AM I BEING SCAMMED HERE?

[mrdemin]

The link I posted is of a very similar scam that happened to someone, I don't know if people arent clicking cause they think I'm spamming lol... When I came across that site on a dif forum I almost peed my pants reading it

 

[dcmoody23]

I avoid e-bay all together now.. I used to sell all the time, but now they take all your D*%^ money! the % of the sale they get continuously gets higher & higher.. It's ridiculous & impossible to turn a profit on.. And the amount of scams on there is extremely high.. Did you know that scammers have set up like a fake paypal look-a-like website and unless you navigate your way 360 degrees you'd never know the difference.. Using craigslist is free and you know you're dealing locally.. Plus you can reject offers or say it's sold and they'd never know if they seem fishy

If only someone would retool that sight, it'd be heaven on the internet

 

[chip]

sounds like a scam all the way. I would not ship until payment is received. I buy and sell a lot on Ebay but as others have pointer out, Ebay is a ripoff. My policy on Ebay is Paypal only and only ship within the US to avoid hassles.

 

[sinjans]

Well i have learned a few lessons here already. Here is the email i received.
NOTE: The payment has been issued and i have access to it.

FROM BUYER

Oliviero Gobbi [[email protected]]

Hello Mark,

I have paid via Paypal. Please send the object as soon as possible. And to avoid any customs, I think the best would be that you write somewhere that it is a GIFT for me and that the value is below 45 Euros. Or if you have better ideas please share.
Do not add any invoice or show that I have paid you money for it!
Please also send me the tracking number whenever you get it.

Thank you and best regards,

Oliviero Gobbi

THIS ONE FROM PAYPAL CONFIRMATION OF PAYMENT RECEIVED

Hello mark bailey,
You received a payment of $xxx.xxUSD from olivierogo ([email protected]) Thanks for using PayPal. You can now ship any items. To see all the transaction details, log in to your PayPal account.
Important note: Oliviero Antonio Gobbi has provided an unconfirmed address. Please check the Transaction Details page for this payment to find out whether you will be covered by PayPal Seller Protection.

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.
Seller Protection - Eligible

________________________

Now it says in paypal that i am eligible for seller protection. Does anyone have abny confidence in the seller protection in paypal? Ebay denied my cancellation request. If i insure the item for its value can i still get screwed at the end of the day?

 

[sinjans]

I apologize for some confusion i may have caused here. During yesterdays panic i got the above buyer confused with the buyer of my other item (from BC Canada) who has held the payment. So i have 2 situations here:

1) the gent form Italy who has submitted the payment and asked me to avoid customs.

2) a lady from BC who held my payment until good received. That one is more fishy than the first one.

 

[Tighearnach]

Am I correct in reading above that you have recieved an email from PAYPAL saying you recieved the funds? If thats the case then you should be able to check your account and see the moneys there. If it is then send the product.

As for people labelling the entire nation of Italy a bunch of scamming con artists, thats ridiculous. I am not saying this is not a scam and i personally avoid ebay unless im buying from someone in my country but at the end of the day soemone has to make a leap of faith and either pay first or send goods first.

If your not happy with the situation pull out and sell only within your country.

 

[Tighearnach]

Nothing wrong with the customs situation. Sellers from Hong Kong always oblige by saying its a gift etc. If there is any problem it will be Italian customs witholding the product from buyer so it will be his problem to contend with.

 

[Mulewings~]

Well i have learned a few lessons here already. Here is the email i received.
NOTE: The payment has been issued and i have access to it.

FROM BUYER

Oliviero Gobbi [[email protected]]

Hello Mark,

I have paid via Paypal. Please send the object as soon as possible. And to avoid any customs, I think the best would be that you write somewhere that it is a GIFT for me and that the value is below 45 Euros. Or if you have better ideas please share.
Do not add any invoice or show that I have paid you money for it!
Please also send me the tracking number whenever you get it.

Thank you and best regards,

Oliviero Gobbi

Well try this...email Oliviero and say *Gosh I think I have to follow the law and mark this as valued at $$$ and since it is not a GIFT, I think I cannot say that it is a GIFT. The invoice will be sent with the package.*
Very fishy here.

I had a scammer like this who wanted to buy of all things...a donkey and our scenario went along the same lines until I insisted that purchasers come to my farm for an inspection.
All communication stopped right then.

I guess I'm old fashioned~~ sell local.

 

[sinjans]

So the seller protection situation is the easiest route i think. I will talk to Canada Post today as well.

The money is there, as stated earlier during my confused state of panic yesterday i confused the held payment with this buyer and gave him 2 strikes as opposed to one strike. He still gets a fishy strike. Im now more concerned with the other buyer who has held the payment. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. This is a new thing for me to be selling on Ebay so it pays to know.

 

[PatrickHMS]

Like mentioned above, if they say they made payment - then YOUR PayPal account, that you log into your own regular way (do NOT click into PayPal through any links other than eBay or your own IE or whatever you use) will either show a payment made or payment pending.

If you log into YOUR PayPal account and payment doesn't show, then it has not been made, no matter what they say.

Customs - tell the customs in Hong Kong, or Italy, or anywhere else, whatever you want to tell them, they are not likely to come gitcha, but I would be VERY careful about lying to US Customs, because they will if they choose to.

Again, add something like "Item will only be shipped when, and only when, full payment has been recieved and fully collected to your account" to all your eBay listings.

eBay does not hold payments like that, so far as I know.

We ought to publish their email addresses here, so the bots can see them, and so that EVERYONE here can send them a friendly email....

Sincerely wishing a very slow and painful death to all scammers and spammers.

What they don't realize that there is a "karma" or a big ledger sheet in the sky, or whatever you want to call it, and sooner or later what they do to others will come back to bite them in dabutt.

Just be careful.

 

[CCarsonPhoto]

OP-

If you have to ask, then you don't need to ask. Trust your instincts.

 

[mostly sunny]

You are NEVER to ship to an unconfirmed address- Paypal will not protect you if you sent to unconfirmed.
I would risk the neg feedback. Refund, say thank you sorry- If he doesn't post neg just respond and say.. Buyer wanted me to commit custom fraud.

Paypal does hold fund when the person does something like an e check. I believe the hold is 7 days

 

[Antarctican]

^^^ I too find it suspicious that it's an unconfirmed address. Also, has anyone heard of Paypal reversing money out of one's account if the buyer claims he didn't receive the goods or something? I have a vague recollection of someone posting that they got ripped off that way...shipped the goods, the buyer denied receipt, and Paypal took the money back. I could be wrong though, so if anyone else knows, please weigh in

 

[sinjans]

Thanks everyone for your insight. To add some temporary closure to this issue i have received full payment and am eligable for seller protection on paypal for the item. I have insured the item for its value and aparently will not be out of money either way. I have learned a valuable lesson here. TRUST NO ONE

 

[Shelly1204]

If I'm the slightest bit suspicious of a transaction on Paypal, i wait until the funds clear in my paypal account, and I immediately transfer them to my bank account, which takes 3 to 4 days. Once the money is in my personal bank account, I know paypal cannot recoup it if there are any disputes, so it's ok to ship.