Identifying a Possible Freight Forwarder Scam

[acidburger]

I haven't sold on eBay in a very long time. Decided to throw some items up, and sold a laptop to a buyer that paid but a number of things feel off:

-Account recently registered in the past three weeks.

-Address provided seems to be masking a freight forwarder out of Vietnam (Pakago), which also matches the buyer's profile location.

My gut is telling me this is a scam of some sort, but at the same time no policy violations have occured yet to report it. I've been out of the eBay scene for awhile, is this a scam (and if so, how?) or are forwarders fairly commonplace now?

[inhawaii]

Just some facts...

Freight forwarders are common now.

The majority of my sales going to a freight forwarder go off without a hitch.

There's no way to know if this is a scam or not.

Anyone regardless where they are can scam you simply filing a false claim.

Selling to someone who recently registered should not be a concern.

Laptops are a high-scam item.

I hope you make the right call.

Good luck!

[caldreamer]

Never had any problem shipping to freight forwarders.  Of course, no transaction is guarantee safe (anyone can "reverse credit card charges" after they receive your item).   This is all part of the risk of selling online.

[dbfolks166mt]

     A bit confused by the following in your post. Is the shipping address you are shipping to in Vietnam or in the US? 

"Address provided seems to be masking a freight forwarder out of Vietnam (Pakago), which also matches the buyer's profile location."

[acidburger]

The address is a residental address in the US. But the first line of the address, is very unusual and not a name or business. Perhaps a box number?

However the phone number is associated to a freight forwarder matching the buyers country despite it being a US number.

[albertabrightalberta]

If the order shows that payment was received and it tells you to ship, do so. For delivery, you only need to ship to that address on the order and have tracking that shows delivery. 

The buyer has 10 feedbacks and the bidding history is all laptops. He may be fixing and reselling them in his country.  

[inhawaii]

They pay, you ship to the address provided by ebay,

No need to investigate each buyer/sale.

You'll worry yourself to death.

Like @caldreamer said...

It's all part of the risk of selling online.

Good luck!

[dbfolks166mt]

The address is a residental address in the US. But the first line of the address, is very unusual and not a name or business. Perhaps a box number?

     If this is going through a FF a lot of times the first line will be associated with the buyers account at the FF. It's how the FF knows who's account it goes to and what to consolidate and forward to the buyer. 

However the phone number is associated to a freight forwarder matching the buyers country despite it being a US number.

     As others noted if the buyer paid you should ship. FF's are generally pretty safe since the buyers MBG coverage ends when the item is delivered to the FF. There is always the risk of a chargeback but that can also happen with domestic sales.