when the address is an international shipping hub - is it a scam?

[cmcintoshphoto]

I've been trying to sell a vintage mountain bike part (one of the first suspension forks), hardly valuable and extremely niche and i've priced it on the higher end (so it wouldn't be worth reselling) and i've just had a second person buy it at asking price with the address of ITS Global in Portland OR. The first buyer had an ACI address also in OR, and just googling their name & address brought up many concerns over false claims of defective items, etc- not to mention they're buying like 2,000 items a month. I messaged them for clarification on why they want the item (because a scammer wouldn't know why) and they didn't answer it but sent a canned message regarding shipping. I don't want this part to just go to some warehouse and/or get scammed out of the money it's worth. Are these concerns legit? I've been trying to sell other stuff (mainly camera stuff) all week and it's been overwhelmingly scammers.

[divwido]

Look, this is simple.  You have 22 feedback and expensive items for sale.  Every scammer just got an alert from  their  'people to try to scam' network that you are here.  And they are out for blood.   No one this new, although smart, should be listing such expensive items.

The good news is you know, so you know what to watch for.

Some others:

anyone who asks for your PayPal address

Offers you more money

wants gift cards included for whatever stupid reason (gift for my nephew)

anyone out of the US-period.

anyone who has an address that makes you uncomfortable-like a reshipper

Make sure eBay says you have the money before you ship.  Assume any emails that you have paid are fake until verified through the site.

And good luck and expect more of the same.

[a_c_green]

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@cmcintoshphoto wrote:

I've been trying to sell a vintage mountain bike part (one of the first suspension forks), hardly valuable and extremely niche and i've priced it on the higher end (so it wouldn't be worth reselling) and i've just had a second person buy it at asking price with the address of ITS Global in Portland OR. The first buyer had an ACI address also in OR, and just googling their name & address brought up many concerns over false claims of defective items, etc- not to mention they're buying like 2,000 items a month.

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Context is everything. The addresses you found are clearly those of reshippers, who are used by international buyers in order to buy from sellers who themselves do not ship internationally. You can find a lot of complaints on-line because they cater to vast numbers of international buyers, but people do not go on-line to loudly announce that their sale went fine. Thus you read about only the bad purchases, not the good ones.

The buyer of 2,000 items a month sounds like one of the long-time Japanese reshippers whose buyers purchase through the reshipper's eBay account, rather than their own. I have sold to them numerous times over the years and everything has gone fine, perhaps because the buyers are registered with the reshipper, who can then keep them on a tighter leash.

You will indeed hear from a lot of scammers due to your high-priced items listed on a selling account with a low feedback number, but listing with Fixed Price and the Immediate Payment Required option selected can keep them out of your hair, as they would actually have to pay you first before you would ship. If eBay tells you in your Sold Items list that the buyer has paid and it's time to ship, then ship. Good luck.

[bashort]

We have sold to many of these "freight forwarder" buyers and so far have never had a problem.

I have had several sales to them in the $500 to $1000 range.

[richards*rock*collection]

These  directions in the platform never said to look at the name or destination address when you make a sale, just that there is one. You need to be honest and think of the item not belonging to you anymore, and that it now belongs to someone else. Respect that. Or you are dis-honest in your thinking. The item now belongs to someone else, and it is your job to see that it gets mailed. Now do you get it. Not enough sellers respect this one golden rule, treat buyers as you would be the buyer.

[luckythewinner]

when the address is an international shipping hub - is it a scam?

There is no way to tell.

Generally speaking, scams are perpetrated by individual buyers not by the shipping service they use.

[1tuna]

there is no real scam involved

the black market for BMX forks is not so hot

the average person would not pay $25 for them so its a very limited market

expensive lenses are more in line with what crooks want but you have to use your head

I would not sell anything over 500 international if it was me

good luck

[cstpos]

@cmcintoshphotoAs some have mentioned - when you google the address, it can show negative or scam alerts because it can (or has been) used by scammers. Some of those posts are from 10 years ago. We ship to freight forwarding addresses quite a bit.

You are being targeted because you are a new seller with higher priced items. If they paid for it, and ebay says to ship it, you either have to ship as promised or take a defect to your ebay account. Too many defects and they will restrict or ban you from selling.

I'm curious what their canned shipping response was.

[dbfolks166mt]

     In general tend to agree but in this case the OP does not ship internationally and the buyer is using a FF to bypass that constraint. This is going to be a continual problem until eBay utilizes the buyers registered address to validate against the shipping constraints in the listing. 

     Fully realize eBay policy states that once the item is delivered to the FF the sellers responsibility is completed but the blues have contradicted that policy as well. There is also that 1.6% fee that eBay tacks onto the international sale that surprises some sellers when they don't sell internationally and the item goes through a FF. 

     As far as the golden rule if I was a buyer in a foreign country and purchased an item form a seller that does not ship internationally but that I was having shipped through a FF and the seller canceled for a problem with the buyers address I would have not issues with that. 

     With so little seller protection the OP is perfectly justified in taking whatever measures they see fit to protect their own interest. It's their merchandise, their business and their risk and eBay will be the first to defend the buyer in almost any type of dispute. 

[klhmdg]

I have sold many items to buyers who use a FF company.

I have never had an issue.

I ship the item. It is received at the FF and sent with the buyers other purchases to the buyer.

I know some sellers have an issue with buyers using a FF, but I have found 99% of their complaints are non-issues.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Tough one.  FF's are not a scam & most tx's go just fine.  But your buyer MAY be a scammer & it's hard to know.  The response you got concerns me.  I recently had the only scammer ever trying to perpetrate against me over a $70 item.  They used a FF, which wasn't a concern, but long story short, when I wrote them over something they had done weird, their response was "just freight the goods" & I knew right then, it was not a legit customer, as my buyers wouldn't speak like that.  

In my case it was a valid US acct, that had been hijacked, which became clear b/c of the history on the acct & the fact that they were in the US, but using a FF.  

I would do a bit more digging.  Is the acct registration in another country?  What country?  Has the acct been dormant for years & then suddenly buying 2000 items/month?  

No one can tell you what to do, you have to determine your own risk tolerance, but FF's themselves are not bad & the fact that you found a bunch of bad reviews, means nothing, BUT a lot of scammers do use FF's, along with a lot of legit buyers.   

[yuzuha]

No, you don't need to be concerned. You said it yourself: the part is extremely niche. There is a 99.99% chance that it is going to a collector or someone who wants to use it to restore a vintage mountain bike. It's not a high-scam item.