worried about a buyer - cancel sale?

[lasers_are_cool]

Hi, Is there a good way to cancel a sale? I am worried a buyer is trying to scam me based on conversation so far. He repeatedly said that he can't use the pay now function and is asking me for alternate payment options (which according to the webs is a top 5 scam with fake paypal receipt etc. Also no actual inquiries regarding the item itself, for example condition etc). I am just worried that if he ends up paying and I ship the goods that he will try the next thing. Am I too paranoid?

[ricarmic]

If the buyer is unable to pay, regardless of the reason you don't have to cancel you'd file an UID (Unpaid Item Dispute). That marks their id so that eventually they get turfed if the do this repeatedly. If you want to be nice you can cancel with buyer changed mind, or address problem so that it does not cause you a defect.

If they can't pay via pay now, you giving them your PAYPAL payment info, won't work either likely anyway, and 99.99999% chance that is a scam. (As a note, one can confirm the actual payment by logging into one's account, the fake emails can be uncovered that way because the payment won't actually show up if you log into your PAYPAL account).

If your spider senses are telling you there is a problem, let them know that they need to talk to ebay to fix their inability to pay, and that if they can't pay  you can then cancel or file a UID.

[pjcdn2005]

Where is your buyer located?  If he is in the US he wouldn't be able to pay because there is no shipping cost for the US set up. That could be because the service chosen and minimum dimensions don't match or because there isn't a US service chosen but since you already know the buyers location, you can go to the Canada Post website to figure out the shipping cost and then send the buyer an invoice by entering the shipping amount and a shipping service such as Tracked Packet or Expedited Parcel USA.  

You can figure out the postage cost at the following site...

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

I checked a couple of other countries and the shipping seems to be set up for them so if the buyer is located elsewhere, there is a chance that they are trying to get  you to accept an off ebay payment which isn't allowed.  In that case, you can go to your sales history and on the drop down error click cancel sale using problem with address. 

[lasers_are_cool]

Whoa thanks for the prompt help!

pjcd2005 - Australia, I did all the legwork with canada post and HS code (if I would ever need that).  And revised the add to him specifically adding the cp shipping to AU as he was so eager. But now I realised that I picked the lower cp shipping option without tracking. So now my mind is telling me that he will just say he never received it.

ricarmic - Yes, I wondered how people would get scammed by fake paypal receipts, becasue as you say, I assume it would have to show up in your paypal account.

The scenario I worry about is him suddenly paying within the time, then me shipping, then him trying some other weasely thing.

[femmefan1946]

If he does manage to pay (and frankly some sales are not worth having) and you use a Tracked Air Mail service, you should be okay.

The main problems with paid transactions are Not Delivered , which would be covered by tracking to prove delivery and Air Mail to speed it along, and Not As Described.

NAD means the seller usually has to provide Tracked return shipping. Even if you have a No Returns policy, you still have to refund, but you can demand the Return before refunding.

Personally, I'd go for the Unpaid Item Dispute. Although it takes longer the deadbeat cannot leave feedback.

With a cancellation, ending the transaction is faster, but he can still leave FB.

Although eBay doesn't use FB to assess member accounts, some buyers do take FB seriously.