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Nigerian eBayer?

0098386

0098386

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
I'm a little worried about a buyer on eBay. I put up my PSP, memory sticks, charger etc... for the sum total of £200, but someone bought it now for £240. I said "I ship to UK only" thinking yea, only UK people would bid.

Turns out this guy is from Nigeria. So I get a little scared here. Nigera=scammers. or at least that's what we're taught in this internet age. And the shipping price has gone up to £70 from a paltry £10 to cover this abroad shipment.

The buyer has had 0 feedback. my item was his first purchase.

What should I do in this situation?


Too add to suspicions I have received 2 emails, one from PayPal one from eBay going through the usual rigmarole of "your item has been sold" "I'm paypal, heres your money". But with adverts at the bottom of the email. I checked previous eBay stuff and there is no advert :(

It's a con-man isn't it. wasting my frakkin time.
 
Just let him of by saying the terms were shipment only in the UK, I would be really careful. Or wait until you have received full payment cleared into your bank account before shipping. But go for option 1, let him off the sale.

Edit: Those emails are really suspicious, don't sell it to him/her.
 
Don't touch it!!!!! You're only shipping to the UK. He's Nigerian in Nigeria? Don't touch it. Repeat to yourself until you're sick of it. Please. :)
 
Yea, thats a good idea. I could wind him up so much though... what would Locke do?
 
I think it's happened again. Though it's better hidden.

Another person with 0 rating (why can't I filter those out! I can filter anything else out!) No history. no nothing.

"someone"@racemail.com

Only their address is in London which makes it more realistic.

I hate eBay :eek: I got so excited that I finally sold something last night I rang up my girlfriend and screamed joy at her. but no. they had to go and ruin it :eek:

OH WHAT THE HELL! It's a scammer again. I'm sick of this now. how the hell do I stop them? How do I charge them the relisting bill?
He wants me to send the item to C K Cargo Ltd; Freight forwarders. Why would that be do you think?
 
Maybe you'd have better luck just trying to sell it locally. In the States, Craigslist.org is a good option, though it doesn't look like it's nearly as popular in the UK. There's always the old-fashioned way of posting notices in town with your phone number or email address. You might not get quite as much money as if people were bidding, but you'd have the security of a face to face transaction.
 
Just wait until you get the money from the purchase. Then ship the PSP.

However, if that doesn't work, I secont the P-P-PSP idea. Classic. :p
 
jdechko said:
Just wait until you get the money from the purchase.
Click to expand...


Hell, I'd even be careful with that. Stuff like fake checks and money orders and whatnot. Definitely don't ship until the check clears the bank and they know it's legit.
 
raggedjimmi said:
I think it's happened again. Though it's better hidden.

Another person with 0 rating (why can't I filter those out! I can filter anything else out!) No history. no nothing.

"someone"@racemail.com

Only their address is in London which makes it more realistic.

I hate eBay :eek: I got so excited that I finally sold something last night I rang up my girlfriend and screamed joy at her. but no. they had to go and ruin it :eek:

OH WHAT THE HELL! It's a scammer again. I'm sick of this now. how the hell do I stop them? How do I charge them the relisting bill?
He wants me to send the item to C K Cargo Ltd; Freight forwarders. Why would that be do you think?
Click to expand...

I believe that you can set up auctions to be only open to people with more than 0 feedback...or at least require that the buyer contact you before bidding if they have 0 feedback...I've seen it done before.
 
jdechko said:
Just wait until you get the money from the purchase. Then ship the PSP.
Click to expand...
Hell, I'd even be careful with that. Stuff like fake checks and money orders and whatnot. Definitely don't ship until the check clears the bank and they know it's legit.
Click to expand...
No, you see, as soon as you think you can out scam the scammer, you're gonna get burned. You think you know enough to get the money be safe. These guys do it for a living, dude - you're a baby in this game.

There's a 100 ways: You'll get a PayPal email with the money. Only it won't be from PayPal, it'll be a fake, and it will lead you to a forged PayPal login, where you'll enter your name and password. Bye Bye all your Paypal account and identity. The PSP is incidental to this game - if you ship it, you lose it too. If they are really good, they'll steal your eBay ID too.

You'll get a bank money order. Mr. Scumball will tell you to wait 7 days for it to clear, then send the PSP. Reasonable, right? Except 28 days later, your bank will receive a chargeback from the bank the money order was drawn on, because it was forged. You're pooched.

You'll get a legitimate PayPal payment, it checks out with PayPal fine, it is in your account. 45 days later, PayPal removes the funds from your PayPal account (or bank or charge card) because the credit card used to fund the Scummer's PayPal payment was stolen. The address it was shipped to turns out to be a post office mail box, long since vacated.

Only sell to people with feedback
Only ship to Verified PayPal adddesses
Before transacting, get the person's real name and address and phone number. Verify with directory service
Hold fast to your limitations on shipping and payment. Don't let anybody else dictate or change the terms on you no matter how reasonable it sounds.
 
raggedjimmi said:
It's a con-man isn't it. wasting my frakkin time.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Given that you put UK only, you can email the buyer and ask for his UK address. If he refuses to give you one, then forward the email to eBay and ask for your fees back and a free re-listing.

If you're patient, though, it might be fun to play a game with the conman...see what kind of scam he tries to pull and then beat him at his own game. I'm sure you've seen what others have done in retaliation.
 
Well after a nice quick exchange of a few emails my 2nd seller has dropped off the face of the earth.

I've sent a total of 3 angry emails to eBay requesting I get my seller fee's withdrawn for these 2 fake buyers. they better bloody do or I'll find some higher authority watchdog to urinate on them.

Next step for me is to get potential buyers to email me first. It's not the best route but it's a sure fire for working, I can filter out the bad buyers instantly.
 
These buyers are so annoying. I've already wasted two BIN auctions on one and had to report them to eBay so I could get my final value fee back. Very annoying.

I guess I was a bit lucky in that a few of them had their accounts suspended almost right away, and I was able to get my fees back without a problem.
 
When I've sold high value stuff like this I haven't put a Buy It Now option, so that I can just delete suspect bids at my leisure, and check it carefully as it enters the final hour or so. It worked well - I can't imagine how annoying it must be to have your auction ruined with buy it now like that.
 
Lau said:
When I've sold high value stuff like this I haven't put a Buy It Now option, so that I can just delete suspect bids at my leisure, and check it carefully as it enters the final hour or so. It worked well - I can't imagine how annoying it must be to have your auction ruined with buy it now like that.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea. I'll probably have an auction only, BIN just seems full of problems. I've voiced my opinion to eBay, as if they care. it's ebay.co.uk after all, they're renowned for not giving a damn.
 
raggedjimmi said:
That's a great idea. I'll probably have an auction only, BIN just seems full of problems. I've voiced my opinion to eBay, as if they care. it's ebay.co.uk after all, they're renowned for not giving a damn.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it worked well. I posted a (friendly but firm) disclaimer on the auction, and said anyone who has less than 5 positive feedbacks or had recently registered to email me first, or their bid would be cancelled, no exceptions. At the start I had loads of dodgyness and had to cancel loads, and I blocked them as well, (and even some that emailed seemed dodgy as hell so I told em to piss off as well :p ) but as time went on it got better, and in the end sold without a hitch. I'm usually careful but give people the benefit of the doubt on eBay, but I didn't take any chances with a laptop on there and was the ice bitch from hell. :D It's better to take a reliable lower offer than take a risk on a high one as well - don't get tempted by people offering you money to finish early, or that sort of thing.

Good luck with your 're'-auction. :)
 
interesting turn around here. The 2nd buyer has returned! saying that he's okay with our arrangement. That the item will only be despatched as soon as his cheque arrives, clears, and the bank are totally fine with it.

He seems confident. and he's following everything right. The fact it's being sent to an exporter, an actual firm, probably helps somewhat. I can't see how but it just feels better than some random flat or whatever.
 
raggedjimmi said:
interesting turn around here. The 2nd buyer has returned! saying that he's okay with our arrangement. That the item will only be despatched as soon as his cheque arrives, clears, and the bank are totally fine with it.

He seems confident. and he's following everything right. The fact it's being sent to an exporter, an actual firm, probably helps somewhat. I can't see how but it just feels better than some random flat or whatever.
Click to expand...

Well if its a cheque that does not involve any emails, log in's, and etc; well than all means accept the bidder and wait untill the money clears into you bank account. Just be aware of everything before shipping item :)
 
I'd be wary – I've heard of fake cheques that bounce later. I once heard a good rule that you risk £1 for every feedback – e.g. you'd risk a £10 item on a person with 10 positives, and, in theory, a £200 psp I'd risk on someone that had 200. I haven't always followed it – the £700 laptop I sold to someone with 50 positives, but I certainly wouldn't risk an expensive scammable item on someone with 0 feedback.
 
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