eBay - Is fraud on the increase?

[Lordoflego]

Rarely happens to me but it did couple days ago. $20 purchase, 0 feedback buyer. Tracking shows delivered of course. 

[Jackson]

1 hour ago, Lordoflego said:

Rarely happens to me but it did couple days ago. $20 purchase, 0 feedback buyer. Tracking shows delivered of course. 

And then?

[exciter1]

34 minutes ago, Jackson said:

And then?

Your turn!

[Lordoflego]

35 minutes ago, Jackson said:

And then?

Case closed after a call to PayPal. 

[KShine]

A fortune cookie once told me "Most of your fears are imaginary" - That was one smart cookie.

[TANV]

Hmm. Just got this message in my inbox on eBay this morning.

hi seller,I am from China and want to sell the lego in my country! so now, I want to find a cooperator in your country to supply the lego! it is a long-term cooperation and you just need to help me to ship the parcel to my transport agent who is in Oregon! so that very easy for you! I can purchase 20-30 sets every time. please kindly think about that and reply me!Hope to do the business with you in the future!

Anyone else ever get one of these?

[minicoopers11]

38 minutes ago, TANV said:

Hmm. Just got this message in my inbox on eBay this morning.

hi seller,I am from China and want to sell the lego in my country! so now, I want to find a cooperator in your country to supply the lego! it is a long-term cooperation and you just need to help me to ship the parcel to my transport agent who is in Oregon! so that very easy for you! I can purchase 20-30 sets every time. please kindly think about that and reply me!Hope to do the business with you in the future!

Anyone else ever get one of these?

Sort of, just as a one-time arrangement. Think to Indonesia. They contacted me via Bricklink, which is where we completed the transaction. Orders those size aren't uncommon, especially for foreign LUGs or resellers. eBay is a horrible venue for these large orders, of course. 

[Blake3741]

If you follow eBay's rules, then you will be covered by their seller protection.  Which means, you will not loose payment for your item.  It's that simple.  Just follow their rules.  There are not many, things like providing a tracking number for your package and using PayPal in financial transactions.  They will back you if you follow the rules.

[Pseudoty]

1 hour ago, TANV said:

Hope to do the business with you in the future!

Anyone else ever get one of these?

Who was it from Borat  

I got the same message on Monday if it is from eBay member who's user ID begins with a day of the week he is legit. Portland FF doesn't work for me as it is Zone 8. Do a trial run and make sure to send Signature required. 

[TANV]

1 minute ago, Pseudoty said:

Who was it from Borat  

I got the same message on Monday if it is from eBay member who's user ID begins with a day of the week he is legit. Portland FF doesn't work for me as it is Zone 8. Do a trial run and make sure to send Signature required. 

Why yes, it was definitely from an eBay member who's ID fits that description.  I might sit on it for a bit. My auctions end tomorrow as it is...

[ISO8T0]

On 7/19/2017 at 7:38 PM, Lordoflego said:

Rarely happens to me but it did couple days ago. $20 purchase, 0 feedback buyer. Tracking shows delivered of course. 

Had one of those on a small seasonal set. Claimed to not receive it. Tracking showed that is was delivered. Called local PO and was told that GPS coordinates from scanner showed it was scanned out front of the house.

Passed info on to buyer. No further "my package didn't arrive". Funny how that works.

[LegoBro]

Item says delivered 33 days ago. Buyer with broken English barely sends message of item not received. Can barely understand his/her writing but says it's a shipping center where his package would be forwarded to south korea. That was new to me. Basically tells me to track down the package. I checked his past transaction and sure enough he's had about 4 to 6 transactions where he was refunded by the seller(buyer responses to feedback) and still goes on to leave negative feedback. I'm 100 percent on feedback..guess not anymore after this. Case is now pending with ebay....even if they side with me he's still going to ding me I bet. Anyway his past history will give me leverage with ebay?

[ravenb99]

Just now, LegoBro said:

Item says delivered 33 days ago. Buyer with broken English barely sends message of item not received. Can barely understand his/her writing but says it's a shipping center where his package would be forwarded to south korea. That was new to me. Basically tells me to track down the package. I checked his past transaction and sure enough he's had about 4 to 6 transactions where he was refunded by the seller(buyer responses to feedback) and still goes on to leave negative feedback. I'm 100 percent on feedback..guess not anymore after this. Case is now pending with ebay....even if they side with me he's still going to ding me I bet. Anyway his past history will give me leverage with ebay?

if they side with you even if he leaves negative it will auto remove which is why you always want a case open on those.  Refunding before a case still leaves you open to a negative and then having to request it being removed which is hit or miss.

[Jackson]

8 hours ago, TANV said:

Hmm. Just got this message in my inbox on eBay this morning.

hi seller,I am from China and want to sell the lego in my country! so now, I want to find a cooperator in your country to supply the lego! it is a long-term cooperation and you just need to help me to ship the parcel to my transport agent who is in Oregon! so that very easy for you! I can purchase 20-30 sets every time. please kindly think about that and reply me!Hope to do the business with you in the future!

Anyone else ever get one of these?

I got this exact message and get similar messages occasionally. They never work out for me because the person wants the sets for an absurdly low price.

[siddji]

I have a question.

I sold a large item on Ebay for $800. The paypal payment came immediately. Just to be safe I emailed the seller off the paypal payment confirmation email.

Asked if they wanted the set broken or dismantled in big chunks. No reply.

Emailed Asking them to call me (# provided) to confirm. No Reply.

Emailed Asking to confirm their address before I can ship. No Reply.

They have been making a purchase almost every day for a month and have 80 Positive feedback.

In a dilemma what to do? Cancel and relist?

[mizeur]

22 minutes ago, siddji said:

I have a question.

I sold a large item on Ebay for $800. The paypal payment came immediately. Just to be safe I emailed the seller off the paypal payment confirmation email.

Asked if they wanted the set broken or dismantled in big chunks. No reply.

Emailed Asking them to call me (# provided) to confirm. No Reply.

Emailed Asking to confirm their address before I can ship. No Reply.

They have been making a purchase almost every day for a month and have 80 Positive feedback.

In a dilemma what to do? Cancel and relist?

Do their PayPal and eBay addresses match? Does PayPal say the transaction qualifies for seller protection? And how many days did you allow for handling?

I'd wait out the handling time for a response. But even if there's no response, as long as the addresses match and the item qualifies for seller protection, I'd ship it with signature confirmation and insurance. Just make sure you document the condition you're sending it in to match the listing and keep an eye on the tracking info.

[BrickLegacy]

Just now, mizeur said:

Do their PayPal and eBay addresses match? Does PayPal say the transaction qualifies for seller protection? And how many days did you allow for handling?

I'd wait out the handling time for a response. But even if there's no response, as long as the addresses match and the item qualifies for seller protection, I'd ship it with signature confirmation and insurance. Just make sure you document the condition you're sending it in to match the listing and keep an eye on the tracking info.

I would do the same.  Print the label with signature confirmation and insurance.  Wait out the handling time.  I would also call Paypal to have a record of what they recommend you should do.

[Val-E]

Or you can request customer contact details from ebay and give them a call.

[kumas]

Was I scammed ?

I shipped Louvre architect set to Mexico in June, here is the tracking

https://www.postaonline.cz/en/trackandtrace/-/zasilka/cislo?parcelNumbers=CS058901856CZ

the package was stuck somewhere for 2 months 14 Jun - 18 Aug, meanwhile the buyer initiated refund for not delivered package and was refunded. 2 weeks after that the package was delivered. I sent message to the buyer but he hasnt replied. Now I dont have either the Lego or the refunded money. I contacted both Ebay and PayPal and they wrote me they could do nothing in this matter. I dont know what to think about this, is it possible the buyer left the package at customs declaration for extended period and waited for the refund ? Ebay account of the buyer is manvale_80 and I have also his PayPal email and address but dont know if it is ok to publish that info here. Do we have some blacklist of ebay users ?

[iahawks550]

What if it was actually lost in the mail system? Sometimes that happens. If I ordered something and it didn't appear for two months, I would probably do what that buyer did. You have to look at it from their perspective.

Could it have been fraud, possibly. But there seems to be added risk when sending packages out of your own country. That risk needs to be accounted for.

[Jivepicnic]

This is why I only ship outside the US using eBay’s Global Shipping Program. As long as it gets to eBay in Kentucky, it doesn’t really matter what happens to it after that; it’s eBay’s problem from that point. I know that it’s more expensive for the buyer and definitely prices me out of potential sales, but it saves the risk and aggravation of worrying about postal delivery thousands of miles away from me.