Potential Scam, Intercommerce Korea

[refacol]

Hello, first time seller here.

I had an item listed for sale for about half a year and suddenly someone buys it, pays immediately and keeps asking when it will be sent. I figured someone really needed it because it was quite a unique electrical component and were in a hurry to get it but I also felt kinda weirded out by this.

The buyer was an account made in 2019 with over 5000 positive reviews. They also had an address that I thought was weird but I just figured it was because I'm not from USA. It was something like ACI express in Beaverton, Oregon. This was another red flag that made me question this but I shipped it still. Now after some googling I found out it's a shipping forwarding company or something like that. After 3 days my tracking says it is on its way to USA and then nothing for a month. All while the buyer keeps asking me where the package is every few days.

They then request a refund and I figured I just have to give the money back since the package was appearantly lost. Just as I have refunded the money all of a sudden the tracking says it has arrived in USA, almost immediately. This does not feel like it is a coincidence and I'm wondering if I was just stupid to refund them or if there is any way I can get any money back now after I have refunded them.

I have a feeling I'm going to have count this as a loss. Hurts a bit extra right now losing both a several hundred dollar item and the money I spent on shipping while being unemployed but oh well boo hoo.

I don't know if I can or can't put their account name out here but I can post it in a comment later if it is okay.

New sellers please be aware of weird buyers that keeping giving red flags.

[luckythewinner]

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Just as I have refunded the money all of a sudden the tracking says it has arrived in USA, almost immediately. This does not feel like it is a coincidence

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Are you suggesting that the US Postal Service was cooperating with your buyer to help him defraud you?

[coastaltechsolution]

@refacol 

No do not post their account name here  

[chapeau-noir]

@refacol  I think the timing is just a coincidence - shipping is snarled up all over the world including here in the US.  Your buyer behaviour just seems like an anxious buyer who spent a fair amount of money and is worried about it, particularly if you are a new seller. 

The only thing you can do now is to keep an eye on the shipment and contact your buyer when it arrives and ask them to re-pay you.  You're not the only one this has been happening to lately due to shipping problems.  I had to refund to someone in Switzerland for the same reason.  Unfortunately, I was out my money and a lot of other people are, too, over this.

As for ACI Express - they are a reshipping company serving mostly the Orient and I have shipped to them before with no problems.  Contacting them might help.

[refacol]

Oh not at all lol, I thought maybe they just received it or something and requested refund before I would know anything. I'm just overthinking all kinds of possibilities I guess.

[refacol]

Thank you.

[refacol]

Yes, I'm hoping they will cooperate when it arrives if they are good people. Maybe I'm just overly paranoid thinking I'm going to lose a bunch of money. Just thought it was weird how they recipient name was one of the senior executive of the company when I googled the company name so I thought a third party was using it and the company name as a facade. 

[refacol]

Thank you all for the replies. Hopefully I'm just stupid and this will work out. I'm sorry if this was an unnecessary post.

[chapeau-noir]

@refacol  It totally was not an unnecessary post - it's actually a confusing situation and I don't blame you for posting.  Your wondering if the buyer received some kind of an alert that the item had arrived in the US before you did is by no means strange - there is actually a lag here insofar as scanning alerts. I've had items arrive at my doorstep and they're not even marked as delivered here.  That exactly could have happened in this case.

If the buyer was a senior exec for the company, he ordered the part himself, and it would be Very Bad PR for his company if he then refused to pay you for it - that's actually good news, I think.  I sell old tech from time to time and many of my buyers are businesses.

Good luck on this!

[refacol]

The buyer has not answered any messages in the past week now since the refund so I guess I'm not going to get anything out of it anymore. Thanks for the answers anyways.

[numisnorway]

Ah yes.. one of my first negative experiences as a seller on ebay was because of said company.

They are scamming in more ways than one and the fact that they are still operating on this site speaks volumes.

[numisnorway · Accepted solution]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

The only thing you can do now is to keep an eye on the shipment and contact your buyer when it arrives and ask them to re-pay you.

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They will not respond to messages. They will take that money and run with it.

Googling said companies shows horror stories going back probably 10 years.

Neither ebay or paypal will touch them because they have a lot of volume.

[whattheactualfox]

Does BBB do anything to them?

[refacol]

Probably nothing I can do then if they have been succesfully scamming for years. I reported the account to eBay but I guess they won't do much about it.

[numisnorway]

They have tonnes of accounts.

What is somewhat fascinating about this company is that it is a reshipping front for South Korea which is by default blocked by ebay because of the amount of problematic buyers from there.. turns out that the middle-man that wants to profit from it isn't any better.