Possible Scam for newbies?

[danijo_98]

I have just joined ebay. I do not post expensive items, but they are pretty average price ($75-100 range) and mostly pre-owned. I have been getting best offers higher than what I actually posted the asking price. 

Are these scams? 

Ex: For my rain boots I got two offers within 24 hours of posting. One was for $100 with a message saying call her - the other was no message but double the price at $139. Both were new to Ebay. 

Thanks for your help!

[cosi-shopper]

"Are these scams? "
Yes.
Do not reply.
Block the I.D. of the "buyer".

Run.
Run screaming.
You did the right thing coming here.

[southern*sweet*tea]

They are absolutely scams.  Why would someone pay more for something? That's right - when they're going to steal it for free.

The way it works:

Scammers try to appeal to greed and the lack of knowledge of how things work. They contact you, get your email address or phone number. You get a very real looking and very fake Paypal payment email stating you have been paid, and to quickly ship so your payment will be released.  They count on a seller's greed and naivete/ignorance that they will trust the email and not log directly in to Paypal to verify the payment. The seller ships without being paid, the scammer gets the item.  This is an old scam and it is very successful for the scammers.

You were wise to ask about it.  Decline the offers, block the "buyers" FWIW   https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin&bidderblocklogin=&  and ignore any messages. You can report the buyers as well. 

Never, ever, ever trust an email stating you've been paid. ALWAYS verify a payment by logging directly in to Paypal. Don't log in through an email link, either. Always type paypal.com into a new browser window.  And not just Paypal - any online payment method you should verify the same way.

[retrose1]

OP, you should know that scammers target new sellers.  And there are lots of different scams and very little actual seller protection.

I sell used clothing and have lots of experience selling on ebay and would never - ever list either of those boots.  It isn't just high dollar items (although $50 is about my limit) is it high risk that is also scamworthy.  If an item is trendy with high demand and can be quick flipped, then a scammer will be interested in it.  Because they know that once the seller has shipped the items to them - they can get it for free using one of the many basic scam methods.  A quick $25 is just as good as a quick $100 if it didn't cost them anything when the dust settles.

You should start with less valuable items to get a sense of how ebay works and then once you have maybe 100 recent selling feedback, then list those designer boots.  There is a mantra around here - do not list anything that you can not afford to lose and pay the shipping to lose it.

[pjcdn2005]

You ship just to the US but you need to set up a block so that buyers from other countries can't purchase from you at all.  That doesn't prevent someone from scamming you but it may limit it somewhat.

To block buyers without a US address go to my ebay - my account - site preferences - buyer requirements

Click edit on the right side of buyer requirements and check off 'block buyers with a primary address in a country that I don't ship to'.  Once you do that, if a buyer does not have a US address they can't click on buy it now on your listings.  I'm not sure if they can still make an offer.  Someone else should know that.

While you are there, you might also want to block buyers with 2 or more unpaid item strikes in the last 12 months.

Scroll to the bottom and click on 'apply to active and future listings'