eBay BUYER Scammers and my experience and advice for safe selling.

So I was recently a victim of an attempted eBay scam. This is a less well-known but increasingly common type of scam which is targeted at the seller rather than buyer.

Here's what happened:

I listed my Canon 7D on eBay explicitly for UK only and PayPal only, and was notified that somebody had bought it buyitnow. Great I thought, and sent the automatic eBay invoice.
I checked out the buyer info, they'd registered for eBay the same day. Straight-off I was very careful with this, but carried on... there's a first time for every eBay user of course.

Here's where I was put on guard though: I recieved an email from the buyer's personal email address requesting that I give them the email address registered to my paypal account (so they could send a payment themselves) Normally the buyer is requested to pay via the eBay invoice which links to PayPal, because it's quicker and easier.
Very suspicious at this point, I decided to respond to them via an email account not registered with PayPal. This meant I know right away any emails I receive from eBay or PayPal to this address will be fake.

I then received another perosnal email requesting me to post the item to a different address, an overseas address. Now I'm almost certain the case is fraudulent.

I later receive an email to the wrong address, imitating PayPal saying I had received a sum greater than what was owed. I log in to my paypal account, see there's no money received and cancel the transaction and report the buyer.

So I avoided this somewhat unsophisticated scam, but it was made glaringly obvious thanks to some simple steps...

- Always check the feedback and join date of any buyer, if the seller has no feedback, bad feedback (less than 90%) or is a very recent member, be suspicious of every step from then on! You don't have to cancel at this point though.
- Stick to PayPal, and send the invoice via eBay, don't send your email address to make an independent payment.
- If you said you only post to your country, stick to that... don't change the postal address at the buyers will even if they offer you more money. Be sceptical of African addresses especially.
- If possible, converse with your seller using an email address different to your PayPal registered one, this will allow you to confirm suspected imitated emails.
- If you receive an email saying you've received payment, ALWAYS log into PayPal yourself to confirm it's arrived and cleared.

Stay safe!

Good advice, I am about to list my 50D. I will be careful.

Don't you have the "Immediate Payment Required" option for Buy It Now on the UK site? That one option totally eliminates several different scams, including yours.

moose10101 wrote in post #13453740
Don't you have the "Immediate Payment Required" option for Buy It Now on the UK site? That one option totally eliminates several different scams, including yours.

That is another way to combat potential scammers. I decided not to use this option because it does tend to put some people off. However seeing as I didn't use this option I'm always careful no matter the circumstances.

Good info. I haven't sold anything on EBay in a couple of years, the scams appear to have gotten more sophisticated. Thanks. I've been using Amazon to sell photo gear, so far it's worked out fine.

How do you know IPR puts some people off? I haven't received or heard of any complaints. The only potential drawback is if someone wants to buy more than one item from the same seller, and the seller can't send a combined shipping invoice before the buyer pays.

benesotor wrote in post #13449956
- If you receive an email saying you've received payment, ALWAYS log into PayPal yourself to confirm it's arrived and cleared. [/I]

I would add to this statement "log into your paypal account by going directly to www.paypal.com, never click on a paypal link in an email and then log into your account.

7D_Sniper wrote in post #13455062
I would add to this statement "log into your paypal account by going directly to www.paypal.com, never click on a paypal link in an email and then log into your account.

Absolutely, this is vital. Although the fake PayPal email I received told me 'payments can take up to 5 days to appear in your account, please send your proof of shipping so the payment can be accredited'

ie. they wanted me to ship the camera before I realised , they even sent a fake eBay email saying 'please ship your item immediately'.

While eBay has greater exposure, I am not sure why anybody would sell an expensive item through eBay. The costs are high, any dispute favors the buyer, and too many scamsters as the 'benesotor' correctly points out. You have a good opportunity to sell your items right here on POTN; why use eBay?

I recently had a similar experience. I put up my camera and someone used buy-it-now and had registered the same day. They wanted it shipped to the UK, but my ad said US only. Then they sent an email saying they had paid me (plus $100). Besides sending more money I knew something was off when the email said "to post" the item meaning mail it. US Ebay doesn't say "post".

Next day they sent another email asking for it to be sent to Nigeria. If I can't smell a scam now, I'm insane. Soon after, ebay sent an email saying that buyer was a suspicious buyer and to not mail the item. I never did and didn't plan on it.

^ Yep exactly the same scam. The best thing to do is contact your buyer with a seperate email, then you don't even have to try and figure out what's fake.

The experience inspired me to join the 419-community. Basically people who lead on email scammers to waste their time, and if you're good, get them to spend money themselves or travel to meet you in their country. Here's the community if you're interested: http://www.419eater.co​m/index.php

7D_Sniper wrote in post #13455062
I would add to this statement "log into your paypal account by going directly to www.paypal.com, never click on a paypal link in an email and then log into your account.

very important.............​..not to click on links in email.
usually, when im expecting payment i just check my paypal directly without waiting for emails.

i agree with you 10039834000%