Extremely suspicious request to reship or refund an item 4 months after it was sold

[jdf-161]

So I was contacted this morning through e-bay messages by someone I sold an item to 4 months ago. Specifically, on Dec 23. I hadn't heard anything from this person until now, they didn't even leave any feedback. But the real red flag was the message itself:

"hi mister , sorry for late contact : the carrier who have to send me the avs still don’t want to do that and left me only the choice to return you back the stuff . Can you eventually refund me or send me to another adress ? I can pay you
Thanks by advance and have a nice day"

The English is so bad it's basically a meme. Now, the carrier I sent it through was USPS, and the tracking number shows it delivered on Dec 26. But it was an item you had to sign for, and this is what the tracking history said (I redacted the specific address):

December 26, 2020, 4:52 pm
Delivered
HAWTHORNE, CA 90250 
Your item was delivered at 4:52 pm on December 26, 2020 in HAWTHORNE, CA 90250 to [ [[[[[ ]]]]]] ]. The item was signed for by C COVID.

This obviously has "scam" written all over it, but I'm trying to understand how this scam is supposed to work. Hope I'm dumb enough to send them the money before I get the item back?

But what REALLY concerns me is what I sold them. It was body armor. Steel plates with a Crye AVS plate carrier. And it's not only illegal to ship body armor to someone outside the country, but it's even illegal to ship it to one state (I think it's Connecticut, I can't remember).

When I click on this persons account, they have no negative feedback and 47 positive feedbacks as a buyer, including my own, going back over a year, and they've had this account since Dec-21-17 ... in BELGIUM.

So now I'm thinking this isn't a typical scam, but rather this person in Belgium purchased this item, had me ship it to someone in California who in turn would get it to them, but this person in California got cold feet, realized how screwed they would be if they got caught shipping body armor overseas, and said "I want nothing to do with this, I'm mailing it back." And maybe this guy in Belgium is hoping I give him a refund 4 months after the fact (the sale isn't even listed on my account anymore so I'd have to give them a refund outside of e-bay), or get me to ship it to someone else he hopes won't get cold feet.

I'm not even considering a refund or reshipping. If it gets mailed back to me, it's mine. There was a 30 day window for them to get me involved and that has long since passed. What I'm wondering is whether or not I should contact a Federal agency over this.

[ittybitnot · Accepted solution]

HAWTHORNE, CA 90250 

@jdf-161 

If I am not mistaken that is an address for a freight forwarder. You need to check.   You show delivery to that address (supplied to you by eBay) the buyer has no recourse to file an INR (item not received) claim so long as the information is still available online.  I would take a screenshot NOW. 

Depending on the payment source used, your buyer can file a dispute way past the dates given by eBay for a claim, i.e. PayPal is 180 days.   

So far, they are just messaging you, and have not filed any sort of dispute.  You could respond with the delivery information, and let them know that their issue is with the forwarding service. 

As far as informing the Feds???  As of now, this is not your problem.   

In general, many buyers may use re-shipper services to bypass export/import requirements.  Who will be liable is unknown. eBay's present stance is that "just because a re-shipper address is used, does not mean the product is exported."   Don't know how long that will hold up in the future. 

[nocoolnamejane]

It's probably less nefarious than you think.

Your buyer is using a reshipper, which is a very common occurrence for buyers outside of the US.

What they are telling you is probably true; they made the purchase, might not have known it was prohibited to ship the item outside of the US, but, being in the shipping business, the reshipper did know and is refusing to ship the item to the buyer.

Sounds like the reshipper told the buyer their only option was to have the package returned to the sender (you) and they are asking you to either refund them once you get the package back or to ship to another address (after they've sent you more money for shipping again).

I would suggest you tell them that you will refund if and once the item makes it back to you undamaged (personally I wouldn't feel good about having both the item and the payment, and since the window for eBay to intervene has passed, you are free to refund minus your fees and mailing costs) but that you cannot mail again to any address because the item is prohibited from being exported outside the country.

[auto_manuals_and_more]

I'd absolutely ignore it unless you get an actual case through PP or MP (whichever you are on).

The PP window for a dispute is 180 days, and if the buyer used a CC or PP via MP, they can dispute it through the window available via their payment provider. You should be 100% covered as it shows delivered. My guess is that the postal carrier "signed" for it - thus the COVID signature.

Now - the fed agency thing - I wouldn't contact them. There very well may be specifics for how and where it can be sold & shipped, and contacting them may cause you more trouble than you want. I sent something out that I had no idea would fall under any regulations and that resulted in a meeting with the ATF and a formal letter of warning.

[jdf-161]

Thanks for the responses. I didn't know re-shippers was a thing. That's really, really, really, really annoying since I marked it for sale in the US only and said repeatedly that I wouldn't ship the item outside of those 49 allowed states. I guess I assumed the listing wouldn't be visible for anyone outside of the US.