Is someone trying to scam me or is this legitimate?

[716green]

I am selling a laptop on eBay. It's a gaming laptop and it's unusual in a number of aspects from the brand to the internals. It's a bit older but it's modified and was future-proofed at the time. I had spent over $1200 on the laptop but after unsuccessfully selling a few cycles at around $350, I got an offer for $200 and accepted it. After all, it's already reformatted, boxed up ready to sell and just taking up space. $200 is probably a fair price anyways, this laptop's specs are a bit too specific for the average person to understand and I knew that it would take a very specific type of person to understand the value here.

Anyways, I got 2 offers just as the item ended. One for $150 and one for $200 (plus shipping). I 'accepted' the $200 offer and then got a message from the buyer saying this:

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Very ethnic and long complicated name United States address (apparently) that looks nothing like a US address.

Hello 716green, Please I would be disappointed if i don t get this laptop. I was notified you don t ship to Amherst, Nashua. Please How can you help me I don t have another address and I will still ship it to Nigeria. Thanks

Dear 716green,

I have purchased the following from you on eBay. Please send me an invoice with the total amount that I owe you.

Thank You,

shortened version of the above complex name

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Something about this just doesn't feel completely right and I'm not sure what to do. It's a laptop and I know that its headed for Nigeria. I reformatted the PC but it still makes me nervous to know it may be going to Nigeria.

Does anyone have any input?

[716green]

Also, this is a new account with only 1 purchase and it was a year ago

[tunicaslot]

I don't see a recorded sale on this account but that is definitely a scam - you are a lower feedback seller and scammers look for someone with low feedback and experience in selling mostly inexpensive items to target. I found the laptop under completeds so it actually didn't sell and the buyer is asking for an off site transaction which is against the rules. You can not do that on the Ebay platform and they could suspend your acct if they catch wind of this.

Stop talking to this buyer and I'd suggest you relist at a later time using a Buy It Now - not an auction for a price you are willing to sell it for. Far more legitimate buyers will see the Buy It Now. 

[dtexley3]

How did you 'accept' the offer?  Did the supposed buyer send you a message asking if you would take $200 instead of make offer?  

It doesn't show in your history as sold, SO DON'T SHIP IT.  As above, relist with Buy It Now, Immediate Payment required.  Check Paypal, no payment, no sale.

[coffeebean832]

Tell the buyer the laptop was listed as local pickup only and if they cannot pick up the item then you are happy to cancel the order for them.

That only applies if you actually sold the item. As others have said, the listing appears to be unsold and an offer through messages does not qualify as sold.

[ohnojoey]

"Is someone trying to scam me"

 "...United States address (apparently) that looks nothing like a US address."

I don't know what this even means, it either is a US address or it isn't.

They are saying you can't ship to their (apparently) US address? Why?

 "I was notified you don t ship to Amherst, Nashua (Nashua
New Hampshire?). Please How can you help me I don t have another address and I will still ship it to Nigeria."

"Please How can you help me" (ship it to Nigeria)

Is their Nigerian address their paypal address?

[gramophone-georg]

100% scam. Run, Forrest, RUN!!

[ittybitnot]

They are saying you can't ship to their (apparently) US address? Why?

Two reasons come to mind.

First, the buyer is using a hijacked account.  There is an address problem perhaps that they can't change it from Kansas to Nigeria.

Second, the message may not even be from the "winner" of the listing.  The new thing is to receive a message from another person asking to change the address for one heart rendering reason or another.  They are unrelated to the transaction at all.  Funny when you get more than one of these in your message box. 

There are other reasons, of course.  

Laptop on ebay = scam magnet

ship to Nigeria = scam

laptop to nigeria??? total scam, even if they pay.

[a_c_green]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

As above, relist with Buy It Now, Immediate Payment required.  Check Paypal, no payment, no sale.

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Just to emphasize: the key part of the above is Immediate Payment Required. BuyItNow alone is not itself a guard against fake payment schemes. You must not only use BuyItNow but also add the Immediate Payment Required option (it's a checkbox on the full Sell Your Item form). That way no one can pull your item off the market without actually paying you for it first.

Aside from all that, I agree that this situation is 100% scam. Whoever is sending the messages is using copy-and-paste standard phrases that we've seen many times before (which is why the messages don't seem to make a whole lot of sense in context, especially when it comes to place names plugged in to pre-written sentences).

[ohnojoey]

I agree; these were questions that I hoped would get the OP thinking about.

I was going to mention, in my opinion, that Nigeria is one of the scam capitals of the world, (I just did!) but then thought that someone will come along and say "I ship to Nigeria all the time and never had a problem." LOL!

The OP ships to Nigeria and other countries that I would consider highly risky, but that is their business.

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[coffeebean832]

@716green

I see that you relisted your laptop. Just as before you put the settings on local pickup only which is fine- but then you added this text to the body of your listing:

Ships to US (Message to inquire about international shipping)

If you don't intend to ship the item then you should remove that text. If you want to ship the item then you should add a shipping option so you don't alienate buyers who don't want to or can't come pick it up.

[716green]

I will ship internationally using the ebay approved method. On the last listing that wasn't an option. I'm offering it now so that if that buyer wants to purchase it the correct way, he now has the option to do so. He seems to have no intention to actually buy it through the proper channel so I think that answers that question.

[716green]

I was called a racist when I told him that I don't feel comfortable shipping to Nigeria

[716green]

I re-listed it with international shipping available and he was unwilling to purchase it the proper way. He did call me racist for not trusting someone from Nigeria but I explained that it's the violation of the SOP, not the ethnicity.