Scam

[abientot55]

Scammer bought and paid for my item.  I have learned to always check my addresses.  You should too.  Got this address 8 McCullough Dr., New Castle, DE  19726 and it seemed fishy.  Plus his name was really bizarre.  Checked it out and it has two zipcodes for the address.  Asked the scammer for an updated address, he would not reply back for a day..............good thanks that is the confirmation I needed.   Then he said he sent updated address.   He never did.    Hmmmm dug further and found out that is an address for a Scam.    SO I refunded his money  and cancelled the order.    But if this had played out and I had shipped it, he would have scammed me to refund his money.

Here is the short version of what I found. 

8 McCullough Dr, New Castle, DE 19726 is a Translogistics freight forwarding company, also USA2Georgia, and ships products to the country Georgia/Asia.  They have been there since 2015 and usps claims good service with them but only because USA2Georgia is not the scammers....they are in the middle.  Although I suspect insiders know.

Summary:

1) if you get any email telling you a new address, then the buyers email has been compromised.  Before you ship, check the username and the address and contact the original buyer.

2)If someone just buys your item and it is getting shipped to 8 McCullough Dr., New Castle, DE  19726;      DO NOT SHIP IT!

3)  They will pay you like any other buyer.  They are hoping you ship fast and do not stop and think.   

I did not ship..........but I want to let you all know this scam is still going on today in 2020!!!   

4.  It is sad.  I think over all Ebay is a good platform to sell our unwanted goods.   It is sad that we have to be cautious, but we do.  Best of luck everyone! 

[pburn]

That's an address for a freight forwarder. While your buyer may or may not be a scammer, and some people using that freight forwarder may be scammers, the address in and of itself isn't.

If you search the community, you'll find hundreds of threads on the topic of freight forwarders. Most sellers report that they have no problems with sales to customers who use a freight forwarder.

[nkmipgolf]

Good for you and that is a BIG scam on eBay. Some people use this address in real life but scammers do also to bypass "ship to USA only".   One scam cancels out 20 good sales. 

[wastingtime101]

I've mailed many packages to re-shippers in New Castle, DE (among other US locations) and never had a problem. Whether you send a package to a re-shipper or to a buyer located in the US you can run into a scammer either way. Sending a package to re-shipper does not increase the chances.

[kensgiftshop]

That's an address for a freight forwarder and just because a buyer uses them, doesn't make it a scam.

Sure, a lot of scammers use freight forwarders, and so do a lot of good buyers.

I've shipped to many freight forwarders and never had a problem.

[slippinjimmy]

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@nkmipgolf wrote:

Good for you and that is a BIG scam on eBay. Some people use this address in real life but scammers do also to bypass "ship to USA only".   One scam cancels out 20 good sales. 

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Last time I checked Delaware is part of the USA!

I've shipped to forwarders on both coasts and Florida hundreds of times (and I ship worldwide direct) without a single problem.

I especially like them when they are used by buyers from countries where direct shipping is at best very slow.

[bar-29368]

Well now you have a cancellation defect for no good reason.

[albertabrightalberta]

If a seller doesn't have international shipping, international buyers hire forwarding companies. It's not a scam and you lost a sale.

[femmefan1946]

It's actually safer to ship to a freight forwarder than to a street address.

When the forwarder accepts the shipment, most of the Money Back Guarantee program ceases to apply-- because damage, loss, or theft from then on could have happened at the forwarding plant, rather than while under the seller's responsibility.

In addition, most forwarders arrange for duty and sales taxes to be paid before they will re-ship, so that real scam* cannot happen.

The only problem that can still occur is if the seller sent the wrong item, and even there, she is only responsible for return shipping from the forwarder's US address.

EBay has its own freight forwarding program, called the Global Shipping Program, which is promoted as a Seller Protection, and is very effective as such.

Although as a Canadian and occasional buyer, the GSP offers very few advantages to the buyer.

* The buyer claims non-delivery. The package is sitting, undelivered , in customs. When the buyer gets the refund, he picks up the -now free- package, paying only duty and sales tax, a fraction of the value. 

[chapeau-noir]

I've shipped to that freight forwarder, among a number of others, including one through Doral Florida, also Large Distant which ships to Asia (that's a frequent one for me) and one on the New York docks that ships to eastern Europe.

You probably didn't hear from the buyer because (1) He/she probably does business through the forwarder or (2) Different time zone.

[dirk12955]

I ship to freight forwarders on a regular basis.     Most all end up going to Japan,   I believe.   

[fashunu4eeuh]

I am trying to understand exactly what the scam was? Did someone contact you after the sale, posing as the buyer and asking for the item to be sent to a different address, and gave you the freight forwarder info? Because that is indeed a scam plaguing newbies especially. But if not, what was the main problem that spurred you to cancel the sale? The three issues you noted were, after investigation, 2 zip codes and a weird sounding name. The third was a delayed response from the buyer. 

The red flag i noted was the buyer claiming they sent you an updated address, but you did not receive it. However, that in and of itself isn't all that dire. I've known messages to go awry or get delayed through eBay. I just got a wonky thing happen to me just now. A seller sent me a message, and i was not able to reply to it because i got an error stating that i cannot answer a question more than 90 days old. I just got it today!

Did you just have a bad feeling about the transaction? Was it an expensive item?

[divwido]

I have shipped to that address more than a couple times with zero problems.  People who forward packages out of the US are not bad, nor do they cost you anything extra.  Once your item gets to them-you are done.

[cream_couture]

I don't see the scam in what you described. The buyer was shipping to a freight forwarder. I have shipped to freight forwarders multiple times with no issue. Seems like you were being overly cautious and cost yourself a sale.