eBay

willingdealer_make-me-an-offer · ‎02-14-2023

A buyer purchased a certain popular item from me and they are getting it shipped to a freight forwarder in Oregon. The next day I notice that several of the item is bought again and its a different username but the exact same buyer name and address. I go to check their other ebay account and its deactivated! I should also mention that they are making multiple, individual purchases , back to back, not all at once. My guess with that is they want to avoid the signature requirement because of the freight forwarder. Now again last night, this same buyer buys my last three items- under a NEW username! What is going on here? I contacted customer service and they just told me to tell the buyer to using different accounts and that as long as I shipped the purchases on different accounts separately I would be fine. Any idea whats going on? What could there angle be? If the item gets delivered to the forwarder is there anything they could do to scam me?

caldreamer · ‎02-14-2023

Most likely this is a scammer (that is why they using multiple accounts). Anyone can go to credit card company "reverse payment" AFTER they receive your item (keep item and your money). There are many, many different types of scams going around. EBAY will NOT protect you if you get scammed.

Having "signature requirement" will NOT protect you from being scammed. Never sell more than you can afford to lose.

Sorry this happened to you.

redmodelt · ‎02-14-2023

They could also be trying to come in under customs fee limits for their country by buying under different accounts.

willingdealer_make-me-an-offer · ‎02-14-2023

this is what I am thinking as well but it still seems fishy

stainlessenginecovers · ‎02-14-2023

@redmodelt wrote:
They could also be trying to come in under customs fee limits for their country by buying under different accounts.

That would NOT work as the items are under the same REAL name, which is what will be put on customs forms- not an ebay id.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎02-14-2023

Let me guess- all those Apple items? Probably going to scam you later. I don't know how you can 'cancel'/refund (since you can't REALLY use 'problem with address')- so you should contact reps at Ebay for Business @ facebook (leave message, and watch for them to authenicate you, which could be hours later)

willingdealer_make-me-an-offer · ‎02-14-2023

what do you mean by authenticate me?

stainlessenginecovers · ‎02-14-2023

you'll see once you send a message (they have to see your account, so you will sign in with name and password)

femmefan1946 · ‎02-14-2023

Freight forwarders are the second safest addresses you can ship to.

Your responsibility for delivery ends when the forwarder accepts the shipment.

If the shipment is refused, you do not owe the buyer a penny for the Undeliverable shipment.*

The forwarder normally handles import fees for the buyer as part of their service, stopping the "customs delay" scam.

If the buyer files a Not As Described dispute, the seller is only required to provide return shipping from the forwarder's address, not the buyer's overseas address.

It is odd that the buyer is using different IDs to buy, but it is also possible that there are several buyers using the same forwarder.

And I have heard of a West Coast forwarder who buys for overseas clients sort of as a personal shopper.

Today I am a cockeyed optimist.

*https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

The only reasons the forwarder would refuse I can think of are that the shipment arrived damaged or that the overseas buyer is no longer the forwarder's client.

willingdealer_make-me-an-offer · ‎02-14-2023

yeah, I generally like dealing with the forwarders for the reasons you listed and have only dealt with real scams from ebay global shipping buyers doing INADs. The account thing is what worried me the most. They got back to me and said that they have discounts on different accounts.

stuff4divas · ‎02-14-2023

@willingdealer_make-me-an-offer wrote:
yeah, I generally like dealing with the forwarders for the reasons you listed and have only dealt with real scams from ebay global shipping buyers doing INADs. The account thing is what worried me the most. They got back to me and said that they have discounts on different accounts.

@willingdealer_make-me-an-offer i like freight forwarders too, just made a sale today for one. the fact that they answered you and with a legit sounding reason, i would just go ahead and process the transactions. but as posted previously, maybe

Contact eBay via their social media sites with a private message so you can get a more secure feeling:

https://Facebook.com/ebay

AND-OR

https://Twitter.com/askebay

Great customer service on both

jahood1984 · ‎02-14-2023

I encountered one buyer using a freight forwarder in Portland, he had hundreds of accounts. Every account had a different name on the account and on the shipping label, usually obviously fake ones. I would offer fairly deep volume discounts on listings but they would still buy 5 items from one listing one at a time per account. They were creating 10 or so accounts a day, everyday, for years. The creation dates matched perfectly and would go on to the next day a year ago after a few accounts. Most accounts were gone by time 30 days was up, I could only assume it was to avoid taxes or something? I tried to not be involved but I'd cancel an item and they'd buy it on another account, rinse and repeat. I contacted eBay and pointed out the 50+ accounts I knew of at the time and they looked up the address and said "wow, I can't give numbers but they have WAY more accounts than that". It carried on about 8 more months after that and finally stopped around the end of last year, no clue really why any of it happened.