Help, please--newbie getting trolled by fake orders!

[christinetata]

I'm a new seller trying to do the right thing and somehow attracting scammers right away! I've listed a relatively high priced item and twice got bogus "orders" where they immediately ask me to text them outside of eBay, want to pay via PayPal but not through eBay, etc.

The first time the guy strung me along (newbie, remember?) for a week, until I opened a case, reported the buyer, etc.

I relisted the item, got another "order" immediately--same thing happened. He wants me to text him details, etc. I said no; sorry; invoice is coming via eBay only, but I'll be happy to answer any questions that way and ship once it's paid. No further word.

Given this is the second time I've seen this pattern--can I just flat out cancel the order after 48 hours of non-payment instead of opening a case and waiting another four days after that? I am morally certain I will not hear from this person again, nor will the invoice be paid.

Thanks for any help.

[loveyourimagination49]

If you want defects on your account which would get you banned and don’t want your fvf’s back, you can. Of course I wouldn’t advise that nor list something I can’t afford to lose.
Sorry you’re having to deal with this. Wish I had better news.

[goodluckselling]

Continue to report the buyers and continue to open the unpaid item disputes.  I would not cancel the orders because that create other issues.  Go through the entire process.

 Sell it as a fixed price listing with instant payment required.  This will take care of the main problem you are speaking of.

The item will remain available to all buyers until the first one pays for the item.  Buyers adding it to a cart does not remove it from view to other potential buyers when you use instant payment required.

Good Luck Selling!

[bonjourami]

Scammers look for newbies selling pricey items..they think you are easy pickins'..you are much off better selling with fixed price and immediate payment required..it cuts way down on scammers..and your listing wont close until you get paid.As the above poster noted, dont ever cancel a transaction, you will get a major defect, and probably permanently suspended,since you are so new to selling with no selling history. Good luck.

[castlemagicmemories]

Congratulations for being astute enough to detect scammers even though you are new!

Scammers rely on newbies not knowing or realizing proper procedure and hope they will make mistakes that will be to the scammer's advantage.

Keep communication on Ebay.  Use Immediate Payment required on fixed price, BIN listings as goodluckselling and bonjourami say.  Always open and close unpaid item cases, so you get your fees back and give the buyer a strike.  Have your settings set so those with two strikes or more in a year get blocked.

Do not fall for fake Paypal or Ebay messages saying you have been paid or will be paid when you ship.  Always check your Paypal account balance to see if payment is really there and ship when Paypal says it is ok to ship.

Wishing you success with your selling ventures.

[femmefan1946]

If you know what you want to get for your high value item, list it at Fixed Price (not auction) and with Immediate Payment Required.

The listing will stay active for a month or until someone really does pay for it.

Confirm the payment  ONLY by looking at your Paypal account.

You've already learned to ignore attempts to take the transaction off eBay.

Good- you're ahead of a lot of newbies there.

PP will have a Hold on your (real) customer's (confirmed) payment, because you are new and not yet proven trustworthy. This is a Buyer Protection and nothing personal.

You can still use the cleared payment to purchase a shipping label through Paypal even while the Hold is in place.

It's a good idea to do some buying and build feedback before trying to sell high value merchandise.

I hope you are not selling internationally. Don't even try that until you have at least 10 DSRs, know what a DSR is, and know why they are unimportant.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Well this one really threw me - I was expecting a cell phone, computer or some sort of collectible video game, but it's a book!  This is the first time I've seen a book scammer, and I'm sure it's a scumbucket reseller trying to snag their inventory for free.

I hope they choke on their flyleaf.

[orangehound]

---

@christinetata wrote:

I'm a new seller trying to do the right thing and somehow attracting scammers right away! 

---

I think your title is correct.  That is, you are getting trolled by someone ... not an attempted scam.  By the way, several copies of that book may  be available on other sites at well under your listing price.  One as low as $25.

The value of something is not what people are listing it for, but what people sold it for.

[coffeebean832]

Add the IDs to your blocked list @christinetata.

https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin

Did both purchases come with the same shipping address on the order?

[fashunu4eeuh]

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

"...Do not fall for fake Paypal or Ebay messages saying you have been paid or will be paid when you ship.  Always check your Paypal account balance to see if payment is really there and ship when Paypal says it is ok to ship..."

@christinetata You have rec'd some very good advice. Wanted to take the above statement a step further. Never click on a link in a PayPal or eBay email. Go straight to PP in your browser to check to see if funds are present. The fake emails can be very convincing in appearance. So no clicking on links!

[asaiw_0]

Is it the book where you're taking Best Offers?

If so you can glean the price you should set for Buy It Now - Immediate Payment Required from the two failed transactions, if that makes any sense.

[joesoucie22012]

I have been scammed a few times over the years on books. I only sell books and it is uncommon to get scammed but it does happen. One was a charge back on a $19.00 book. It turned out that they were buying books for there bookstore and making all charge backs to everyone they bought from, ( I think.) They lived about 35 miles away so I sued them in small claims court and I won! Another one was a woman who within 30 seconds of her order marked as shipped with tracking, ( on about $250.00 worth of books,) cancled her order claiming it was a mistake. I did a package intercept on her a boy she was mad.  Then there's was a switcheroo. Buyer returned a different book. But that site sided with me and would not refund them. ( A $300.00 book.) There are a few others but not many. 

[impalajohnny]

Why jump right into the deep end of the pool? Sell some inexpensive low fraud stuff no one wants to scam while you build up some feedback and street smarts.

Meanwhile buy some fun cheap stuff to boost your feedback a little. I recently bought a bunch of gold engagement rings from China for 99 cents each and I've been proposing to girls on the street. I got one yes but forgot it was pride weekend and that was a bit awkward.

[oven2table · Accepted solution]

I’ve been selling on EBay for 15 years and, despite all efforts, continue to get orders that are not legitimate. We look carefully at feedback rating, etc. but the best test for us is to Google the address. Had an order today for a high dollar item. The house was an old run-down place in a less than appropriate neighborhood. The only option is to cancel under the reason “problem with the delivery address”. EBay don’t make it easy to report suspicious transactions.

[christinetata]

Thanks for your reply. These appeared to be two different scam artists... Just my luck!