Concerned about possible scammer

[kashwashwa]

A buyer with 0 feedback just purchased a computer graphics card from me for $649 using the buy it now feature.  Their username is the first 3 letters of their first name, and first 4 letters of their last name, then a number. They paid within 1 minute. 
I recieved a legit payment through paypal so I created a shipping label. But then I googled the address I'm supposed to send the package to and noticed that the house was listed for sale March 15th and sold March 19th... I'm skeptical that the house is even inhabited right now.

Could the ebayer be hoping to intercept the package going to a vacant house?

Am I being paranoid or does this seems sketchy to anyone else?

[ilikehockeyjerseys · Accepted solution]

A graphics card is a high risk item.

First thing to do is to call eBay on the phone and outline your concerns so that they can put a note on the order. You should do this whether or not you choose to send the item. It doesn't hurt to ask them if you can cancel due to problem with address. With a high risk sale, they will probably say yes. If you are not on managed Payments and have any additional info about the buyer that is on their Paypal address that isn't on the eBay order receipt, it wouldn't hurt to provide that. (Such as an e-mail address associated with Paypal, or the name associated with the Paypal account if they used a different name on the shipping address). Keep in mind, you can still get a negative feedback from the buyer, but this really doesn't matter that much.

If they tell you that you cannot cancel due to a problem with the address, just cancel anyways due to item being out of stock, or whatever. Take the defect since you're not a top rated seller, and take the possibly negative feedback for cancelling. Block the buyer account, and make note of the names/address associated with the buyer so that you will be free to cancel the transaction if/when they try to re-buy it.

In my experience, whenever the Spider-sense goes off, it is usually right, and you regret not just cancelling and dealing with the negative feedback/defect. 

There's basically no logical reason to send it if you're that sketched out. You're not a high volume seller who has anything to lose by getting a defect. Keeping in mind, that you can also get scammed by long term experienced accounts, and 0 feedback doesn't always mean a scammer - it could just be a guest buyer who doesn't use eBay, but resorted to it because graphics cards are difficult to find. If you are selling stuff like graphics cards, especially as a seller account that appears inexperienced via a low feedback number, you are going to be targeted by scammers. 

Unfortunately, with items like graphics cards, phones, etc, you have to be paranoid. You're technically covered if you send to the address listed on the transaction (with signature confirmation above a certain amount), but you could still end up with the buyer trying to orchestrate a return scam. Unless the item was purchased before the house was even sold, I don't really think what you said above for sure means they are a scammer, but in my personal experience usually whenever I have a bad feeling about a buyer for whatever reason, whether I pre-emptively cancel the transaction or unfortunately go through with it, it usually turns out to be true. 

You could also try to use a shipping service that will hold the package for pickup rather than safe drop. This will require the buyer to present their ID when they pick it up. I know if you purchase Canada Post postage online through their website, there is a "Card For Pickup" option for packages within Canada. I'm unsure if they have a similar option for USPS packages.

If you're really insistent on going through with the transaction, you could try to call the buyer to verify things. Obviously, you don't call up and ask "yo I googled ur house r u a scammer?" - but just that it is a high priced item so you wanted to call them to verify that they did in fact make the purchase. This won't help you in terms of eBay, but it might give you some piece of mind. If none of the numbers associated with the eBay transaction reach the buyer, then maybe that ends up being the deal breaker for you. Just because they pick up their phone and verify they ordered it, doesn't mean they aren't a scammer, but if you can't reach them at all, it might inform your decision to cancel the transaction. 

[reallynicestamps]

Use Contact Buyer to confirm the address.

But, in case you never sold a house, the last house I sold was in June 2014 and we vacated in September 2014.

The house we bought in July 2014 was vacated in October 2014.

He very likely will not be moving until the school year is over, if there are children in the family.

But ask him.

[pjcdn2005]

Their username sounds like it may be a computer generated guest ID which in itself is not a sign of a scammer.  It's always taken me  a while to move after selling a house so I don't think that a house sold less than a month ago means that it will be empty in the next couple of weeks.    If the package has tracking showing that it was delivered to the payment address then you are covered by seller protection regardless if the house is empty or if it has different people living there. 

Ultimately it is up to you what you to but if you do cancel the transaction, you should consider selling it in person rather than online.

[kashwashwa]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply! Wasn't expecting that...

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Yes, I think he should consider selling it locally.

There is so much demand for graphics cards, it would probably sell very quickly on a local platform.

There are some things that are better to sell on eBay, because you need eBay's userbase for the item to reach the right audience. A graphics card may not be that. I'd imagine with the uptick in demand, anything appropriately priced would sell quickly locally. 

I agree that there is a reasonable chance that the buyer is not a scammer, but with things like phones and graphics cards, I appreciate why a seller would be cautious. I guess someone could argue that cancelling is unfair to the buyer. I find people are generally too paraonoid about guest or 0 feedback buyers, but at the same time when it comes to an expense high risk item, I can't blame a casual seller for feeling that way.

[zee-chan]

Really impressed with ilikehockeyjerseys's thorough answer.

OP if you plan to phone the buyer, I'd probably say something like "Hi, I'm the eBay seller that you just bought the XXXX graphic card from. Would it be possible for me to verify your full name, full address, and phone number?"  And probably inform him that you will be recording this phone message for security purpose due to high cost of the item. If this is too much of a hassle then I'd probably cancel the sale itself and sell locally as other forumer suggested.