Why order from me unless its a scam?

[holsteinatlanta]

Have a buyer purchasing a ridiculiouly heavy weight bench from me.  Buyer paid $130 for the bench and $150 to have it sent priority mail to Northern Mariana Islands.  Buyer has feedback of 1 and the bench is being shipped to a PO Box.  I looked and he can order the same bench as mine from Amazon for a total cost of $170.  Why would he buy from me?  Only thing I can think of is this is some sort of scam.  I even emailed the buyer and said why not buy it from Amazon for less.  He said Amazon said it was out of stock.  So I tried for myself inputting the guy's mailing address into amazon and it came up as a cost of $170.  I just emailed him a screen shot and said buy it from Amazon.  

Maybe I should put Northern Mariana Islands on my blocked shipping addresses but this particular order doesn't sit right.  Should I cancel it?  I could really dropship it from Amazon and keep the difference but this soundspro like I will lose the money that way too somehow 

[comics-scifi-collectibles · Accepted solution]

@holsteinatlanta   I would cancel the order as problem with the buyers address and add the buyer to my blocked list.  

You run the risk of a false not as described case where eBay will side with the buyer. 

[slippinjimmy]

Why would a seller offer such a thing to the Northern Mariana Islands?

Sounds like a scam seller to me.......

[tools*]

Does Amazon even deliver to the Northern Mariana Islands? They would have to have a local or regional warehouse for a tiny market.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@holsteinatlanta  Also I should have said that you nee to set up your buyer preferences. 

You can set up your shipping preferences and buyer requirements in account settings.
1. Exclude shipping locations
https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf/excludeRegions

2. Block buyers whose primary shipping address is in a location I don't ship to AND block buyers with 2 or more unpaid in 12 months.
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

[lepke1979]

I can't speak for it being a scam or not. But the two people I've mailed stuff to the Northern Mariana Islands have been to PO Boxes in Saipan. It could just be how they do things there. Probably easier or more efficient for everyone to pick up mail from the local post office as opposed to postal workers driving around.

I wouldn't outright block NMI. But you could only make it OK for any lighter weight stuff you sell. It's also possible Amazon delivers less to them. So perhaps certain items are blocked. Plenty of times I can't buy stuff on Amazon because of some weird environmental thing in California for instance. And being an island, they're probably used to paying more for shipping.

Having said that, it could be a scam. But it could also very well be legit.

[tools*]

The risk is that they could open a not as described claim and you'll lose the original $150 shipping fee, and then you'll have to pay an additional $150 if you want it back.

[holsteinatlanta]

I went with the first answer and canceled it. I’ve shipped to US Islands before, but maybe go though my listings and see what i would ship. A book a cd no problem but not a $300 item.  Thanks everyone