Scam?

[dide_5310]

Seller asked me to email them with additional picture and my paypal. Then said

"Okay, Great. I’d like to have it mailed to my daughter in xx as a birthday present, also, I  want an eBay gift card of $400 included in the package before you ship, would appreciate you assisting me with this cause i work away from home on a business trip and i won't be back until 28th of January next year and i'm not in the right position to have it mailed out myself. I will add $400 to your payment for the eBay gift card and $50 to cover the shipping handling." 

What do you think?

[ms.rodriguez*]

You mean the buyer.  IT'S A SCAM.  Stop emailing with that lowlife dirtbag.  Wait 4 days (96 hours )after the ad ended and cancel it with BUYER DID NOT PAY.   Block that bad buyer.   NEVER exchange email or phone numbers with a buyer.  Never include anything extra.    

Add the following to the ALL of the descriptions of your items.   Keep doing this until you get a lot of feedback and scammers can't trick you.

All payments MUST go through the EBAY PAY NOW BUTTON. All payments will be VERIFIED in MY Ebay.  All items will be shipped to the address provided in the payment.  We ONLY answer questions through ebay email.  Please ask ALL questions BEFORE buying.

Remember, you will ONLY get a payment that will say EBAY MANAGED PAYMENTS.  If you see paypal, it's a scam. It's a fake email stating that you got paid.   LEARN to use MY EBAY.    If you do NOT see the payment there, you did not get paid!    When a buyer pays a seller, the seller NEVER knows how the buyer paid. It could be Paypal, Apple pay, bank card, checking account, bank account and even funds from managed payments.     

BLOCK the buyer so that they do not come back.   

If you ever see gift card in a message, it's a scam. Ignore that email.

[dide_5310]

Idk it was $69 starting bid. I'm new so I'm not really sure what that's considered.

[dide_5310]

Thanks everyone for your reply, definitely not going for it

[simba6]

Classic SCAM.    Used to be called the Russian wedding scam as the gift was for a wedding in Russia.  Those oldies do make a comeback.     Pole lamps will be next I fear.

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@duncanvr wrote:

as soon as you hear the words gift card you know its a scam! ....

---

Actually, even before that -- when the buyer asked for their PayPal email.  That's totally not needed, it's just a way to get the seller's info to take the discussion away from eBay Messages.

[mike_jayroe]

SOMEONE TRIED TO DO THAT within one week of me joining. Claimed to be a US Marine unable to pay right away. Wanted it sent to a cousin and wanted a gift card included. Told him to pay and would ship the item. Then contacted e-bay and reported him.

No way am I stupid enough to fall for that.

Recently keep getting telephone calls claiming that my power company overcharged and due a refund. Funny thing is I have solar panels and pay nothing for electricity so how can I be getting overcharged.

[spark-chaser1]

There are sellers I know well and do regular business with. They know they can trust me. But at no time would I EVER  ask one of these sellers to spot me anything and I will pay them later. 

I had one leave for vacation and was going to ship an item before he left and before I could pay because he was trying to do me a favor,  and I told him to wait til he got back.

I just don't understand how some of these scams get traction. They aren't subtle... They are , " Hey, I just won your auction, but I can't pay right now because I'm in Ukraine polishing rocket nosecones, but my baby's birthday is tomorrow, so can you send her  my widescreen tv I won AND 6 $ 400 eBay gift cards, and I will pay you when I get home? Thanks!" 

And people DO IT!

I just SMH.