Scam on sale

[bobthedogsells]

Had a buyer send a full price offer for an item.  Of course I accepted.  Then wanted to text me about shipping, I replied and he wanted me to also include with his purchase $200 worth of gift cards that I should purchase and he would send me money thru Pay Pal for.   He also wanted to include a $30 payment to me for my help and gas.  I of course said no.  He now refused to pay for the item.  

Is this some type of a new scam

[fab_finds4u]

It's an old scam. Does no good to report them, they'll just pop up on another new or jacked account. On the 5th day cancel the transaction and relist.

[7794heather]

Hi there. Yes its a scam. Now you have to wait 5 full days before ebay will close the "sale" and refund your FVF's and you can relist it. Make sure you have it on in your settings otherwise you may have to go in manually and close it. You did the right thing by not engaging outside of ebay. Anytime someone asks for a full price "best offer" when they could have just hit the buy it now button is 99.99 % scam. I had one of those the other week. I didn't accept it, mine was coming from France of all places. Thats as far as it got, thanks to the fine folks here on the discussion board letting us know it most likely was a scam.

After the case is closed, relist it, might want to put BIN and Immediate payment requirement on any listings that are high priced (phones, electronics, basically anything technology wise over $100.) 

Also, put buyer on BBL so he can't come back and do it again. 

[ittybitnot]

Then wanted to text me about shipping, I replied and he wanted me to also include with his purchase $200 worth of gift cards

@bobthedogsells 

Don't even 'reply' to the "text me" scammers.   It is unfortunate that you don't know that you have one until you accept their offer, but once you do accept you can use the 'report the buyer' feature, and perhaps they will get the boot from eBay quickly.  Otherwise, you have to do what @fab_finds4u  said and cancel for non-payment on day 5. 

These people work the site 24/7.   You can reduce the number you get by NOT using the best offer feature.  That is hard sometimes since eBay will stick it on there even if you have not chosen it.  If you are using fixed price listings, set them to immediate payment required with no best offer.  

Other things to consider is that they use the best offer (at your same buy it now price or more) because it does not require them to pay right away.  That way they have time to see if they can get you to "text" and allow the scam to begin.   They will usually have newer low or no feedback IDs, or use a dormant hijacked accounts. 

Text me scammers do not pay.  They send fake payment notifications saying that you were paid.   

[simba6]

Well, they would have paid a fake payment anyway.   That is a slight new twist on the old overpayment scam of twenty years ago.   Making a strong come back.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@7794heather wrote:

Hi there. Yes its a scam. Now you have to wait 5 full days before ebay will close the "sale" and refund your FVF's and you can relist it. Make sure you have it on in your settings otherwise you may have to go in manually and close it. 

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It's four full days, but who's counting? 😊

@bobthedogsells 

After four days, you can cancel the transaction by selecting "Buyer hasn't paid." If you cannot see that selection as a choice, it's because it hasn't been four days yet. The option won't appear until the transaction qualifies for cancellation time-wise.

eBay's new unpaid item cancellation procedures default to a manual cancellation--you have to cancel the transaction yourself. Once you cancel the transaction by choosing "Buyer hasn't paid," your fees will be credited back, your item will be relisted (unless you don't want to relist), and any feedback from the buyer will be removed.

You can make this whole process automatic by going into your "Preferences" and enabling the feature. You can also exclude specific buyers and/or transactions on that same page.

This is a very important tool to have in your arsenal. Please, please, please read eBay's help page on this process for yourself. There is a lot of misinformation on it floating around the discussion boards, so it's best to learn about it here: 

 Resolving unpaid items with buyers 

Preferences for items awaiting payment 

[eleanor*rigby]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

Then wanted to text me about shipping, I replied and he wanted me to also include with his purchase $200 worth of gift cards

@bobthedogsells 

Don't even 'reply' to the "text me" scammers.

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This. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

@bobthedogsells 

It's actually a violation of eBay's member-to-member contact policy for you to reply to another member's text--and, in this case, that policy would protect you from scammers like this. Now the scammer has your number (assuming you replied by text), so don't be surprised if that gets passed around.

You're a 20-year member--this is stuff you should already know . . .

[gracieallen01]

No, it isn't a new scam - it is a very old one.  The only payment you would get would be a fake letter from PayPal saying you have money, just as soon as you ship and prove that by sending the tracking and the proof of purchase (the scratch off part of the number for the gift card), the money would be released to your account.

By not paying, your buyer saved you from losing your item, too.  Never take the transaction off ebay or send contact info or include a gift card or anything else that isn't in the original purchase/listing.