Suspicious buyer wants me to ship to a freight forwarder that is known for scams

[wesie-43]

I'm a new seller selling a high value item which is usually a target for scammers. I checked his page and he has all positive reviews while I can't check if he's us verified or not his PP is clearly Chinese so prob not. This is his address 1140 River Road, Apt New Castle DE 19720,  but that address is a freight forwarder to HK or China which is also known for scams. Their excuse is usually defective and would request a return even though I put no returns. This is a brand new item still all sealed up with original tape.

I've read that if I ship to freight forward as long as it arrives, my liability is over? However, I also read that PP usually sides with the buyer and can screw me over.

Don't want to lose such a big item to a scam. I'm trying to see if Ebay will do anything about it and if I'll get hit with anything if I decide to cancel.


https://badbuyerlist.org/buyer/2efc452796f2e37e48e98ee5

[wesie-43]

Thank you everyone for your help. I now understand that the re-shipper is not at fault and it is the person itself and you're right if you go looking for faults, you'll prob end up nitpicking. I've decided to ship as I need the money but I'll take extra precautions provided by everyone here and pictures. If he/she claims something else was sent, what can I do to counter that? I was thinking of videoing myself putting the package and sealing it up but it feels too easy to lie and say that after video ended I took it out.

[chapeau-noir]

eBay doesn't take videos, etc., into any consideration.

The best you can do is the best you can do with any transaction - pack carefully, ship only to the named address and make sure you use signature confirmation - that's very important.

The buyer can claim just about anything - if you're good with this, then I'd go with it.  It's worthy to understand that 99% of transactions here go well.  We just hear all the bad stories.

I just didn't wnat to blithely encourage you to do something that went against your instincts.

[a_c_green]

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@wesie-43 wrote:

I was thinking of videoing myself putting the package and sealing it up but it feels too easy to lie and say that after video ended I took it out.

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Correct, and that's why videos or photos of you packing the shipment are not accepted as any part of a dispute process, since there's no way to prove that what you showed is what you shipped, or for that matter, what you shipped is what they received.

This risk is the same regardless of whether the destination is domestic or international. In general, you don't want to sell something that you cannot afford to lose completely, even though, as noted, the vast majority of sales go through just fine. Some items attract more scammers than others, and that's where you need to decide in advance whether it's something that you want to risk listing here. You could also avoid shipping risks by listing the item for Local Pickup only, with no Shipping method offered. No one halfway around the world has a pressing need for your particular laptop, smartphone or whatever. There are plenty of buyers much closer to you.