Fishy Ebay deal

MayoForSam

I am just after selling a PC component on Ebay, the initial winner notification had the name and address of an individual in one part of the UK.

I got paid using Paypal very soon after, but the shipping address had another name and address listed (Eastern European guy living in another part of the UK).

I smell a rat even though I have been paid using Paypal. The buyer also has 0 feedback.

Is there anyway I can check out the buyer's credentials before I send the item, is there a chance he will try a chargeback or claim the item never arrived? Or should everything be OK if I have already received payment?

jor el

Receiving payment will be meaningless if this is a fraudulent transaction, as Paypal will just take the money back from you. There's no way for you to check this out either.

Contact the buyer, tell them you smell a rat due to the different names and addresses, and refund the money. Contact eBay and/or Paypal to let them know your suspicions.

the groutch

jor el wrote: »

Contact the buyer, tell them you smell a rat due to the different names and addresses, and refund the money. Contact eBay and/or Paypal to let them know your suspicions.

I wouldnt phrase it like that, I would just let them know that you can only post to the paypal registered address, and if they still insist, then report to ebay/paypal, let them decide.

If you just cancel the payment straight out, there is no chance of being able to reclaim the selling fees, and could have to go through the hassle of having to convince ebay to remove the impending negative feedback.

studdlymurphy

Use registered post to prove delivery. If they are not happy with the product they can return it at their cost.

MayoForSam

Sent the buyer a message querying why there were 2 names and addresses supplied and got this reply:

"That's because that's the address ebay account registered to. Account of my relative was hacked, so he asked to use mine but paid with his paypal. Please send the item to address specified on Paypal order page or in order details. Thanks."

So this guy with a Russian name in London has a relative in the north of England with an English surname - doesn't feel right.

So I can either send the item via registered post or else re-imburse him Paypal and hope I don't get negative feedback.

jor el

MayoForSam wrote: »

"That's because that's the address ebay account registered to. Account of my relative was hacked, so he asked to use mine but paid with his paypal. Please send the item to address specified on Paypal order page or in order details. Thanks."

Real people never refer to the product they are buying as the item. They refer to it by name. However scammers do it all the time, often because they copy and paste the same text into hundreds of emails. I would say this is 100% scam.

MayoForSam

Buyer got back on to me when I again queried the different names/addresses and is insisting I send the processor to the Paypal address.

Is I send this via registered post, what's the worst that can happen? So long as I send it in good faith with proof of dispatch, then Paypal can hardly take the money back from me or can they? Tried to contact Ebay but so far no reply. The buyer has received a feedback score of 4 in the last 3 days from sellers, mainly due to fast payment on his behalf.

AlwaysAmber

If the PayPal account has been hacked, sending it registered post won't do anything for you as the account owner didn't order the item.

As jorel has said, it sounds like a scam.

Cancel the sale and walk away, don't even engage with the buyer.

jor el

MayoForSam wrote: »

So long as I send it in good faith with proof of dispatch, then Paypal can hardly take the money back from me or can they?

Yes they can, and they will if this is a stolen card or hacked Paypal account. This sounds way too dodgy for you to be doing this.

As this is a new account, and he's claiming to be buying for his friend/relative, then he probably wouldn't be buying multiple items for them. Since you say he now has 4 purchases under his belt, this sounds even more dodgy to me. If his relative's eBay account was hacked, but his Paypal account is still fine, then he could just set up a new eBay account with little problem. If his eBay account was hacked, then his Paypal account would likely be compromised too, as hacking an eBay account really serves no purpose on it's own (apart from setting up fake auctions using someone elses feedback).

This is simply not a believable story. If you post it off (registered or not), you're leaving yourself open to being scammed 3 or 4 weeks down the line, possibly even later.

MayoForSam

Thanks for the advice folks, as you say the whole thing stinks to high heaven. I emailed back earlier asking for his landline number so I could phone to confirm his side of the story and guess what, no reply since.

I posted about this on the Ebay forums and people on there are giving me the complete opposite advice, telling me to post the item inside 7 days with tracking and I will have full Paypal protection :rolleyes:.

At this stage, I would rather take the chance of cancelling the transaction, refunding the Paypal amount and taking the feedback hit if it comes to that. I'll be damned if this scam artist can get one over on me, my Xbox Live account and my VOIP account were hacked recently when my firewall went down and I'm getting a bit fed up of this sort of carry-on.

RasTa

MayoForSam wrote: »

I posted about this on the Ebay forums and people on there are giving me the complete opposite advice, telling me to post the item inside 7 days with tracking and I will have full Paypal protection :rolleyes:.

.

That's true, once you have proof that you posted to the address supplied by PayPal then you are covered. Simples.

It doesn't matter if the account was hacked or not, once you did what PayPal said then you are covered. People on these forums still seem not to understand this.

jor el

There are other ways for a buyer to scam a seller, and leave the seller out of pocket. Experienced scammers know exactly what they're doing, and how to get away with it. The address of the recipient does not appear on a postal receipt, so it will not be possible to prove you posted to the Paypal address. This has caught sellers out on numerous occasions.

Seller protection also only applies if you follow the requirements exactly, and we've seen on this board many sellers claiming to have lost out even though they thought they were protected. You may be protected, but seller protection is not guaranteed in every case.

In this case there is definitely something wrong with this buyer. It would be foolhardy to proceed with sending the item when you pretty much know that something is wrong.

MayoForSam

Quick update - I have asked the seller if it is OK to cancel the transaction as I am unhappy with his credentials. Surprise, surprise, no reply in 2 days.

And he has changed his feedback profile from public to private - why would he do this if he's legitimate?

I have contacted Ebay to say the buyer has not replied to my request.

Sure, i could send the item and hope that Paypal reimburse me in case he's a scammer, but this would probably mean he gets the item and disappears into the sunset.

I will hang onto the item, let Ebay sort it out and then either re-list or make a second chance offer to make sure a more honest trader gets the benefit.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there who are making the use of Ebay such a pain in the a$$ it's hardly worth the effort anymore. More's the pity, as Ebay does offer sellers access to a massive market.