Many purchases of same item, scam?

[meh-comics-collectibles]

I have a buyer that bought 5 of the same item in 5 separate transactions, paying 5 separate shipping fees.  It is common for someone to buy 10 or more but in one transaction with one shipping charge.

When asked if there was an error, the buyer just states to ship what he paid for.  The account only has 7 positive reviews.

Is this a scam?  Why would someone want to overpay in shipping?

[meh-comics-collectibles]

I asked if he wanted them in separate or a single package, and he said a single package is fine.  Still a head scratcher.  The new account is what is more worrying.  

[meh-comics-collectibles]

I won't delay anything.  They paid today, I will ship tomorrow.  Just wanted to know if anybody had seen a scam in this fashion and if I should raise any flags with eBay.

[theteamsetguy]

Even though I clearly state in my listing I offer combined shipping discount. I still get at least a few times a week buyers paying separate. 

[femmefan1946]

@fashunu4eeuh 

 this buyer is a forwarder who purchases items bound for overseas clients.

I don't think that's how most forwarders work.

The buyer has a contract with the forwarder to use their address as his own. The forwarder is trans-shipping the products, often including payment of import fees (duty and sales taxes) as part of their service.  They are also able to charge lower shipping rates from the US to the destination because they are shipping pallets at a time not single packages.

I have heard of mostly Japanese forwarders who use the system you mention.

[coolections]

---

@meh-comics-collectibles wrote:

I do have immediate payment required.

---

That explains it. Not everyone is a seller and knows all the ins and outs of Ebay. Many do not know about using the cart either.

[this*old*attic]

What exactly did you say when you reached out? Maybe he just doesn’t get it?

Are they especially valuable?

[this*old*attic]

Or OP could run their own business.

Stuns me how many people call Ebay for every little thing.

They’re a PLATFORM, not a training center, not a protector, not your friend…

Do you really think it’s free to call them?

[rosachs]

---

@meh-comics-collectibles wrote:

I won't delay anything.  They paid today, I will ship tomorrow.  Just wanted to know if anybody had seen a scam in this fashion and if I should raise any flags with eBay.

---

We get these kinds of orders periodically, maybe once or twice a month.  My current process is to send the customer the identical message from each order record, asking them to confirm they want everything ordered or if 1 (or more) may be a mistake.  Easier to cancel before shipping.

I'll do this if the address is identical for all orders.  If the addresses are different, then it's most likely a dropship order -- the customer made a sale somewhere, then bought ours to be shipped to their customer.  Knowing where are prices are compared to the main venues, I can't see these folks making more than a few bucks a sale, so I'm thinking it could be they ran out and need to fill an order to avoid a ding.

My response to the Ship All Or Cancel Some inquiries run about 50/50 - some folks are happy I caught the issue before shipping - one order -was- a goof and can be cancelled.  Others want them all, sometimes explaining why, usually just saying "go ahead and ship them all".  Either way, I have confirmation, via eBay Messages, that they were informed of the duplication and accepted it or requested the cancel.  Either way, I'm covered.

To date, no real issues that I can recall.

-Bob.

[meh-comics-collectibles]

That makes sense for 2, maybe 3 duplicate orders and I do the same thing.  My customer is now at 7 duplicate orders all spaced out about 2 hours apart.  The shipping address is all the same and he wants them combined into one package but has not mentioned any kind of refund on the shipping charges.

I appreciate all the responses.  I'll ship these out today and let everyone knows what, if anything, happens.