Buyer fraud? Requesting gift cards and sent direct paypal payment

[katiemasters931]

Seller: me

Buyer: (no longer registered user)

item: $50 boots

Buyer messaged me about the boots requesting I respond via email/text... responded via email and she requested I ship the boots overnight and send $200 of Steam wallet gift cards as well. She sent $450 via paypal ($50 boots, $200 shipping and $200 Giftcards) and said they were a birthday present so I thought nothing of it.  I thought it was just an odd request, but then my friend said it most definitely fraud.  I haven't bought the giftcards and I emailed buyer back saying no i'm not comfortable with this especially since they are no longer registered as a user. However, how do I report them to ebay since they didn't technically buy my item?

[ichopshop]

Yes of course it's fraud.

And you've violated eBay's TOS by selling off site.

Ian

[katiemasters931]

Sorry, I'm new and didn't realize this. 

 However, what i'm looking for is how I can report the buyer and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

P.S. Thank you for your kind words.

[zee-chan]

Since they are "no longer registered as a user" that means other people have already reported them and they can no longer buy from that account.

It's good that you haven't bought the gift cards or sent them out yet. I'd phone eBay CS tomorrow for advice on how to proceed, and definitely do NOT ship anything out! It's clearly fraud because normal people wouldn't pay $200 shipping on a pair of $50 boots. 

I'll tag a staff for you to see if he has any other advice for you tomorrow.

tyler@ebay

[recped]

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@zee-chan wrote:

I'd phone eBay CS tomorrow for advice on how to proceed

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No need to call eBay. Just cancel the order (find it in My eBay or the Hub , in the dropdown is a choice to cancel).

Normally you would open an Unpaid Item report but since the buyer has already booted there is no point in doing that and it takes longer to get a fee credit.

[tyler@ebay]

Thanks for the tag @zee-chan!

Hi @katiemasters931 - glad that your friend was able to point out the red flags, avoiding a potential scam is always good.  

The best course of action at this point is to handle it as @recped suggested. 

[pjcdn2005]

If they didn't actually purchase the boots on ebay there won't be anything to cancel.  I think that you said they paid you...did you actually check your Paypal account to see if there was money in there or are you assuming there is because of an email from PP?  If they paid you, chances are that it was with a stolen credit card or hacked Paypal account.

It's almost always best to deal with buyers through ebay messages, not email or text for two reasons...One reason is that ebay doesn't like email addresses to be given out before a sale as they assume that you are trying to do an off ebay sale which they obviously don't like and can cause you big problems.

Second...scammers may often ask you before the sale for your email address so that they can send you a fake Paypal email.  There really is no need to give out your email address ever as a buyer does not need it to pay through ebay.

[Anonymous]

Hi I sort of did of what you said. I canceled the order, blocked the scammer, and I sent to close my account

[reallynicestamps]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM MAY 2019!

 The reason zombie threads should be avoided is that the information in them may be obsolete and now incorrect.

That being said, I'm glad you spotted the potential fraud in time.

But I don't understand why you want to close your account. Please start a new thread and get some up to date advice on how to sell safely online.