eBay question

[King]

I'm selling my Samsung Blackjack on ebay, and I got a sale notification this morning. The 'buy it now' price is 250, plus shipping (it's unlocked). Anyhow, the buyer hasn't had any feedback since 2001. I emailed and asked when I can expect payment, and said I'm a little leery of it. This was the response:

Hi Mate
I am happy to be the winning bidder of this item, i want you to know that i am buying this item as a gift for my son who is presently in an African country for Comic Relief Exchange programme, so i want the item to be sent to him as his birthday gift and will be offering US $150.00 for the shipping cost via USPS Global Mail Express Service and i would want you to present it to him as a birthday gift, i would be making the payment asap, i want you to get back to me as soon as you are notified by paypal regarding the payment.Bellow the
address to ship to:
Name: John Blessing
Address: No17 Odomolu , Ijebu Ode Road
City: Epe
State: Lagos State
ZipCode: 23401
Country: Nigeria
Tel: +2348077836109


Now, I'm REALLY leery of it - but my question is, if the money does in fact show up in my paypal, do I have anything to worry about? Should I even be expecting payment on this? I'm not opening myself up to anything, am I?

I don't do much ebay selling, but he responded a few minutes after I emailed him.

Also, how much would it cost to ship there, assuming the rest would be legitimate - which I'm not expecting it to be.

[jman3000]

it might have been a bot if it was responded to so quickly....

dont do anything until the money is in your account.

[King]

it might have been a bot if it was responded to so quickly....

dont do anything until the money is in your account.

I'm definitely not - but when the money's in my paypal, and actually transferred to my account, I'm in the clear, right?

[Mixability]

Don't do it. I had a friend who had the money already in their account from PayPal, so they shipped out the item(a PSP, i think). After it was already shipped and a day or so from being delivered, the PayPal transaction was reversed.

[Mixability]

Unless its a PayPal verified address, which means you would be covered, I wouldn't do it. And just from the email itself, I still wouldn't do it, because I've gotten auction winners that look to have cut and pasted from that same letter.

[SpursWoman]

You can always report it to ebay, and they can confirm if it is a scam or not. Because if it is, you'll have to see about getting your listing fees/settlement fees waived off.

I hope it's a good deal ... but it sounds like something I got a while back from a response to a Craigslist ad I had placed, that was not a good deal....they have warnings about those kinds of responses all of the time.

And yeah, there's always a threat of a chargeback after you've already sent it out.

:fro

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Scam.

http://blog.redeemedplaces.com/?p=49

[King]

I'm definitely not even considering mailing anything until the money is in my bank account, transferred from paypal. The buyers name is klassicmama, and I did a google search for it - and the only thing that comes up is a myspace account.

myspace.com/klassicmama

Their location matches the location of the 'buyer' on ebay.

[Mixability]

Even if the money is in your account, it can still get reversed on PayPal, which will leave a negative balance on your PayPal account, which will then get charged to the bank account you have on file.

[King]

Scam.

http://blog.redeemedplaces.com/?p=49


Awesome, thanks. Freaking frustrating, because I had some guy in Texas email me asking some specs on the phone, and it was 'bought' about an hour later by this schmuck.

[Mixability]

Awesome, thanks. Freaking frustrating, because I had some guy in Texas email me asking some specs on the phone, and it was 'bought' about an hour later by this schmuck.

Can't you just do the second chance offer?

[King]

I guess so. I haven't even looked into anything on it. Will I have to pay another fee?

[SpursWoman]

I guess so. I haven't even looked into anything on it. Will I have to pay another fee?


Report the message you got to ebay and try to get the original listing fees waived. Because they are going to charge you on the final (bogus) selling price, too.

[BacktoBasics]

Like stated above do not ship this item. I found out the hard way that money can be reversed up to six months later if he paid from a bogus account. The only reason I got my money refunded is because I had signature confirmation and a shipping number....and it was to a verified address. This is most definately a scam.

I would relist it, some people get leary of second chance offers. Just start fresh.

[leemajors]

don't do it. i put an 80GB iPod on craigslist briefly and that's the exact syntax of a bunch of emails i got. they'll send you bogus paypal emails from wack email addies.

[Slydragon]

Nigeria is another name for Scam, same meaning on the Internet world. Never ship or send cash there.

[Spurs>All]

It always amazes how ppl fall for "too good to be true" offers.

There's a reason that saying exists.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

i work for a sportswear distributor and we've been had very early on scams originating in nigeria and other cities in africa.

[bendmz]

I had an $8000.00 sale one time to a person in Indonnisia. Mastercard went through. waited a week money in the bank. so I ship the stuff and it gets tied up in customs. Good thing cause the next week I get a charge back from the bank.......
Got a hold of customs and got my stuff back but I was out all the shipping charges........

[missmyzte]

This was an MSNBC investigation, it was incredible the scams that these guys pull off.

[Nbadan]

You need to add in your auction item description that you only ship to pay-pal verified addresses..

[Sense]

This was an MSNBC investigation, it was incredible the scams that these guys pull off.

I saw this and as I was reading the thread I KNEW it was a scam..

it's funny... the investigation was really entertaining and it made you open your eyes..