Scam? A buyer messaged about using Discord to buy a $400 plush & then says they'll pay anyway.

[staneky]

I was so happy when I just listed a rare plush last night and thought I wasn't going to sell this for a while. Then, after waking up in the day, I received a message from a buyer really interested. Please read the pictures from our conversation. It's definitely odd, and I am not sure where to go from there. Is this a scam? 

A few more pieces of info:

Their account is one month old

Their username sketched me out a little bit (I wish I could say what it was, but I feel like that would lead to privacy issues for them. I will say, in a weird way, it seemed like it was partly a username on my main account... it had the same numbers I use...)  

Lastly, even if this does seem legit, I feel like he could possibly buy the item, and then break it and ship it back just out of spite? I would love some help, haha.

[sin-n-dex]

Uh, just block this guy. Problem solved.

C.

[ten_o_nine]

@staneky 

What makes you think it's not a scam?

[onefootflipper · Accepted solution]

Everyone wanting to take the sale off ebay is a scam. There is zero advantage to the buyer in taking the sale off ebay. They only do this to new sellers. I had over 10,000 sales this year and haven't encountered it one time all year.

You can honestly safely block any non-US buyer who messages you instead of just buying the item. 100 percent of non-US customers who have messaged me pre-sale have ended up either being scammers, wanting something unreasonable / impossible, or threw up enough red flags that I not only block them but I also pull the item off ebay for a while. 

[ckimodog]

@staneky 

Scammer...don't waste your time.  Good job on your replies.  You did the right thing. 

Happy Holidays. 

[spark-chaser1]

The clincher for me is that the " buyer" is conversing with you right there and then. Why go through the inconvenience of taking the convo anywhere else ( as they were insisting)? 

And once the " buyer" insists a second time, that would be it as far as I'm concerned. They aren't really listening to anything you're saying. They are reading off a script in their head that they have either planned or used several times over. 

Kinda like the old days of telemarketers... You basically have to just hang up on them or they will talk right over you until you give in. 

I'll give them my discord, all right. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     You appear to be fairly new at selling so you are a natural target for the scammer community. I also don't see the item you referenced under your listed items, as a matter of fact I see nothing under your listed items. Strongly suggest you refrain from selling internationally until you get a bit more comfortable with listing and the eBay market place. 

     You mentioned having to raise the price for foreign shipments but you should not have to do that if you correctly list the item with different shipping costs for domestic and international. As noted by others this is a total scam job block the individual and move on. 

[lepke1979]

Block them.

[staneky]

Thanks for your answer on all of this. I'm actually not a new seller, I just used this as a burner account, but this was still very helpful and informative. I haven't done eBay in years, and it's all new, so now I think I better understand the situation! Also, I ended up selling the plush for $430 an hour after this was posted... to a LEGIT buyer! Yay!

[staneky]

Oh no, I was never going to reach out to another platform. The things that made me rethink if he was scamming, was that he said "When would you like me to pay you" -- which I was eventually going to reply that he could use the "Buy it Now" option -- but I was sketched out on saying that, because I didn't want him to buy it and then return it and tear it up. My mistake though. Anyways, I did end up selling my plush an hour later. Thanks for your input anyways!!!

[staneky]

Happy Holidays to you too! Thanks and I did block them AND sold this an hour after posting -- to someone legit 🙂

[staneky]

I thought it wasn't a scam, POSSIBLY, only because of this person saying "When would you like me to pay you" -- but then I didn't want to tell him to use "Buy it Now" because I thought he might return the package and tear it up. It's all good now. I sold the item right after this post to someone legit!

[staneky]

This is VERY helpful! Thank you, a TON! I will definitely be doing this in the future! I did end up selling the item right after this post 🙂 so yay!

[spark-chaser1]

I'm happy it worked out for you. I'm also glad that you  right away saw through that "buyer's " tactics. Way too many don't and come here afterwards to ask how to get their money, ID and account info back.😉