Scam Alert

[angben2070]

I posted an item for sale today. Almost immediately, it was "sold." I am new to ebay selling and so when the buyer asked me to message him so he could give me a different shipping address, I wasn't suspicious. Soon though, it wa evident that he was trying to scam me. He asked that I purchase a 200 Stream gift card and send with the item because it was a gift for his uncle, and that he would include the money for the card in the payment. I used PayPal as my method of monetary exchange, and he even wanted me to give him access so he could send money to my PP account. I told him that is he wanted the item then follow the ebay protocols for purchasing the item, and if he wanted a gift card to order it online. I didn't hear anything else from him and just reported him to customer service. Thankfully I didn't fall for it, and I now know that ebay customers should never contact the seller directly. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Good for you!!! You have a target 🎯 on your back as a new seller, keep your guard up always. Sure seems like a lot of " uncles need those gift cards?" We will call them " Monkeys uncle!" 

[southern*sweet*tea]

Sooooo glad you didn't fall for this. It is a very common scam for internet sellers.

Everyone not familiar with the scam needs to read the following:

Anytime a buyer wants you to text or email them, it is a SCAM.
Do not engage with them at all. Give them no information.

Report the "buyer"

Block https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

Ignore

The whole idea is for the seller to be blinded with greed, or just stupidity, and for the scammer to get the seller's phone number or email address. Once that happens, the seller receives a very real looking, but very fake email stating that they have been paid, and in order to receive their funds they need to ship the item right away. Sometimes these emails will also have a phone number, for the seller to call and "verify" the transaction. That phone number is a direct line to the scammer.

These scammers depend on a seller's greed/naivete/ignorance/stupidity to ship the item without checking to see if they have actually been paid. It works surprisingly well, even with established sellers, because for some strange reason people want to "trust" emails.

There is no reason on this planet for a buyer to need a seller's email address, phone number, or any sort of financial/payment information. Everything a buyer needs is right there when they click the buy now button on a listing.

In addition to the above, anyone asking for a gift card to be included is a SCAMMER. Anyone offering to pay more for an item than the listing price is a SCAMMER. Anyone making an offer higher than the buy it now price is a SCAMMER.

Don't fall for it. You will NOT GET PAID. You WILL BE ROBBED of your item and gift cards.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

If you believe that you or someone you know was scammed into buying eBay Gift Cards, visit our gift card page to contact customer service and find additional information related to gift card scams.

Thank you.

[redlmc]

With all the other drawbacks mentioned about selling on eBay, how can new sellers even consider safely selling?

Such a shame how the new sellers are targeted specifically.  

One would think there could be a way for the bots to weed out such scam messages.

[bargainnation]

There are dishonest buyers (and sellers) that scam or try to scam other people all the time. I'm glad that you did not fall victim to that scam.

I accepted a best offer from a buyer and after 3 days the buyer sends me an email that they can't buy at this time. I emailed the buyer and thanked them for letting me know and asked them to send an email to cancel the sale. The buyer emails me back that they're sorry they can't complete the order at this time. I email the buyer back that it is okay and again ask them to send an email to cancel the sale. Buyer emails me back that they're replying already and ask if I have a different email address.

I let the buyer know that all eBay transactions need to be handled through eBay platform (per eBay's policy) and that I got all their emails. We were corresponding back and forth so I don't know why the buyer wanted another email address for me. 

I again asked the buyer to send an email to cancel the sale which the buyer finally did after three requests. I don't know what the buyer was trying to accomplish but I canceled the sale then blocked that buyer.