Received payment by e-check

[rv7-9563]

I was contacted by a buyer on ebay that they don't trust ebay and wanted me to accept a echeck and wait for me to ship the item until it is cleared. I got the payment and it was cleared. The buyer then asked me to send some portion of the amount to a mover on zelle. I did that too. When zelle was cleared, the buyer asked me to refund the money as things have changed and they dont want to buy. They started threatening me to refund or I will see what happens next etc. I returned the remainder amount by Zelle again to a different account they asked.

This is scam. I wanted to share this here for people to know not to encourage anyone outside of Ebay. They will make a fraudulent transaction through you. I learnt the hard way and want to share with the community so it can help others who may face a similar situation.

[ckimodog · Accepted solution]

@rv7-9563 

Good morning...

We see these types of posts in multiples on these boards daily.  I am so glad you were smart enough to realize this was a total scam.  You're a target because you are a new seller with no feedback.  You have auction style listings which is risky for new sellers because you're only going to attract more scammers or people who simply don't pay.  If I may be suggestive, you should avoid auctions listings and just use the fixed buy it now price with immediate payment required checked off.  No best offers either.  I see both of the items are local pick up.  Be careful with that as well.  Go to the police station parking lot to exchange the transaction.  Just too many flaky people out there looking to rob the e-commerce platform.  Be safe and  good luck. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Pretty common scam but I don't usually see it on eBay since it violates eBay policy to take a transaction for an eBay item outside of eBay. You should report the buyer  for sure, not that eBay will do anything about it. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/report-issue-buyer?id=4084 

     I see this scam attempt a LOT on Craigslist where a buyer responds to a posting and generally has a personal email attached to the response which I never click on. A lot of those come from GMAIL accounts which I report to Google which will often Terminate the GMAIL account. Of course the scammer just gets another one but at least it slows them down for awhile. Almost every email service provider has SCAM reporting capabilities but what I see mostly is from GMAIL. Following is the link to report the scammer to Google. 

https://support.google.com/mail/contact/abuse 

[rv7-9563]

Good morning and thank you for the great advice. I am new to ebay and didn't realize the auction listing bit. This is invaluable information and I have to review local pickup option. I wish I had this insight before the transaction but, its never too late to learn. I have also filed every communication & all transfers as evidence just in case. This was a wakeup call for me. Thank you very much for the advice !

[rv7-9563]

Thank you and yes, you are spot on, this was a gmail zelle transfer demanded for a refund. I am surprised why ebay allows people to send messages with phone numbers spelt this way: one-two-three (first) four-fie-six (middle) seven-eight-nine (last). If they can out filters on messages to strip this pattern out, it will be helpful. Again, there may always be different ways people can scam. The best thing that would have helped me int his case is for ebay to send out a cheat sheet on every listing you post to watch out for xyz things and topics like these could be links there. This way, they would educate the seller (obviously new/inexperienced ones like myself in this case). I dont know how por where to provide this feedback.

[lacemaker3]

@rv7-9563, how long did you wait for the echeck to clear?

Was it paid through PayPal, or how?

[rv7-9563]

It was a echeck sent by email and I used my bank app to deposit the check like any other check. Took 1.5 business days to clear. So, I didn't suspect anything at all.

[lacemaker3]

When did you deposit it?

Do you still have the item?

[soh.maryl]

It seems like the OP did not identify this as a scam until AFTER he had complied with some of the seller's directions.  

[soh.maryl]

All of this "insight" was available to any seller if they had just done some reading, both in eBay's tutorials and on these boards.  It's not mysteriously hidden from sight.  

[wildpitchsports]

Yes these are scams, only accept payment through ebay approved payment options.

[itsjustasprain]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

When did you deposit it?

Do you still have the item?

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I think the OP still has the item but has sent off his own money as 'refunds'. I fear that his bank just fronted the money after 1.5 days but has not really received the funds from the e-check. If that is what happened then his bank will be looking to recover the amount that they made available. The money that the OP sent as 'refunds' is likely gone forever.

[onlinecentral]

The buyer would not go through all of these steps just to get a refund and break even. The e-check that supposedly cleared in 1.5 days initially will most likely bounce in a few days and the seller will be out all of the money.

[lacemaker3]

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

When did you deposit it?

Do you still have the item?

---

I think the OP still has the item but has sent off his own money as 'refunds'. I fear that his bank just fronted the money after 1.5 days but has not really received the funds from the e-check. If that is what happened then his bank will be looking to recover the amount that they made available. The money that the OP sent as 'refunds' is likely gone forever.

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Yes, you're probably right. I was trying to get some more information from the OP, in order to try to break the bad news to them gently.

[bonjourami]

Is this for the eight hundred dollar bed? Im sorry but you have probably been scammed, as the other poster said..in a few days that echeck will bounce.