eBay selling advice needed ... am I being set up?

I would echo many of the comments above - be very, very wary....

I had an experience selling my old FZ50 - and this sounds similar to me, which starts to ring alarm bells. I was asked by an eBay member registered in Netherlands if I could post the item to Nigeria..... The item sold for more than I believed it was worth, so I was already slightly suspicious - and then with Nigeria being mentioned (not trying to be prejudiced, but there seems to be a lot of online scams operating from Nigeria, or claiming to operate from Nigeria) that really got the message home to me. Oh, and the buyer had only been registered for about a week with no feedback.....

It turns out that I was being tricked into sending the item without proper paypal payment - I was sent a phishing email stating the money had been received to my account, but actually there was no money sent at all (a quick check of my paypal account made this clear). In the end I reported the buyer, and had to make a second chance offer which was refused. Re-listed, sold again for about the correct money, I finally had a genuine buyer.

If you checked your paypal account and the money was actually there, then in theory there should be no problems. Personally, I'd steer clear for safety's sake. Don't get lured into it by a generous bid. How else could this person guarantee that they would win the item whilst they were in Maidenhead and able to collect?

Good luck :)
 
RacingSnake said:
This is why i suggested maybe getting the buyer to leave feedback on site, which would in effect prove they were in receipt... And also not a hacked account (which seems to be a favorite on here!).
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I'm confused, in what way does leaving feedback prove that an Ebay account wasn't hacked?


RacingSnake said:
Eta, in response to the above, why do you think a 'local pickup only' sale would have a sucessful not delivered claim?!
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Okay, the buyer sends you payment via Paypal and then turns up and collects the item.

The buyer gets home and files a claim saying that either he didn't receive the goods or that his account was hacked.

Paypal freeze the relevant amount of money in your account and ask you to provide online-verifiable tracking data showing that the goods were delivered to the Paypal account holder's registered address.

You can't do this, as you handed the goods to the buyer in person.

Paypal refund the money to the buyer.
 
I had this ages ago with a phone, the buyer paid via paypal and was pushing to get it posted within an hour. I said no as the listing stated it would be posted with in 48 hours. 40 mins or so after the auction ended the payment was reversed. I contacted the buyer who, did the ive paid, send the item or i'll get the Police. I said fill your boots he was welcome to, and i didnt hear from him again. I think thats the last thing i sold on ebay.
 
No-one seems to have asked what the actual item is! If it was a low value (less than £50) then I'd have no problem with paypal and collection. Done it many times and haven't been done over yet. Anything with a greater value than that and I'd insist on cash on collection. Other factors to consider are the quantity/quality of the buyer's feedback and the type of language used in communications.
 
Thanks for all the advice, people. The auction ends in about 4 hours so we'll see what happens.

Here's what I've learned from this thread:
  • Cash on collection is preferable. So I've amended the advert to say so explicitly.
  • I have to accept PayPal under eBay rules, and if the buyer decides to pay with PayPal then I need to take steps to ensure I don't leave myself open to a "goods not received" chargeback. I can see ways to do that.
  • The buyer collecting immediately after the auction ends probably doesn't impose any additional risk. Obviously cash on (immediate) collection is safe, and if the money is in my PayPal account then that should be safe too.
By the way, since dentedshed asked, the item is a ski exerciser machine. Currently £90-odd and a real bargain if you live near Maidenhead.
 
StewartR said:
Thanks for all the advice, people. The auction ends in about 4 hours so we'll see what happens.

Here's what I've learned from this thread:
  • Cash on collection is preferable [A MUST]. So I've amended the advert to say so explicitly.
  • I have to accept PayPal under eBay rules [only for postage, and ebay makes that very clear], and if the buyer decides to pay with PayPal then I need to take steps to ensure I don't leave myself open to a "goods not received" chargeback. I can see ways to do that. [post the item and charge for it].
  • The buyer collecting immediately after the auction ends probably doesn't impose any additional risk. Obviously cash on (immediate) collection is safe [as long as they don't rob you], and if the money is in my PayPal account then that should be safe too [I wouldn't sleep for a month like that].
By the way, since dentedshed asked, the item is a ski exerciser machine. Currently £90-odd and a real bargain if you live near Maidenhead.
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I have corrected that for you.

You must only accept cash on collection, and that is well documented in ebay help pages.

In order to be safe meet in the bank to make sure the cash is real, and safely put to your account.

How does his feedback look like?
 
dentedshed said:
Are you always that distrusting or have you been burnt on ebay before?
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I am very careful, and follow sensible advice {given on ebay in this case}. Probably that's why I haven't have a major loss yet.
 
Bought my car and motorcycle on ebay for cash on collection, so it's no big deal to the buyer.
 
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