers. What I mean is, the feedback is word for word/caps/punctuation exactly identical from a few different sellers he’s dealt with.

im seriously thinking of cancelling cause this looks shady to me.

coastaltechsolution · ‎02-22-2021

Somehow you reached the USA Boards

You might want to ask in the UK Boards

pkaszuba10 · ‎02-22-2021

DO NOT SHIP TO A DIFFERENT ADDRESS ! Unless he gets the address verified, do not do this. It's against Ebay policy to ask to ship to a different address anyway.

mr_lincoln · ‎02-22-2021

@alecrosswel_0 You have some options ... ignore the messages and wait 2 days to file the Unpaid item claim, Buyer will not pay and 4 days later you can award that account with an Unpaid item strike and Relist.

Cancel using the reason Problem with address.

In both cases add the Buyer to your Blocked Buyer list.

Yep, that would be a scam ...

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

mtgraves7984 · ‎02-22-2021

If your ~~buyer~~ has messaged to ship to another address, I'd cancel the order as a 'Problem with buyer's address'.

The time for a buyer to request that is before checking out. Good luck.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎02-22-2021

Identical feedback from different sellers isn't surprising. eBay actually has canned feedback that sellers can post automatically, there are only about 5 or 6 comments that are rotated through.

The address that you should ship to is whatever address is attached to the payment when the buyer pays. Right on the payment page there is a link where the buyer can change the name and/or address that the package is shipped to. This is not scammy. I use this option all the time to send gifts. There is no need for the shipping address to match his primary eBay or PayPal address. You ship to the address that shows in the payment record.

If you are willing and able to accommodate the buyers request for fast shipping, then go to the carrier's shipping calculator and figure out what it would cost to ship to his preferred address. Otherwise, clearly explain to the buyer that you cannot do this, and ask him if he wants to cancel the transaction.

BTW, this is the discussion board for eBay users in the US, so you might get better information if you post on the UK boards.

https://community.ebay.co.uk

pburn · ‎02-22-2021

@alecrosswel_0

Since you are a UK member, you will want to check the UK discussion boards to make sure procedures for ebay.co.uk are the same as they are for ebay.com; for example, I see several of your statements would be "in conflict" with ebay.com policies and procedures, but I don't know whether those policies are different from ebay.co.uk.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Discussion-Boards/ct-p/13

nobody*s_perfect · ‎02-22-2021

@mtgraves7984 wrote:
If your ~~buyer~~ has messaged to ship to another address, I'd cancel the order as a 'Problem with buyer's address'.
The time for a buyer to request that is before checking out. Good luck.

But the buyer hasn't paid yet.

pburn · ‎02-22-2021

@pkaszuba10 wrote:
DO NOT SHIP TO A DIFFERENT ADDRESS ! Unless he gets the address verified, do not do this. It's against Ebay policy to ask to ship to a different address anyway.

Not quite an accurate representation of ebay.com policies and procedures.

Sellers are obligated to mail items to whatever address a buyer uses as the "ship to" address through eBay's checkout process. There is no "verification" process for a "ship to" address.

ittybitnot · ‎02-22-2021

Also in the message, he asks me to send to an address different from the one attached to his profile.

First, make sure the person asking for the address change is actually your winning bidder/buyer. There are some unscrupulous users that will ask for this in ebay messages and they don't even have the same ID to which you sold the item. It doesn't matter what site (UK, US, etc.) you use. ONLY ship to the address given with the payment.

IF the buyer ID and the "messenger" don't match and you 'cancel' the sale the real buyer will wonder what is going on.

Buyers are not supposed to request additional services or items post sale, though there is likely nothing happening to them if they do. Wanting "overnight" shipping is often an additional red flag.

pburn · ‎02-22-2021

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
But the buyer hasn't paid yet.

The OP stated "im seriously thinking of cancelling cause this looks shady to me."

How does a seller cancel if there's been no payment?

That's one of the reasons the OP should be posting this on the ebay.co.uk discussion boards. Maybe British English uses difference terminology than American English--you know, like "pram" and "lift" and "boot" and "bonnet" and "windscreen" and "pavement."

And "cancel," maybe?

nobody*s_perfect · ‎02-22-2021

The OP said, "(of course he hasn’t paid yet)".

Sellers in the US often get requests from buyers to cancel transactions that haven't been paid yet. It's actually easier (and cheaper) to cancel if the buyer hasn't paid. On this discussion board, we often get queries about whether a seller should file an unpaid item claim or cancel the transaction; both are options when a buyer hasn't paid.