Suspicious buyer or not?

[expanded_perceptions]

Hi guys,

I was wondering what you think of this? I received an email from someone a 'John Smith' (i kid you not) asking what is the best price I can do on an item listed for $270, i told him I have it advertised elsewhere for $250 and that is the lowest I can do. He then replies back almost immediately, even though I took about 8 hours to reply to his initial question as I was sleeping. Anyway he offers me $400 and says to give my PayPal address and he will pay and send someone to pick it up??

I replied asking why he would want to pay more than the advertised price, he hasn't responded yet?

Weird or normal??

Lol

[4green2000]

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@expanded_perceptions wrote:

Hi guys,

I was wondering what you think of this? I received an email from someone a 'John Smith' (i kid you not) asking what is the best price I can do on an item listed for $270, i told him I have it advertised elsewhere for $250 and that is the lowest I can do. He then replies back almost immediately, even though I took about 8 hours to reply to his initial question as I was sleeping. Anyway he offers me $400 and says to give my PayPal address and he will pay and send someone to pick it up??

I replied asking why he would want to pay more than the advertised price, he hasn't responded yet?

Weird or normal??

Lol

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LOL...I know 2 "John Smith"...(I kid you not)

Sorry,just had to say this

[expanded_perceptions]

Lol... I know a John Smith myself, but sadly its not him! I actually wondered though if I did give mt PayPal address, how can I actually get scammed? I am fairly new to this, so forgive my naivety, but sounds very suspicious. Perhaps he is just very flush with cash and is giving us poor eBay sellers some Xmas cheer knowing how eBay is treating us? He hasn't responded though to my question as to why he wants to pay more, the first response was only 4 minutes after my reply to his!

So what are the ways I could get scammed?

[horizon1907]

I personally would just ignore him, but you could ask him, why he is willing to pay more than the advertised price. ( just see what he says ) 🙂

[phorum_junkie*]

It is 99.9999999% a scam, there is no seller protection with pick up items so they will either use a stolen or unauthorised credit card and then do a chargeback after they send somebody to collect it or they will ask you to allow their courier to come and collect it, they will tell you they will pay for this. You may very well not even get as far as temporarily having the money in your account as they may send you realistic looking emails from 'Paypal' saying the money is on hold until you show proof of sending, of course there is no money.

[curraone]

definitely a scammer

[4green2000]

Just keep it listed on ebay and dont do outside trading as its against their policy.

I would say to them if you really want the item to buy it straight away before its gone

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@expanded_perceptions wrote:

Hi guys,

I was wondering what you think of this? I received an email from someone a 'John Smith' (i kid you not) asking what is the best price I can do on an item listed for $270, i told him I have it advertised elsewhere for $250 and that is the lowest I can do. He then replies back almost immediately, even though I took about 8 hours to reply to his initial question as I was sleeping. Anyway he offers me $400 and says to give my PayPal address and he will pay and send someone to pick it up??

I replied asking why he would want to pay more than the advertised price, he hasn't responded yet?

Weird or normal??

Lol

---

[i-love-my-sheep]

From reading these forums, usually if someone mentions a buyer offering far more than the asking price, people scream scammer. I don't think anyone would be trying to send someone some Christmas cheer by offering more. I reckon it's a scammer. 

Can I assume the item is a phone or some other kind of electronic device? If he buys it, why can't he just pay through checkout? Why would he need your PayPal email address?

Most of the time when we hear about buyers offering extra, it is usually for a phone or some other electrical device, which is why I asked. I would be inclined to NOT give him your PayPal email address. If he wants to buy it, buy it and pay for it like everyone else does. If he wants to pay nearly double the asking price, relist the item for the higher amount and he can still pay for it via checkout.

[expanded_perceptions]

Great info!

I deffo knew this was dodgy. In fact i was wrong earlier when I stated they replied to my first reply 4 minutes later, it was actually only 1 minute!!! So yes, very strange. Not surprisingly, despite asking me to send the PayPal address 'as soon as possible' they have yet to respond to my question on why they want to pay more than the advertised price!!

[expanded_perceptions]

Hi,

No its not a phone. I do wonder though, what would happen if I actually met the 'pick up agent' and took his photograph, then informed the police? One lesss scammer out there!!