Scamming buyer?

[bliss_cathy]

Hello,

I have an item listed on Ebay in Australia. I had it as a best offer, buy it now. The BN price was still 45% RRP, but the best offer I have had so far has been 30% of RRP. It was re listed last night and someone from the US paid the BN after about 2 hours of it being re listed.

I'm concerned for two reasons:
A) I hadn't set up any type of postage options for overseas buyers
B) why would someone purchase with a BN without making a BO if that was available for them?
C) it's an overseas buyer and I worry about being scammed for the item

At this stage I am unsure what to do. The buyer has over 1000 feedback, 100% positive and a member since 1999.
Can it be a hacked account?

Any advice on what to do?

Do I wait for a few days to see if ebay contacts me?
Wait to hear from the buyer?
If payment is processed, send the item but do so in a way that ensures that I will not be scammed?
Just re list the item?

I sent an invoice to the buyer plus international postage and said I was based in Australia so am happy to cancel the transaction if they do not want to pay postage. I really didn't expect someone from the US to purchase it.

Please help!!

 

[Chestnutty]

I would send the buyer a message thanking them for the purchase and quick payment. Ask them to confirm the shipping address and if they have any shipping instructions, and letting them know the postage price (with insurance/signature included) and see if they're OK with that. The regular International mailing from Australia doesn't require signature upon delivery and very risky, while there's only one service with it, which is the more expensive one ($45ish I think). If they do answer and the address is PayPal Confirmed address, you can ship, don't forget insurance.

 

[bliss_cathy]

Hi Chestnutty,

They haven't paid yet. I sent them an invoice for the item plus international postage (the premium service with insurance and signature on delivery).

I said I was happy to cancel if they didn't want to pay postage as I am not based in the US.

At this stage you don't see any major red flags?

 

[Chestnutty]

Hi Chestnutty,

They haven't paid yet. I sent them an invoice for the item plus international postage (the premium service with insurance and signature on delivery).

I said I was happy to cancel if they didn't want to pay postage as I am not based in the US.

At this stage you don't see any major red flags?

Like you said, they haven't paid yet.
I would wait until getting paid and see if the shipping address is a PayPal confirmed address. If not, then tell them you are unable to ship to non-confirmed address per eBay rule.
Don't freak out yet. I think they hit BIN because they saw that you declined too many offers before, perhaps?
Can you see from their buyer feedback what they have bought before? It doesn't show the item/ listing ID but should show the ID of sellers who sold to your buyer before. You should be able to see what they bought by selecting the sellers with low feedback and matching your buyer based on feedback count and the corresponding bought item.

 

[IrisCole]

Like you said, they haven't paid yet.
I would wait until getting paid and see if the shipping address is a PayPal confirmed address. If not, then tell them you are unable to ship to non-confirmed address per eBay rule.
Don't freak out yet. I think they hit BIN because they saw that you declined too many offers before, perhaps?
Can you see from their buyer feedback what they have bought before? It doesn't show the item/ listing ID but should show the ID of sellers who sold to your buyer before. You should be able to see what they bought by selecting the sellers with low feedback and matching your buyer based on feedback count and the corresponding bought item.

The address doesn't have to be confirmed to be eligible for seller protection anymore. If / when you receive payment, it will say "eligible" or "partially eligible". If it says "eligible," just make sure to ship to their PP address with signature confirmation and insurance.

 

[bliss_cathy]

ETA:

Just heard from EBay, it was an unauthorized purchaser.

"We recently learned that someone was using an account to bid on or buy items without the account owner's permission. All associated fees have been credited to your account. Please note that we're working with the account owner to prevent any additional unauthorized activity."

 

[BeenBurned]

ETA:

Just heard from EBay, it was an unauthorized purchaser.

"We recently learned that someone was using an account to bid on or buy items without the account owner's permission. All associated fees have been credited to your account. Please note that we're working with the account owner to prevent any additional unauthorized activity."

It sounds like a hijacked account.

For the relisted item and any future listings, if you don't want to sell internationally, you need to set your buyer preferences to exclude international buyers.

It's not enough to just say you don't ship internationally.

 

[lovely64]

I just want to add that I have bought many OBO with the BIN without submitting an offer. I knew I wanted the item, the price was ok (to me) and I did not want to risk someone else buying it.