sold with free shipping and buyer want to change to overnight now. Scam?

[hot346ws6]

I had a used $1399 laptop computer listed with lots of photos, details and free standard shipping to 48 US states. As soon as the auction ended the buyer sends me this message. Is this a scam in the works?

"Hi, I do hope the item is in great condition as listed as am buying it as Gift to USA. Do calculate the shipping cost via Fedex 
overnight or UPS Next Day Air only and I will be very happy to pay the postage cost. Also confirm if this is your  ho____6@gmail.com paypal email id for the payment to be made without making mistake. You can also email me the pictures of the  product and send paypal payment request to H______@gmx.com"

Is the catch that I ship it out fast and then they cancel payment once it's already in transit? I've already been burned once.  I just want need to raise some money, not lose even more dealing with crooks

[emerald40]

Buyer does not need your email.

A common scam to send you  bogus paypal email saying it was paid.

And by requesting it be sent overnight scammer is hoping once you realize your mistake, it will be too late to recall it.

[femmefan1946]

Not necessarily

You are allowed to increase the shipping cost when the buyer asks you to upgrade the service.

No problem there.

You may be able to do it through the eBay invoice. (Try. Either it works or it doesn't.) If not you can bill as a Paypal Send Money request.

Then ship when the total is paid. with Signature Confirmation.

The problems are with the requests for emails.

He has that information in your email bill.

You also need to use not only Delivery Confirmation but also Signature Confirmation.

Google the address. Is it a commercial office? The buyer may be using a freight forwarder.

Whick is good because you are covered on delivery once it is accepted (Signature Confirmation!) at the doorstep of the forwarder.

The address you masked is for a German  free email host, btw.

Founded in 1997, GMX is a subsidiary of United Internet AG, a stock-listed company in Germany, and a sister company to 1&1 Internet and Fasthosts Internet.

Let him know that there is no way the laptop will make it to him in time for Christmas. And politely add Frohe Weihnachten

[nawlinsron2]

Total scam...set your Unpaid Item Reminder to 48 hours...the whole mess should go away 96 hours later.
Block him in the meantime.

[kensgiftshop]

Ya, they are tyrying to scam you.

They do not need your Pay Pal email to make a payment.

They will send you a fake email saying you have been paid, hoping you will ship the laptop before you find out you have not been paid.

Tell them to pay through the Ebay listing, then you could send them an invoice through Pay Pal for the overnight shipping fee.

Always log into Pay Pal to make sure payments are there and Pay Pal says it is ok to ship the order.

If you don't get a payment in a couple days, open an Item Not Paid case.

[hot346ws6]

Wow. Thank you all, most graciously.

The address the buyer wants it sent is supposedly for someone named John C___

but when I looked up the address on google it shows R&A International Trading Inc in Jamaica New York.

According to ebay, the buyer is located in Denmark.

Should I go ahead and invoice via paypal, certainly not through the email method they are asking.. or can I just back out of this whole thing? I really do not want to lose $1399 plus shipping plus ebay fees. I'd rather just keep it than lost the money and the laptop.

[nawlinsron2]

If you do invoice, and he does pay, make sure it's not some e-check payment that hasn't cleared. Wait for ANY payment to clear.
If by some miracle he does pay, ship ONLY to the PP address.

[campesinoplastic2014]

You are about to lose $1400 and a computer.

[missjen831]

---

@hot346ws6 wrote:

Wow. Thank you all, most graciously.

The address the buyer wants it sent is supposedly for someone named John C___

but when I looked up the address on google it shows R&A International Trading Inc in Jamaica New York.

According to ebay, the buyer is located in Denmark.

Should I go ahead and invoice via paypal, certainly not through the email method they are asking.. or can I just back out of this whole thing? I really do not want to lose $1399 plus shipping plus ebay fees. I'd rather just keep it than lost the money and the laptop.

---

No. No need to invoice via PayPal and you aren't allowed to take the sale off eBay like that. He's a scammer so don't send an invoice period.

[emerald40]

Tell the buyer you cannot change the shipping method and it will have to go as indicated in the listing.

Tell him, that even with expedited shipping there is not enough time for it to get there by Christmas.

I bet he disappears.

If by some miracle he does pay, go into your paypal acct and make sure the money is in there and you get an OK to ship.

Be wary of being paid by echeck as they must clear first.

Do not give him your email address.

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

@hot346ws6 wrote:

Wow. Thank you all, most graciously.

The address the buyer wants it sent is supposedly for someone named John C___

but when I looked up the address on google it shows R&A International Trading Inc in Jamaica New York.

According to ebay, the buyer is located in Denmark.

Should I go ahead and invoice via paypal, certainly not through the email method they are asking.. or can I just back out of this whole thing? I really do not want to lose $1399 plus shipping plus ebay fees. I'd rather just keep it than lost the money and the laptop.

---

Do NOT send a Paypal invoice. Do that and you'll receive a very real looking fake "Paypal payment" email. 

Send the buyer a message

"Dear buyer,

I'm sorry, I cannot offer overnight or next day air shipping. If this is not acceptable I'll be more than happy to cancel.

Thank you,

Seller"

If they reply back to cancel, do so and breathe a sigh of relief.

If they go silent, or pressure you, remain silent and file an unpaid item dispute 48 hours after the listing closes.  Also be sure to block the buyer FWIW  http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

Whatever you do, don't engage with them anymore once you send the offer to cancel.

[kensgiftshop]

If they haven't paid for the lap top yet, wait until you can open an Item Not Paid case, I think it's 48 hrs..

If they don't pay, you will get your FVF's back and you can relist it.

Chances are you won't hear any more from them.

[femmefan1946]

If the Buyer had not asked for overnight shipping OR had been clear about his actual location and that he was using a freight forwarder, I would be less skeptical.

But he was both too forthcoming and too secretive.

Freight forwarders are actually pretty safe. And the 'John C.....' is likely the name of his account there. Sometimes they show as unit numbers or box numbers.

The important part being that once your laptop is accepted by the forwarder (and it is in the forwarder's best interests to run an honest business) you are covered.

SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION!!

Try first to add the addition postage through eBay.

Keep it all in one place.

Then use PP's Send Money if that doesn't work and add the eBay transaction number to the invoice.

Be careful that PP says the payment is cleared-- not pending. If it has cleared you will be able to print a (discounted) shipping label through PP. If it hasn't you won't be able to.

FWIW- if I sound less paranoid than many of the other posters it's because as a Canadian seller, 95% of my sales are international, with 85% being US and 10% being overseas.

[hot346ws6]

Some details I should have put on the 1st post but was trying to keep it short. 

I already sent the original $1399 invoice through ebay before I saw the buyer message wanting  overnight shipping and email address.

After that 

I then responded by reminding them that I had many photos on the listing and asking if they want me to calculate the additional charge for overnight shipping

*Buyer*
Okay,Do calculate the shipping cost via ups nextday air or fedex overnigth only also send me Paypal Reques to h____@gmx.com for the payment to carried out asap

My response was that I would be happy to visit UPS or Fedex to calculate overnight shipping and asked for an address confirmation, because the address I had was 175-57 148th Road, Jamaica NY, which shows to be R&A International Logistics.

Their only response was John C___ 175-57 148th Road, Jamaica NY 11434.

Then I posted the thread on here that you kind people are helping me with.

So I never invoiced a final revised invoice with overnight shipping.  

This whole scenario started about 6 hours ago when the item sold.  

I checked paypal and no payment has been made.

The above conversation has all been through ebay messenging.

I have a bad feeling about this and am thinking I should go this route

"Dear buyer,

I'm sorry, I cannot offer overnight or next day air shipping afterall since the laptop will not arrive in time for Christmas. If this is not acceptable I'll be more than happy to cancel.

Thank you,

Seller"

I assume they have to agree to cancel the sell? 

[swenson8781]

Lemme revise your message a bit...

Dear Buyer,

I cannot offer overnight shipping on this item.  If you would like me to cancel the transaction please let me know.

Thank you, Seller

No need to add any fluff, DO NOT send them your email address (as others have told you), DO NOT ship this item until you have the money CONFIRMED in your Paypal account, as in, your balance will increase, the item will say 'okay to ship'.  If they actually pay, be sure to pay and add signature confirmation. 

If you do not have that confirmed payment in your Paypal account within 48 hours, then file an Unpaid Item Dispute (UPI), and close it right away after 4 days. Should you decide to 'relist' this item, you can avoid this scenairo by using a Fixed Price listing, with checking the 'Immediate Payment Required' box when you list it.