Interesting eBay Scam Targets New Sellers

[caannie]

A friend of mine recently contacted me with some questions about selling on eBay. Although she's been on the site a long time and made a few sales, she just recently listed some collectibles for the first time using BIN with best offer option. She's selling mostly Japanese anime figurines and comic books.

She texted me to say within 5 minutes of listing her items she had 2 best offers for full price or more. Both offers (from different buyers) came with messages to contact the buyer immediately via text so they could make a deal! Both buyers sent phone numbers. I told her immediately it was a scam. She had already messaged each buyer through the eBay system letting them know she was not comfortable giving out her number and that she would only communicate through eBay. I told her to block both of them, and when she did one came up as NARU already.

What shocked me was the speed at which these scammers pounced on a newbie seller! Be careful out there! And never take your sale outside of eBay.

 

[caannie]

Here's one of the messages she got:

"Hello i'm Brandy, here is my text number ,9, "1," 4, "8," 2, "9," 1, "0," 3, "4 kindly text me so we can chat better about this item for me to proceed with the payment... thanks"

Both buyers had registered that same day.

 

[Gabs007]

I usually do not buy much on eBay due to a ton of scams, I am sure you can pick up the odd bargain but for me it is not worth wading though a ton of items that are not authentic or damaged, I stayed away for ages and bought again due to being sick and ir was a disaster, fakes, more fakes and items damaged (not mentioning or showing the damage) then seller claims they can't send return label so you wait forever and chase eBay up, it is going downhill very fast. On the other hand, I sold an item and buyer claimed not authentic (despite the receipt provided) and returned was something else, eBay and PP insist it was returned, not interested in photographic evidence, massive loss

 

[Casualcollector]

I had exactly the same thing happen!!
I listed some items, woke up the next morning to find multiple offers with a message from a buyer (0 items registered) from Malaysia saying to text this number
I messaged back saying communication through ebay ONLY
I declined it, then couple of days later same thing happened! So I declined them too.
So annoying. What a waste of time

 

[Gabs007]

I had exactly the same thing happen!!
I listed some items, woke up the next morning to find multiple offers with a message from a buyer (0 items registered) from Malaysia saying to text this number
I messaged back saying communication through ebay ONLY
I declined it, then couple of days later same thing happened! So I declined them too.
So annoying. What a waste of time

Odd, heard that from a few friends who said they get offers from exotic places and requests for the cheapest shipping costs despite selling through the eBay international program where you ship to eBay and they ship on....

 

[Casualcollector]

Yeah it was super weird! Plus the fact that one of my clothing items was listed for only £10, probably cost double that to ship halfway round the world! Lol

 

[Gabs007]

Some items you can easily get in one country are actually super expensive and rare in another country, so I can understand it if the brand is rare there and somebody is a fan, but in most cases, it seems a bit like a scam

 

[BeautyAddict58]

Some items you can easily get in one country are actually super expensive and rare in another country, so I can understand it if the brand is rare there and somebody is a fan, but in most cases, it seems a bit like a scam

If they want you to text them, then it is ALWAYS a scam.
If they want the item, they buy and pay. They don't ask the seller to text, ask for their email address (so they can send a fake Paypal "you've been paid" email) or try to get the buyer to buy them gift cards and send them photos of the cards with the PINs scratched off.

 

[montaigne1940]

I have listed one of my bags on eBay and was excited about finding it a new owner who was going to actually love it. Since listing the other day I have twice had these same sort of a scammers - first asking me about authenticity as a normal ebayer might and then putting in an offer for full asking. Then they requested contact and payment details from outside of eBay which is when I realised they were scamming, sending pressurising messages to send the bag ASAP while payment went through, which I obviously didn’t because they clearly never intended to pay. It’s so disheartening and means I had to relist, so lost all of my watchers. I guess there is no way to stop people doing this other than only accepting buy it now.

 

[BeenBurned]

I guess there is no way to stop people doing this other than only accepting buy it now.

Do BIN with immediate payment required. That way, they have to complete a legitimate payment through the transaction before the item is considered sold.

Then ship to the address in the transaction. If a scammer asks to change an address after payment is made, tell her you can't do it and must ship to the address shown with the payment.

 

[montaigne1940]

Do BIN with immediate payment required. That way, they have to complete a legitimate payment through the transaction before the item is considered sold.

Then ship to the address in the transaction. If a scammer asks to change an address after payment is made, tell her you can't do it and must ship to the address shown with the payment.

Thank you! Yes that’s what I’m going to do from now on. So disappointing people spend their time scamming. If only there were a filter!

 

[alyssamay_xx]

The texting thing is always a scam!! You text them and they offer to pay more for shipping and then send you fake (but real looking) PayPal email that says your funds are on hold until you ship the item to trick you into sending the item and then it’s too late unless you can get it intercepted and returned back to you