Could this be a scam?

So I found a really good deal on eBay yesterday. Not so good that it raised red flags but a couple hundred dollars better than normal. Then this morning I got the message in the picture below. January 3rd is still well inside the 45 day PayPal window, but anytime something out of the ordinary happens on eBay I get a weird feeling. The seller has a 100% rating and has over 750 ratings.

Seller is carrying a brand new lens around Europe with him? Smells funny to me. Can you post a link to the sale?

Bassat wrote in post #18209700
Seller is carrying a brand new lens around Europe with him? Smells funny to me. Can you post a link to the sale?

Here you go. http://m.ebay.com …11601?txnId=138​3832090019

Sounds fishy to me too. I'd take the refund.

rrblint wrote in post #18209716
Sounds fishy to me too. I'd take the refund.

+1.

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Ask the seller to give you a phone call so that you can discuss it with him/her directly.

Whenever I buy anything over the internet for more than a couple hundred bucks, I always have a nice phone conversation with the seller, or the customer service personnel, if buying from a big company. But I always do this BEFORE clicking on the "buy it now" button......saves a lot of headaches, and often results in freebies or reduced shipping or something extra or cheaper.

Why in the world wouldn't you talk with the seller before committing to buy? That would have given him/her a chance to explain the traveling situation in detail, and you would have had a better, more complete understanding of the situation than messages or texts could ever give you.

For many, it seems that "due diligence" is a forgotten concept when making an online purchase. Due diligence does not mean glancing at the seller rating and reading some feedback - due diligence means having a personal conversation over the telephone, where you can get a firsthand feel for the seller's character and personality.

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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18209725
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Ask the seller to give you a phone call so that you can discuss it with him/her directly.

Whenever I buy anything over the internet for more than a couple hundred bucks, I always have a nice phone conversation with the seller, or the customer service personnel, if buying from a big company. But I always do this BEFORE clicking on the "buy it now" button......saves a lot of headaches, and often results in freebies or reduced shipping or something extra or cheaper.

Why in the world wouldn't you talk with the seller before committing to buy? That would have given him/her a chance to explain the traveling situation in detail, and you would have had a better, more complete understanding of the situation than messages or texts could ever give you.

For many, it seems that "due diligence" is a forgotten concept when making an online purchase. Due diligence does not mean glancing at the seller rating and reading some feedback - due diligence means having a personal conversation over the telephone, where you can get a firsthand feel for the seller's character and personality.

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I will admit it was slightly a "wow that's a good deal" impulse buy. I normally cover my bases but unfortunately did not do so this time. I am leaning towards the refund but have not asked for it just yet. I messaged the seller again to start a discussion. I will see where it goes from there.

Get your money back, I doubt it's NOT a scam.

As already said, why on earth would he be travelling with a 'new in box, unused' lens.

Either it's legit and he's using it and now it's not what was advertised or it's a straight scam.

Bassat wrote in post #18209700
Seller is carrying a brand new lens around Europe with him?

I don't see where it says Europe. The question raises a further question: when the seller says he's "away out of the country," what country is he out of, and where does he say he is now? Was his home location left out so you could assume it was the same as yours?

Even if there were no other reasons for caution, his language puts me off. I always look at word usage. A practiced English speaker would say "customs," not "custom." Or one might say "the customs fee." This sounds xenophobic, I know. Many fine people who aren't native English speakers do business ethically. Balanced against that, however, is the fact that many not-fine people in regions that are nests of scammers don't know English as well as they think they do. They make certain mistakes that give themselves away.

If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is. eBay accounts are frequently hacked, fyi.

I went ahead and asked him for a refund. I have yet to hear back yet.

Best wishes on the refund. Did you simply email him that you want a refund or did you work it through the messaging system with eBay/Paypal?

Ed

Intheswamp wrote in post #18210093
Best wishes on the refund. Did you simply email him that you want a refund or did you work it through the messaging system with eBay/Paypal?

Ed

I messaged him twice on eBay, then sent an email to his PayPal email address. Also copied and pasted that same email to his eBay account. If he hasn't responded by the morning then I'm going to go ahead with a dispute, which I told him already. I'm hoping that's some incentive for him to respond quickly.

This rings bells of a scam I heard about, but don't remember the details.

I checked the seller out and his feedback looks good. The only thing is that most of the buyers' feedback is from sales over a year ago. In his older sales/auctions it appears he got a few neutral feedbacks from items "not as described" or "slow shipping". There's been a couple of sales recently but that's it.. He still has some things up for auction/sale.