Buyer wants to pay for shipping label....

[avenueshopswapsell]

I was contacted by a buyer regarding an item I have had listed for sometime...we agreed on a price for the items, this was a large lot of items to which the buyer only wanted the main items.  I had offered free shipping for this listing, and the buyer wants to send me a pre paid label to ship the item...

Buyer states that they are a "buyer for dealers who pay CASH for resale"

This listing is for corded phones, a central voicemail unit and a "brain" for an office set of phones, so not really a "hot" item....

The buyer provided a phone number which links back to the name they provided.

Any thoughts on this?

[ypdc_dennis]

Assuming the buyer is same country as you then if the prepaid ship address matches their paypal address AND the prepaid label is tracked, then it should be okay.

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[avenueshopswapsell]

Buyer is in Indiana, I am in Canada...I am getting a little suspicious here

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

 I had offered free shipping for this listing, and the buyer wants to send me a pre paid label to ship the item..

He'd rather pay you for shipping, than allow you to pay for it?

Alrighty then.

the buyer wants to send me a pre paid label to ship the item.

Well. to begin with, he can't.

Those labels only work if you are both in the same country.

his listing is for corded phones,

Still in the high fraud electronics category.

More important, I am deeply suspicious of his emphasis on "CASH".

Buyer states that they are a "buyer for dealers who pay CASH for resale"

It's none of your business what he does with the stuff he buys.

And you're not going to see anything from his buyers' payments, are you?

The emphasis makes me think this is some kind of scam.

I think I know which one.

The label arrives and was prepared from his employer's account, without the employer's knowledge.

When the items arrive, the buyer opens a Not Received or a Not As Described dispute.

(Not Received is because he doesn't use his eBay or PP address on the label.)

(Complicating things is that you cannot send a Return Shipping Label for the return.)

He is refunded because you don't pay for the return. Or you send cash for the return, which he keeps and wins the case keeping the phones and getting his payment returned.

Then the employer spots the shipping label, and questions the shipping company who reimburse him. The shipping company come after you for the shipping cost.

Tell him that you are happy with shipping to his confirmed address and that Free Shipping is part of your cost on the deal.

If he sticks around, which I doubt, ship only with Signature Confirmation.

This means that whoever gets the parcel has to put his name on it. (EBay and PP only require this for shipments over $650. This has nothing to do with eBay or PP though. This is forcing the recipient to admit he received it.)

I'd forgotten, you're moonlighting as a criminal mastermind now.-- Shepherd Derrial Book.

[avenueshopswapsell]

Yep, I thought something was fishy...I am going to cancel the sale.

Thank-you for all your help!

[i.am.vivian]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Tell him that you are happy with shipping to his confirmed address and that Free Shipping is part of your cost on the deal.

If he sticks around, which I doubt, ship only with Signature Confirmation.

This means that whoever gets the parcel has to put his name on it. (EBay and PP only require this for shipments over $650. This has nothing to do with eBay or PP though. This is forcing the recipient to admit he received it.)

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These days it is $750.  It changes all the time.  I use it for items valued at A LOT less than that.  I think it is because of the psychological side, when the postal carrier shows up and the buyer quickly signs, later realizing their signature is on it.  They know,  I know, and the post office knows they signed for it.  

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/seller-protection/best-practices.html

@avenueshopswapsell, is the buyer saying they want to send a shipping label for you to use and have you take off still more from the price?  

Or have they agreed to the price, are willing to pay, only they are being "helpful" by providing the label? (which would seem really odd in that case, wouldn't it).  

As the other person said, tell the buyer that shipping is included in the price.  Be really nice about it.  Thank them for the kind offer and assure them it isn't necessary.  

Further protest from the buyer will give you further clues.  If you DO send it, send it only to the registered PP address with signature.  It won't stop a SNAD claim but will protect you from INR.   

[avenueshopswapsell]

Soooo, quick update:

I cancelled the sale and refunded the buyer what he paid through Paypal because the sale seemed really suspicious to me.

The buyer then calls the store I work from and screams and yells at two reps before they came and got me.  The buyer insisted that the sale was fine and that there was no policy violation if he sent me a label.  I explained that that may be the case, but that I had cancelled the order and refunded his money.  He screamed and screamed that I HAD to send the items and that he was going to report me to eBay.  He claimed to have all ready sold the items to someone else?  He also had no idea that I was in Canada, and that he could not send me a return label from the US.  Then, he turned around and said he would pay $60 for shipping through Paypal so that I could ship the items to him.  That does sound like a remedy but after having to hear him rant and rave for 15 minutes, I decided that this sale was not worth it.

Explained to him that I have the item and he has his money and now our dealings are complete.  He said he was reporting me to eBay...not sure for what, but OK.

I called eBay and reported him, then added him to my BBL....buh bye.

[i.am.vivian]

All's well that ends, oh well. 

If you look for reasons to be suspicious you will find them everywhere, easily.  A lot of the mess could have been avoided if you had pursued better communication with your buyer before running to the boards for reassurance that this is as you imagine, a scam. 

There are "innocent" reasons for him wanting to print a label.  First, he doesn't know you are in a different country. 

Second, he doesn't know that a USPS label won't work on an item mailed with Canada Post.

Third, he hasn't thought about it much at all but just thinks it will be cheaper to do it his way, or he has a company where he can print a label for free (or next to it).  He's right that there is no policy violation about him sending you a label, it's just that it is never going to work. He won't be able to send you a CP one and a USPS one is no use here. 

Some people are just not all that good at the business end of things.  (Like preselling something he didn't actually have).

You didn't really want the sale anyway so at least you haven't lost anything but your time.  And you can still sell the items to someone else. 

[avenueshopswapsell]

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If you look for reasons to be suspicious you will find them everywhere, easily.  A lot of the mess could have been avoided if you had pursued better communication with your buyer before running to the boards for reassurance that this is as you imagine, a scam. 

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Perhaps....but why would he want to pay for shipping when I was offering it for free??

[zee-chan]

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@avenueshopswapsell wrote:

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If you look for reasons to be suspicious you will find them everywhere, easily.  A lot of the mess could have been avoided if you had pursued better communication with your buyer before running to the boards for reassurance that this is as you imagine, a scam. 

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Perhaps....but why would he want to pay for shipping when I was offering it for free??

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Perhaps he was gonna send you a label for the address of the buyer he was pre-selling it to?

[zee-chan]

Perhaps he was gonna send you a label for the address of the buyer he was pre-selling it to?

[femmefan1946]

or he has a company where he can print a label for free (or next to it). 

Yeah.

That's the scam I was talking about above.

He can print out a label on the boss' dime.

So for him it's free.

Then the boss finds out and comes after the seller.....and the seller gets a bill from UPS/FedEx/etc.

[tobyshitzu]

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@avenueshopswapsell wrote:

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If you look for reasons to be suspicious you will find them everywhere, easily.  A lot of the mess could have been avoided if you had pursued better communication with your buyer before running to the boards for reassurance that this is as you imagine, a scam. 

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Perhaps....but why would he want to pay for shipping when I was offering it for free??

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If this was for something like an iphone, Id say it was because they wanted delivery confirmation to be a diffrent address then papal or they wanted to receive the item at a different address then the paypal/credit card they hijacked

Being this is an odd item you wouldnt expect that from, and we can't see the buyers feedback or nature of the addresses its hard to say