Scammers (buyers)
Summary: Anonymous User shared an experience of almost falling victim to an online scam when selling an Adidas sweater. They were approached by a supposed buyer who requested communication via text and asked to send the item to a different address, accompanied by a $400 gift card. As the situation escalated, with frequent and insistent messages from the buyer, they realized the situation was suspicious and cancelled the transaction. In response, other participants, including marnotom!, ricarmic, and brettjet38, highlighted common red flags of scams, such as taking communication off-platform and shipping to alternate addresses. They encouraged staying informed through discussion boards. ilikehockeyjerseys and others reiterated the importance of keeping communication on eBay to avoid scams, while some discussed exceptions where high shipping charges might be legitimate. However, skepticism about buyer motives, especially regarding address changes, was expressed by mcrlmn and maximus7001, who criticized falling for such tactics.
maximus7001
·3 years agoWhat other scams have you fallen for??? Sounds like you are really gullable. Good luck on that..
mcrlmn
·3 years agoEverything went south beginning with "text".
Geez Louise, the gift card request didn't send up a red flag?
Why would you do that?
This entire episode reeked of scams we frequently hear of on the news, and the somewhat futile efforts to educate the public by the police.
hansatrade
·3 years agoA typical scam since the beginning to the end, especially the part with the gift card. I am glad it ended well.
Concerning the 100$ shipping for a 50$ item - not really true, because it happened at least 3 times to me.
All legit transactions 😄 The buyers simply needed my items "as soon as possible" and paid for very expensive express delivery services.
marnotom!
·3 years agoIt would have been fishy if they wanted their items shipped to a different address than the one in the transaction details, though.
hansatrade
·3 years agoNot according to my exprience. Happened at least 10 times last year (buyers forget to update their address after moving, ask to send the item to their cottage or to their friends as xmas gifts). All were legit transactions and ended well.
marnotom!
·3 years agoSorry, I wasn't very clear. What I meant was it would have been fishy if those buyers who wanted to pay extra for shipping also wanted to have the item sent to a different address than the one in the transaction details.
markhockey1992
·3 years agoGlad you posted. These people will do anything and scam so many people. They are some of the lowest people on earth that take advantage of good people.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·3 years agoThe reason he texted you so much was because it was a scam, and he wanted to close the deal before you caught on. He knew that he was really close to scamming you, and he didn't want you to have time to figure it out. Even something like you casually mentioning to a family member or roommate that you are going to the grocery store to buy a gift card because someone online asked you to include it.
Everything is a learning experience, but this is a very blatant scam with online classified orders. They were going to execute a chargeback and keep the gift card. They may not have even needed you to send the physical card, depending on what info is included on the photos.
Most eBay scams start with people taking messages off of eBay. Especially if you are a newer seller. You should keep messages on eBay, if only to weed out these scams.
The other common scam is that they come up with an excuse for you to send it to a different address. If you send an item to a different address than the one provided at checkout, you have no seller protection, even with tracking. I have had genuine customers make an error with their address and ask me to fix it, which is fine for a $10 DVD that will be shipped untracked regardless. So it doesn't always mean it's a scam, but if it's a pair of shoes, a graphics card, a PS5....yeah, it's a scam. You can ask the buyer to cancel due to a problem with address, and rebuy it, which they likely won't do.
rocketscollectibles
·3 years agoIt's a very common and known scam. You almost got caught.
Then he asked for my e-mail address (red flag!)
It was a red flag 10 steps before, right when they asked to text.
brettjet38
·3 years agohttps://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272
If you receive an offer from a buyer to transact outside of eBay, please report it.
https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084
femmefan1946
·3 years agoThank you for the step by step detailing of the scam.
It will be a useful reference when the next person asks.
And there will be a next person.
As you say, there is no need to go off-eBay with a transaction.
brettjet38
·3 years agoSCAM ALERT - RULE No 1
Never, ever, ever take your "communication" with ANY BUYER off the eBay messaging system, that is the first sure sign of a scam...
SCAM ALERT - RULE No 2
Also, never ever ship to an address other than the one provided by the transaction/sales record of the item purchased...
ricarmic
·3 years ago@Anonymous This is a very common scam aimed at new sellers like yourself.
At least it appears you stopped before it cost you $$$.
IMO the best thing to come from this is you've come here to this discussion board. You will be very well served if you browse what is going on here from time to time, you would have INSTANTLY recognized this as a scam as this is regularly discussed by folks affected here, along with many other potential pitfalls.
I've been selling on eBay for 24 years now and I still learn something new quite regularly on this board. Keep coming back, it will be worth your while!
marnotom!
·3 years agoThanks for sharing this with us.
Your tale has most of the red flags for a scam, starting with the request to take communication off the eBay system and text instead, following it up with the willingness to pay far too much in shipping the item, the email address, and then the gift card request. I'm glad you cancelled the transaction. I hope you're able to block this person's emails, text messages and phone calls.
Fortunately, scams aren't plentiful on eBay but they do get posted about a lot. Thanks for posting your experience here for others. You may want to hang around the discussion boards for a while to get a sense of what other tricks some users have up their sleeve.
markhockey1992
·3 years agoWell said.