Possible fraud?

[dcassell]

I have been on eBay for 19 years with 100% feedback. I've recently been selling off a couple of old iPhones from the family and good friends. I had a buyer win an auction for a 6s. He immediately asked for the IMEI before payment. I explained the auction was for me to ship him a working phone, not to provide an IMEI via email. He went radio silent for a few days, and I filed a nonpayment with eBay. A few hours after filing it, he paid. At that point his name and shipping address was available to me. His name was foreign, and when I Googled it his name and address, one of the top hits was to "badbuyerlist.org" where there are multiple complaints that this address is being used for fraudulent eBay activity.

I'm hesitant to ship this phone out to him because I feel there's some kind of fraudulent angle behind this, but I can't prove it 100%, and I've been paid. I'm concerned he will say it was not received, or initiate a chargeback somehow. For what it's worth, it appears the individual is in the Ukraine and the US address given is somehow used by Ukrainians to get eBay items shipped to them.

What would you do in this situation?

[dcassell]

I should also add that his account has only been active since December of 2017 with minimal feedback. When I explained that I would not be emailing an IMEI to him because of his newness and relative lack of feedback, he countered that this was his "2nd account and his other one has over 600 positive feedbacks". So why not just use that account?

[bonjourami]

Ship the phone..you are only responsible for getting the phone safely to the reshipper..not to a foreign country. Ive never had a provblem with reshippers..

[flyerfandan999]

Cancel the sale with reason "problem with Buyer's address."  The Buyer's address is on a list of problematic buyers.

Refund money.

Relist.

[dcassell]

If I cancel the order will I have to get stuck with a negative feedback (if he does that) or will eBay reverse it on account of his address showing up on a bad buyer list?

[bonjourami]

No, ebay wont remove it, and if you cancel the item with out of stock option you will get a defect. Not sure why you are so hesitant, he paid for it, you need to ship it. Of course he can always claim when he gets the phone that its not as described, but think that happens more here in the good old USA site than with reshippers.

[dcassell]

Alright, I'll ship the item. It just seems a little sketchier than I'd like.

[bonjourami]

Truthfully,many of these reshipper addresses have 'fraud' attached to them..I dont know why...I see more problems on the boards with domestic buyers than reshipper buyers.

[chrysylys]

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@dcassell wrote:

If I cancel the order will I have to get stuck with a negative feedback (if he does that) or will eBay reverse it on account of his address showing up on a bad buyer list?

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I'll only advise you to ask yourself a simple question.  Which is more important --- a red dot, or $200 ?

[a_c_green]

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@dcassell wrote: 
If I cancel the order will I have to get stuck with a negative feedback (if he does that)

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Yes.

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or will eBay reverse it on account of his address showing up on a bad buyer list?

No. eBay doesn't care what kind of mudslinging occurs on another website. (One might argue that they don't care much about it happening in feedback here either. )

More to the point: that's not his address; it's the address of the reshipping company. Because they serve countless customers, their address will invariably get mentioned on-line as some sort of scammer headquarters, when the reality is that they simply act as a forwarding company for international buyers. Thus there will be complaints about some transactions gone bad for whatever reason, but since no one posts compliments about transactions that went fine, all you'll read are complaints, and you'll convince yourself that No Good Shall Come of This.

Your only responsibility for shipping is to get it to the address you receive with the payment, which is that of the reshipper. A Delivered status there is your protection against an Item Not Received dispute.

If he somehow wants to complain later and return the item, you only need to provide a return label for the U.S. reshipper's location, and it's up to the buyer to get it back to his reshipper stateside within 5 days, or his dispute gets closed out.

[dcassell]

a_c_green: Thanks, I appreciate that feedback. I feel a little better shipping it out.

[threshold.sales.group]

"I've recently been selling off a couple of old iPhones"

Fwiw, that line has been the starting point for more threads on the board than I can count.  Op, wish you the best. Imo, items like older smart phones, ipads and laptops are best sold to folks in your own circle. The category is risky and protections against fraud basically nonexistent.