Help to identify possible scam

[aztecahomer_19]

Hello everybody I am new to eBay selling it's my first time post in on this forum pencil I had two items selling the next day somebody offered me a reasonable offer that I couldn't reject she sent me a couple messages through eBay but then she asked me to send her an email to her personal email basically out of EBay so we communicate through email couple times I sent her some pictures of the item then she request it that sent the item to her mothers in law house in some other state she also asked me if I could buy a Sephora gift card for $200 she also offered pay another extra $100 for doing this for her,  all these conversations are out of eBay she asked me for my PayPal email so she could send the payment which she did send the payment a total of $819, however there is no available balance on my PayPal account the invoice say it's being paid but there's no money on my PayPal account I really find really odd so I need somebody elses opinion this might be a possible scam I don't know how to contact customer service or how to cancel the orders so please can somebody tell me if doesn't look right?

[iamalwaysright]

100% scam.

You were right to suspect this buyer. Many new sellers fall for this stuff all the time. That's why the scammers still do it.

PS. Don't relax on any seller guidelines even if they aren't against ebay policy when you are a new seller. Learn the ropes while being protected. You have time to relax on the methods later on if you choose to once you get used to selling.

[ckimodog · Accepted solution]

Total scam.  Report them, block them and move on.  A buyer cannot pay you with paypal, it goes through Ebay managed payments.  As a new seller you are a target for scammers.  Never communicate outside the ebay platform or ship to an address that is not on the invoice.  I hope this has been helpful.  In the future, simply ignore them.  

Here's how to cancel an order: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/sellers-can-cancel-order?

[aztecahomer_19]

Thank you so much for this information it really help me avoid and total loss .can I cancel the items since it's been marked as sold?

[aztecahomer_19]

thank you. The reason why I decided to post this and ask for help and opinion because she has 100% rating  so I wasn't sure if she was a scam. how can they get away with this but thank you all for sharing this information with me

[iamalwaysright]

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@aztecahomer_19 wrote:

thank you. The reason why I decided to post this and ask for help and opinion because she has 100% rating  so I wasn't sure if she was a scam. how can they get away with this but thank you all for sharing this information with me

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One general rule you should always know when selling on ebay. It is buyer biased. If a buyer really wants to, they can take advantage of you within ebay policy. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can adjust to minimize your risk selling on ebay.

Buyer ratings don't mean anything at all, don't be fooled by it. When you buy on ebay, you can't get any negative feedbacks from sellers anymore. So that means every buyer on ebay will have 100% rating, even the scammers. If you want to continue to sell on ebay, I encourage you to read up on some posts in this forum or at least ask questions.

Some people here might get annoyed if you ask a question that was already answered here. But who cares about that, as long as you find the answer. And many here are nice and are glad to help you.

[soh.maryl]

ALL buyers have 100% positive feedback because buyers cannot be given anything else.  

[marleybonze]

It is absolutely a scam. Never communicate with buyers outside of eBay. It’s against policy, and if you do get scammed or there is a problem with transaction, you have no recourse with EBay. 
They can see your conversations within EBay, and that’s would be your proof of how things happened. 

The rest, gift cards, etc, it’s all a scam. 

To sell on EBay, you communicate through eBay, and if you accept a buyers offer and they start requesting communication outside eBay, or that you ship to another address, etc, you should cancel the sale and report the buyer. 

I’ve had numerous requests to email buyers, accept payments outside eBay, and stories about needing to ship to another address. There are some who temp to entice you but offering to buy at a higher price (much higher) than what the item would cost if they were to buy it retail. 

Stay safe and compliant on Ebay. Don’t hesitate to cancel a sale if buyer starts requesting you do things that are against eBay policy. 

And please report these people to Ebay. They have no business on this platform. 

Hope this helps