I suspect I've shipped something to a scammer. How do I proceed?

[astrofeline]

About a week ago, I sold a laptop to someone. I shipped it through USPS with a signature required at delivery. For the last 3 days, the tracking repeating the message "DELIVERED TO AGENT FOR FINAL DELIVERY" - I looked up the buyer's address to see if maybe it was an apartment complex or college campus, but instead I found their address with different names posted numerously on a 'bad' buyers forum. 
Where can I go from here? I can't intercept the package with USPS because it has a lithium battery. The seller hasn't responded to my asking if they received the package.

[calicorecordsandcds]

You realize you are protected right?  So the buyer has paid you shipped and if the buyer doesn't collect or take item it is on them I would however make a phone call to eBay CS get it on record of what is going on.

I had a similar situation with an album, the buyer cannot request a return or otherwise because first though I offer free returns they do not get refunded until I get item back and second if they just choose to not get or collect item and make no attempts to answer correspondence they still cannot get refunded. 

I always call eBay when I have anything out of norm right away to get it on record.

I will recommend this to you also watch out using Scammer statements like a lot of so called experienced sellers use.  I find that most scammers are in fact just mis informed or do not understand things.  Plus in spite of what the address says on bad buyers forum.  There are some shi$ head sellers just as much as buyers on here that may have listed them on the bad buyers forum.  Don't take that for granted just because they got listed.  Odds are really 50/50 on if they in fact are.

Most important for you if things go south always reach out to Ebay right away.  Trust me it helps!

[inhawaii]

I don't think there is anything you can do except for maybe HOPE and/or PRAY that everything goes well.

Good luck!

[onnius]

@astrofeline

First step is don't worry (I mean that - don't let it play on your mind all day because things will work out okay for you).  Just make it a point to doublecheck shipping addresses going forward and avoid Wilmington, DE on high value electronics (IMO). While threads like these will always be full of anecdotal "I once shipped a $15 trinket to a Wilmington Delaware address and didn't have a problem", these people don't understand there are groups in eastern europe that specifically target high value electronics (phones, laptops, computers and components, etc) for return fraud. 

Your buyer may also be legit - not everyone using a Delaware forwarder is an east-euro scammer (but just about every east-euro scammer uses a Delaware forwarder).  For now there's nothing for you to do, because a scam hasn't actually begun until the moment that buyer would open a bogus return request, and at that point there will be a few things to keep an eye on, and relay to ebay CS to get the return closed in your favor. I'll DM you those details.

[r3wturb0x]

So did you end up getting scammed or not, because i just shipped a computer this morning to the same address, now i'm freaking out. a google of the company shows its a ukrainian freight forwarder.

[dryophelia]

@r3wturb0x 

Rule #1

Never list something you can’t  afford to lose. 

eBay and PayPal are no longer married. 
Separated  ~2017, divorced ~2022

[r3wturb0x]

Lol, don't worry. after the the amount of fees and cost of shipping, these are the last two items i will ever sell on ebay.

[astrofeline]

This ended up being just a regular buyer! The user onnius, who replied earlier in the thread, pointed out that a lot of normal buyers may end up using the same services as scammers. I hope it works out for you!

[isaiah53-57]

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@astrofeline wrote:

About a week ago, I sold a laptop to someone. I shipped it through USPS with a signature required at delivery. For the last 3 days, the tracking repeating the message "DELIVERED TO AGENT FOR FINAL DELIVERY" - I looked up the buyer's address to see if maybe it was an apartment complex or college campus, but instead I found their address with different names posted numerously on a 'bad' buyers forum. 
Where can I go from here? I can't intercept the package with USPS because it has a lithium battery. The seller hasn't responded to my asking if they received the package.

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You have likely shipped this to a "Freight Forwarder" - A business who reships items to buyers in foreign countries - This is somewhat common, so, at the moment, I would not assume this is a scam, even though you may see people reporting it as a problematic address - The vast majority of sales that go through freight forwarders go along without a hitch - It will take the actual buyer a longer time frame to receive the item, so hold off on your concerns for the time being...

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.