Iphone buyer

[lallmcgill]

This happened twice. About an hour after listing two iPhones I had on auction, somebody bought the buy it now price which was quite high and sent an email like this:

Hi Mate, Am the winning buyer of your lovely item, I will like you to contact me via (email address) so we can sort out postage and delivery method. I will be traveling for a business trip so i will be accessing my email via iphone. Kindly email me as soon as possible via (email address)and use the item number as subject and also send your PayPal email. Awaiting to read from you ASAP. Regards.

Is this legit. It seems weird as the first iphone I sold, the buyer sent an email almost identical to this.

[lucitabby]

Sounds like a scam.  Especially with the poor grammar.  I would not contact him on his private email.  

Just send an invoice through eBay with the cost of tracked and signed for shipping.

[femmefan1946]

Just send the invoice as normal.

Then after four days, since he will not pay, open the Unpaid Item Dispute and get your fees back.

The annoying part of this is it means that after the phoney "sale" you have to wait eight whole days to relist.

Or take a chance that the guy is not a scammer and relist immediately. With the two identical emails, well, up to you .

You could, since you know what price you would sell the phone at, list it as a Fixed Price item with Immediate Payment Required.

85% of eBay listings are Fixed Price, but for some reason newbies keep using the less popular (with customers) auctions.

And be sure to open those Unpaid Item Disputes. The Strikes deadbeats and scammers get from those make it difficult for them to continue bidding on eBay. Eventually a bot is triggered and the accounts are closed.

Go to your Seller Preferences and opt to Block automatically bidders with deadbeat Strikes.

Add those specific IDs to your Blocked Bidder List (under Manage Bidders on the Site Map).

[triber]

The fact that he calls you "Mate", is pretty certain he is from the UK (as am I originally).

[lallmcgill]

Thanks for your reply. Just the fact that both of my phones sold within an hour of posting and the email format almost identical seems fishy to me.

[i.am.vivian]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

Just send the invoice as normal.

Then after four days, since he will not pay, open the Unpaid Item Dispute and get your fees back.

The annoying part of this is it means that after the phoney "sale" you have to wait

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Iphone buyer,  phoney sale.  lol!  Good pun!   🙂  

[pjcdn2005]

No it isn't legitimate.  They can pay directly through ebay, they don't need your email address. A common cell phone scam is that once they get your email address you will receive an official looking email (supposedly from PayPal) that will state you have been paid and that money will be released to you once you send them the tracking number for the purchase. It's a scam and there will be no payment.  If there was one, you would see it in your PayPal account right away.