eBay Scam?

Forum guidelines BT super discount
Other Resources My Cup of Joe » eBay Scam? Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, the bear, DerekL, alicefoeller Reply
2006-11-18 8:31 AM

User image

Expert
704
500100100
The High Plains
Subject: eBay Scam?

I recently listed a brand new Sony PSP on eBay for $150.  The winning bid was $235.00 and the auction winner (located in Atlanta, GA) would like me to ship the item to Nigeria.  He offered to include an additional $30.00 for shipping; according to the UPS website, it would cost ~$110.00 to ship the item to Nigeria.  I emailed him with this information and offered to ship the PSP to his listed Atlanta address 2nd Day Air (most expensive shipping under $30.00).

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330047790130&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D330047790130%26fvi%3D1 

 

What do you think: is the cat trying to scam me?  

 

Obviously, I wouldn't ship the thing out without payment, but I'm still curious as that what y'all think.

2006-11-18 9:06 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Extreme Veteran
465
1001001001002525
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?
It does sound fishy, like he is buying these and trying to have others (you) ship them out of the country for him because he does not want or more likely cannot get an export license. His low number would be a cause of concern, plus he has changed his user id in the last 30 days, coupled with the odd shipping request all adds up to no good in my opinion.

The question someone had asked you was weird as well, also going to Africa.

Did you say you would ship worldwide? Regardless, I would stick to my guns and ship it to the guy in Atlanta, and obviously not until you get paid.

We sell a lot of things on ebay, and ship worldwide, I do know that UPS charges the person who picks up the item in the other country a huge fee or tax of some sort so we usually go with United States Postal Service when we ship out of the country.

Edited by shadowfax 2006-11-18 9:10 AM
2006-11-18 9:18 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Expert
704
500100100
The High Plains
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

If I were to ship with USPS to Nigeria, would I be required to have some kind of export license? I didn't say anywhere in the item description that I wouldn't ship internationally, but I didn't explicitly say I would, either. Would there be any legal ramifications?

 

My gut says to ship the darn thing overnight/2nd Day Air to his address in Atlanta and let him deal with getting it to Nigeria. The sheer fact that he bid $235.00 for an item he can buy for <$199.99 on Amazon leads me to believe he's scamming me somehow.

 

Of course there would be no shipping until the funds are securely in my Paypal account.

 

Email sent to winning bidder:


Thank you for the additional information. 

Shipping a 2lb package via USPS Global Express Mail from New York to Nigeria with no additional insurance or customs charges will cost $37.40 and take up to 3-5 days.  If this is how you would like me to ship this item, I will require  full payment plus this additional shipping cost ($235.49 + $37.40 = $272.89) before shipping is undertaken. 

If there are additional customs fees required, shipping would be delayed until those fees would be deposited into my Paypal account.  Though I would still feel much more comfortable shipping this item to your US address, I will ship to Nigeria once the purchase price and the price quoted above are in my Paypal account.  Again, if the shipping cost ends up being higher than expected due to customs fees, etc., shipping would be delayed until you could be contacted and additional fees deposited into my Paypal account. 

If funds were deposited into my account today or tomorrow, shipping could be undertaken as early as Monday, 19 November.

Thank you -

Steven Ranney




Edited by sranney 2006-11-18 9:19 AM
2006-11-18 9:35 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Master
1862
10005001001001002525
San Mateo, CA
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

Um, run Forrest run!

Sounds a lot like the responses I received to my mtn bike that I had posted for sale.  Someone whose profile says they're from Israel wants to buy my bike, but wants it shipped to Mexico.  WTF?   I pressed delete.  Next.



Edited by betyoursilver 2006-11-18 9:36 AM
2006-11-18 9:45 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Extreme Veteran
465
1001001001002525
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?
My husband is a wildlife artist, he sells some of his artwork on ebay and ships worldwide with no export license, but then again he is not shipping "new" items worldwide. we tend to ship monthly about two items worldwide, so I do have some experience as far as this goes. I can tell you this, I believe that USPS is going to have different fees or taxes on a new electronic item leaving the country vs. a "homemade" piece of art, catch my drift. You can always ask your local USPS office, we live out in nowhere and you would be so suprised at all the exotic locations our little old lady of a post master is looking up for us.


With the ebay setup there is an area where it explicity asks you will you ship worldwide, if you did not check that, I would take that as you do not intend to ship worldwide. You are in the power position here, you have the item and can refuse to accept payment because the buyer is changing the rules of the game. I think this is a bit of a hassle with a holiday coming up, I still feel I would mail it to his home in Atlanta. You could contact ebay, if this is some type of organized scam, they would of heard of it. They can give you some guidance on what to do.

He probably is not buying it from Amazon because Amazon will not ship to Nigeria.

summary:
*contact your local post office this morning if they are still open, ask them about shipping a new electronic item to Nigeria.
*contact ebay for their opinion
*ship to Atlanta if you do not feel good about it. Remember this guy is putting YOU out, not the other way around.






2006-11-18 10:08 AM
in reply to: #602943

User image

Expert
704
500100100
The High Plains
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

Shadowfax, thanks for your thoughts. 

 

I just got off the phone with USPS and they don't have any prohibitions about this item being shipped to Nigeria.  I've sent an email to eBay customer support about this and will hopefully hear back soon.

 

Thanks again; I'll keep you updated.

 

 

2006-11-18 11:16 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Expert
704
500100100
The High Plains
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

I am SO getting scammed. 

 

I received an email claiming that payment had been deducted from the buyer's Paypal account and "verified", but wouldn't be released to me until shipment was verified on my end.  The email did not look like it came from Paypal: errors in spelling, capitalization, etc.  I responed to the buyer with an email saying that payment must be in my account and I will only ship to his address listed in Atlanta or the sale will not happen.

2006-11-18 11:24 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Expert
764
5001001002525
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?
The e-mail is fake. People send e-mails saying "here's a copy of my payment receipt" and it looks exactly like a paypal receipt. It's fake!

Did the person say they're here for an AIDS conference and their son/nephew/brother is in Nigeria for school and needs whatever you're selling? Typical ebay scam! I got that 4 times when I tried to sell my laptop! See my "which bike?" thread for another example of a scam...I almost bit on a second chance offer that wasn't real. It had working links, no spelling errors, and looked legitimate, but ebay confirmed that it was fake.

Forward your e-mail to [email protected] and they'll tell you if it originated from them. Often, it doesn't, even though it comes from an address with ebay in the name.

Edited by GulfCoastSwimmer 2006-11-18 11:24 AM
2006-11-18 12:49 PM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Extreme Veteran
465
1001001001002525
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?
Like the above poster said, RUN!

We get spoof e-mails on a daily basis claiming to be from ebay or paypal.

Paypal will ALWAYS address you by your actual given name, not your e-mail address or Mr., sir or whatever. When ebay mails you, you will also have that identicle e-mail in your mailbox under "myebay", when you log in. Those are some ways you can be assured that they are for real.

Turn this person in to ebay, they may have stolen another persons user id, and the actual ebayer does not even know, happen to us once, Someone hijacked into our account and we "bought" a $200 Eriksson cell phone, ebay personally called us, and we changed passwords and such that moment.

Sorry this happened to you, good thing you are not out any money though.
2006-11-18 2:36 PM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Extreme Veteran
474
1001001001002525
Ocean City
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?
It is a scam, Nugeria has laws that make it impossible for you to collect the money. It just happened to a friend of mine with an xbox.

Do not send that PSP you will get screwed!
2006-11-18 4:19 PM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Expert
704
500100100
The High Plains
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

Thanks all.  I had a bad feeling about it all from the beginning.

 

I turned everything I had over to the eBay peeps and offered the second highest bidder a "Second Chance Offer".

2006-11-20 11:34 AM
in reply to: #602906

User image

Pro
3705
20001000500100100
Vestavia Hills
Subject: RE: eBay Scam?

... I think that is why many sellers on e-Bay state that they will not ship overseas and will not ship to any address other than a PayPal confirmed address (whatever that is).

The whole scam thing at e-Bay is starting to make me leery of buying anything there.

New Thread
Other Resources My Cup of Joe » eBay Scam? Rss Feed