eBay

thesatellitejack-3 · ‎03-03-2018

listed an item on eBay, the next day I have a few offers and I accept one of them, A few minutes pass and I get a text from an unknown number saying something like "Hello seller, this is Sgt. Hayes. I hope an item is in good condition as I am buying it for my cousin.". that was a big red flag for me, so I go to my email to check about the buyers contact info (I can see his since he requested mine) and the number I got a text from didnt match the number on his info, also I should mention I hadn't received payment yet but he marked it as payment sent (even though eBay knows payment hasn't been sent)

I opened a cancenllation request, I haven't shipped the item yet and haven't received payment (nor do i want to anymore) but I really don't know or think they will accept the cancellation request. What happens if they deny the request? (keep in mind I haven't shipped and havent received payment yet), also is there anything I can do other than wait the 10 days for it to be automatically closed?

sorry for the wall of text, but this is my first time dealing with a fishy sale/buyer and I'm really worried.

emerald40 · ‎03-03-2018

Scammers troll the sold listings hoping they can get an item diverted to them.

Your actual buyer is most likely not in on it or even knows about it.

You should not have cancelled it but contacted your actual buyer and asked if he sent you any email recently regarding this item.

What reason did you give to cancel as you may receive a defect and a negative from a very unhappy buyer.

thesatellitejack-3 · ‎03-03-2018

I said after receiving a fishy text from an unkown number I didn't feel comfortable with this sale anymore.

there were several other factors on top of that, that made me feel uncomfortable. The buyers account was created about an hour before they bought my item (I didn't think much of it) the price that they purchased it for was well over $160 of what I was asking (kind of made me had doubts) and then when I got the text, that plus everything else made me feel uncomfortable and not want to go through with the sale.

emerald40 · ‎03-03-2018

What reason did you use for cancelling it?

thesatellitejack-3 · ‎03-03-2018

the reason i gave for cancelling was that I said "I don't feel comfortable with this sale, I hope you understand." My exact words. I haven't gotten a reply from the buyer yet, in fact the buyer hasn't contacted me at all (on ebay, email, or text) since I received a text earlier this morning from that unknown number.

a_c_green · ‎03-03-2018

From your description, it sounds like you've got two scammers piled up one on top of the other. That message from the 3rd-party account can be ignored. Focus on your real buyer, who (judging from his overpayment offer) is likely to be sending you a fake PayPal payment notification or other weirdness. Keep us posted.

emerald40 · ‎03-03-2018

@thesatellitejack-3wrote:
the reason i gave for cancelling was that I said "I don't feel comfortable with this sale, I hope you understand." My exact words. I haven't gotten a reply from the buyer yet, in fact the buyer hasn't contacted me at all (on ebay, email, or text) since I received a text earlier this morning from that unknown number.

I don't feel comfortable is not listed as one of the reasons you can cancel.

Or is that just the reason you gave the buyer and did not file a cancellation request with ebay.

You should just wait 3 days, file non pay, and then cancel.

lintbrush* · ‎03-03-2018

If that happens again, do not initiate the cancellation on your own. That actually hurts you account.

You can change the "payment sent" message to Unmark as Payment Received. Then you open the Unpaid process 48 hours after the sale - close it 96 hours later. You could call eBay if you suspect fraud too... they may be able to boot the fake buyer faster. I'd still try that now.

Why would you accept an offer for $160 more than the listing price? The could've bought it outright cheaper. That is a someone who is trying to lure you into their web of deceit by blinding you with dollar signs. You were temporarily blinded, but snapped out of it pretty quickly.

For the other posters who suspect a third party trying to trick you, only the buyer of record can request your contact info. However, there have been known scammers that do search for recently solds and send a message claim they screwed up their payment address and can you send it here instead. That message usually won't be from the original buyer's account. If they do manage to hack the buyer's account to send you a change address message, tell them you cannot.

@thesatellitejack-3

thesatellitejack-3 · ‎03-03-2018

I did file a cancellation request. The reason was "other" and then it asked me to type my reason in a description box (the drop down menu didn't have something that closely fit).

dylamontoy2 · ‎03-03-2018

@thesatellitejack-3wrote:
the reason i gave for cancelling was that I said "I don't feel comfortable with this sale, I hope you understand." My exact words. I haven't gotten a reply from the buyer yet, in fact the buyer hasn't contacted me at all (on ebay, email, or text) since I received a text earlier this morning from that unknown number.

That's not an official eBay reason to cancel

newnewnewmann · ‎03-03-2018

Fishy text-

><(((º>

It's a classic scam.

-Offering more than you asked. (playing on greed)

-Text from unknown number, bringing his relatives into the picture (offering too much information (sign of lying), empathy play)

-Numbers don't match

-Marking on ebay as paid when they didn't pay (deception)

-Hours old account

Any one or some of these don't make a scammer, but they all do together.

I would not want anything to do with this either.

Keep in mind that the way you cancel may result in owing ebay the final value fee, and a defect.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html?rmvSB=true

ON VACATION
GONE FISHING
BACK AT 6

itsjustasprain · ‎03-03-2018

@emerald40wrote:
You should just wait 3 days, file non pay, and then cancel.

You only have to wait 2 days before opening an Unpaid item dispute. Then you have to wait 4 full days. After 4 full days you can then CLOSE the dispute and get your fees refunded. You do not cancel at any time becuase then youre basically making it your problem instead of the buyers.

The buyer isnt going to pay anyway but maybe he will send a fake payment notice. I think if you filed a cancel now then all you can do is wait for it to time out.

tiramisu41 · ‎03-03-2018

@thesatellitejack-3

If you haven't already, add this person or persons to your "Blocked Bidder List." That way at least they won't be able to bid on any other of your items -- at least not using that/those ID/s.

thatsallfolks · ‎03-03-2018

@a_c_greenwrote:
From your description, it sounds like you've got two scammers piled up one on top of the other. That message from the 3rd-party account can be ignored. Focus on your real buyer, who (judging from his overpayment offer) is likely to be sending you a fake PayPal payment notification or other weirdness. Keep us posted.

How would a non-buyer get the OP’s phone # to send the text?

Looks like a single scammer to me.

a_c_green · ‎03-03-2018

@thatsallfolkswrote:
How would a non-buyer get the OP’s phone # to send the text?

Looks like a single scammer to me.

Whoops; my bad. Yes, I see it was a text now (presumably to his account phone number). I was thinking of the third-party scammers who send that message to recently-sold listings, but not in this case. Okay, one scammer, not two...