Sold Product to Definite Scammer

[pashe_7129]

     I recently sold a laptop to and account that had paid higher than ther buy it now. I accepted the offer thinking it was close to the buy it now price, but not realizing it wasn't less than it. I am fairly new to this so please understand that I hadn't yet realized the commonality of scammers on eBay. I looked at the account and it appears the accounts address is not a real place and the account had only been opened for less than a few hours. I contacted eBay support, but they told me to wait and see if the buyer pays within the two days. I looked other places online and saw that the scammer of the type I am dealing with will pay, but will chargeback the money once it has been shipped and recieved. That or the buyer will ask if I can ship it to some foreign country. I want to just cancel the order, as I need to sell this laptop as quickly as possible, but I do not want to be reprimanded for denying a scammer business. Does anyone know of any good course of actions besides waiting it out or dealing with a payment that was received?

[orangehound · Accepted solution]

If you are a new seller who is selling in-demand, expensive electronic items, then you are a prime target for thieves.

There are listing practices that you can employ to minimize the probability of theft (come back here when you want to relist, and we'll give you some guidance), but in the meantime you are either going to have to see what happens with the payment OR if you are convinced that the address is incorrect/vacant lot/etc., then you can cancel the sale with the reason "problem with seller's address".

If you want to wait on the payment, here are two things to watch out for:

• The most common thing that will happen is that you will get an email that looks like it is from eBay or PayPal, indicating that you've been paid and to ship now.  This is likely a fake email.  The money MUST be in your PayPal account, and it must be a cleared payment.
• Another tactic is for non-cleared payment to be submitted to PayPal, and the buyer pressures you to ship.  The payment will likely never clear.

Even after you ship, a savy thief knows about a loophole in the Money Back Guarantee program that allows them to easily steal the item from you.

What to do?  As mentioned above, cancel the transaction noting that there is a problem with the buyer's address.

[calntom]

You could also get a communication stating that the payment will be made after you provide tracking information. 

Dont get sucked into any of this.  

If you have any more doubts, come here first for answers.

They work scams dozens of different ways, every day.  

[ed8108]

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

     I looked at the account and it appears the accounts address is not a real place .....

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How did you determine there is a problem with the address ?

[sam9876]

Why are you selling a laptop?

[pashe_7129]

I had noticed the street address was for a main street and had only one number in the address. I though that was a little odd given that it was a large city it was in, so I looked it up through various map apps and shipping companies and found no address that matched or name to match.

[pashe_7129]

Thank you! I definitely knew something was up I just didn't want to cancel the order for fear of negative feedback or marks on my selling record.

[pburn]

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

     I recently sold a laptop to and account that had paid higher than ther buy it now. I accepted the offer thinking it was close to the buy it now price, but not realizing it wasn't less than it.

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Please. No amount of "eBay newness" causes a seller not to be able to distinquish the difference betwen higher and lower numbers.

You saw that the offer was for more, and you were delighted! Now you understand where that got you. Read this before you sell anything on eBay again.

http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/milowinter/125.htm

[pburn]

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

I had noticed the street address was for a main street and had only one number in the address. I though that was a little odd given that it was a large city it was in, so I looked it up through various map apps and shipping companies and found no address that matched or name to match.

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Are you serious about this? 

Your excuse of "problem with buyer's address" just does not hold up, and I, for one, don't believe you.

[pashe_7129]

I had been busy at work and received a notification on my phone for an offer that was $10 more than what I had for the "Buy It Now" price, which I had just lowered when I had gotten up to leave in the morning. I was not thinking I was getting more money I really had thought someone had offered me $40 less than what I had put on. Not until after I had accepted it did I realize that it was over the "Buy It Now" that I had just changed. I did not think I was getting more money, I would have definitely looked into it more if I had realized why someone would be so stupid than to offer me more than what I had posted. I own a custom woodshop and deal with people on other various websites on a daily basis. I'm just not used to a system that is based off offers instead of just buying at a fixed price. I understand that seeing a higher price often gets people all the time, but I would rather not be insulted that is not why I came here.

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@pburn wrote:

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

     I recently sold a laptop to and account that had paid higher than ther buy it now. I accepted the offer thinking it was close to the buy it now price, but not realizing it wasn't less than it.

---

Please. No amount of "eBay newness" causes a seller not to be able to distinquish the difference betwen higher and lower numbers.

You saw that the offer was for more, and you were delighted! Now you understand where that got you. Read this before you sell anything on eBay again.

http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/milowinter/125.htm

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[pashe_7129]

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@pburn wrote:

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

I had noticed the street address was for a main street and had only one number in the address. I though that was a little odd given that it was a large city it was in, so I looked it up through various map apps and shipping companies and found no address that matched or name to match.

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Are you serious about this? 

Your excuse of "problem with buyer's address" just does not hold up, and I, for one, don't believe you.

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As serious as can be. I am a very skeptical person, and seeing very many other people have issues with scammers on a daily basis, I figured I better look into the account that had just paid more than the buy in now price. The account was created the same day it made the purchase, the name on the account is indistinguishable, and the messages I had received from it contained very poor english and was very obviously not a legitimate person. I then looked everywhere for the address and I cannot find any proof that it exists whatsoever. I'm not trying to cry wolf or anything here, I just want solutions as to how to deal with an account I know is attempting to scam me. If I thought the buyer was legit I wouldn't be posting here.

[gew6463]

Be careful as far as Feedback is concerned. I had an Ebay rep tell me to cancel an auction (due to problem with the buyer). After I did, the (cancelled) buyer left negative feedback, which Ebay did not remove. So I would just keep that in mind. Maybe you can ask to verify the address, as checking maps/apps doesn't seem like enough to know for sure (there are some odd addresses out there). I hope it all works out for you. 

[pburn]

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

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@pburn wrote:

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@pashe_7129 wrote:

I had noticed the street address was for a main street and had only one number in the address. I though that was a little odd given that it was a large city it was in, so I looked it up through various map apps and shipping companies and found no address that matched or name to match.

---

Are you serious about this? 

Your excuse of "problem with buyer's address" just does not hold up, and I, for one, don't believe you.

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As serious as can be. I am a very skeptical person, and seeing very many other people have issues with scammers on a daily basis, I figured I better look into the account that had just paid more than the buy in now price. The account was created the same day it made the purchase, the name on the account is indistinguishable, and the messages I had received from it contained very poor english and was very obviously not a legitimate person. I then looked everywhere for the address and I cannot find any proof that it exists whatsoever. I'm not trying to cry wolf or anything here, I just want solutions as to how to deal with an account I know is attempting to scam me. If I thought the buyer was legit I wouldn't be posting here.

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Good luck in your future eBay transactions.

[vintagemoth12]

You have done your due diligence and your instincts seem to be working for you. I would heed them and do whatever to get out of this transaction. Problem with address seems like that will work! If you cannot find it on a map... there you go.