Is this some sort of scam?

[jayhillphoto]

This morning, I had an expensive item sell (over $1,000). The person quickly paid, but then contacted me asking to reroute the package to an alternate address in another state than the original buyer's address. Oddly, they sent a photo of the alternate address instead of simply typing it out in their message.

Hours later they send another message from a different Ebay account once again asking me to ship to the same address as in the first message. Once again, they sent a photo of the alternate address instead of just typing it out.

Is this some sort of scam or should I just ship it since I've been paid??

Thanks for any help

[selforfun]

Sir this is probably not a SCAM (again it hard to judge with out see the buyer!)

But is to risky!

My advice as experienced Seller to avoid circumstances, ALWAYS to follow eBay Policy.

Send buyer following message:

If they haven’t yet sent the item, the best thing to do is to ask the seller to cancel the transaction, then repurchase the item with the correct shipping address.

Offer them to cancel and purchase it again with correct address.

[soh.maryl]

Before cancelling the sale stating "problem with buyer's address", the seller should contact that buyer and establish whether or not the message was actually from him.  

[soh.maryl]

Before cancelling the sale, shouldn't the seller try to contact the buyer to make sure the message actually originated from him and not from a scammer?  

[slippinjimmy]

The message to re-route probably  came from someone other than the actual buyer. In many or most cases scammer do not pay so make sure you actually paid by confirming payment on Ebay, do not  rely on an email or text.

[soh.maryl]

The OP IS the seller.

[simba6]

Yes it's a SCAM.    It was sent as a photo to evade eBay's software that watches out for things like that.

Save that message and cancel the sale choosing problem with address.

High value items brings them " out of the wood work " every time.

[soh.maryl]

Uh, you probably intended this message to be directed to the OP.  

[ittybitnot]

@jayhillphoto 

Is the ID asking for the change the same as your buyer?   Likely not.  

Regardless of all the posters here claiming you should cancel the sale, IF  the "request" is coming from another ID that is not your buyer, you will just be cancelling the sale for the person that actually paid you.  

You can report any bogus messages (the one with the picture of the address) directly on the message under the Action Tab.  Do this. 

I have a feeling you just met up with a couple of "change the address" scammers....they want it shipped to Delaware? or Oregon?    Now make you self aware of the "text me" scammers who want to chat with you off ebay....and what their usual gig is so you don't get taken. 

[byrd69er]

If it MIGHT be a scam.....or it might be SCAM.....it's probably scam.

[slati_2013]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Before cancelling the sale, shouldn't the seller try to contact the buyer to make sure the message actually originated from him and not from a scammer?  

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The problem with that is it could be a hacked account controlled by the scammer. By the time the real owner of the account figures something weird is going on, the item is already headed towards the new address paid for by the real owner's saved account info. It is why many times eBay steps in and tells a seller not to ship.

Contacting the buyer might just lead you to the scammer who has hacked the account, so I would just cancel. If the owner of the account was the real buyer they will no doubt contact the seller and ask why they canceled and the seller could explain. 

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

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@jayhillphoto wrote:

This morning, I had an expensive item sell (over $1,000). The person quickly paid, but then contacted me asking to reroute the package to an alternate address in another state than the original buyer's address.

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@jayhillphoto : Please click the blue Reply button below and clarify one important detail for us: Did the message requesting an alternate address come from your buyer's account?

If the message did come from your buyer's ID, reply and explain that you can only ship to the address received with their payment. If they want it sent elsewhere, they will need to cancel and re-purchase with the correct address.

If the message did not come from your buyer's ID, then that is just a routine scam attempt, sent to as many sellers of recently-sold items as possible before the scammer's account gets shut down. Your real buyer would know nothing about it and you should ship as usual.

So to reiterate: did the address redirection request come from your buyer, or from some random third party?

[gloryglorygifts]

That's funny. I actually have neighbors that swapped houses. One was looking to downsize and the other was looking for a 3 bedroom.  There were literally right next door to each other! 

[inhawaii]

Could be a scam or maybe just a honest request.

Either way ALWAYS follow ebay protocol and ONLY ship to the address on the ebay label.

If the buyer needs it shipped to a different address, cancel the sale, reason: Problem with buyers address.

Then have the buyer correct his address with ebay and re-purchase the item.

[rugerskick]

Yes its a scam.  Always assume these types of issues where an address change after the order is placed, is a scam.

The only way you as a seller are covered is to ship to the ebay address on file.

Cancel the order (problem with buyer address), block the buyer, report the scam buyer.  They are violating ebays rules.  Asking for a different place after the order is paid for is a violation.  What if they ask you to ship to a place it costs way more?  Its a scammer.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I don't know why people are advising the knee jerk reaction of "cancel it".

The FIRST thing a seller should do when this happens is check the ID requesting the change of address is actually their buyer. It's a bit rude to cancel a sale on a paying buyer when they've done nothing to warrant it.

The second thing is to check that you HAVE actually been paid for the item.