Am I required to provide Buyer with my email address in order to make payment via bank transfer?

[bubswebcloset]

Hi Ebayers,

I would need an advice asap.

I sold an item within hours of posting it  3 days ago. I indicated payment options as either via  PP or direct deposit. First the buyer  requested a total figure (however it was obvious as I asked for fixed postage fee ) then informed me that he was currently having problems with PP  and wanted to pay via bank transfer.I said ok then he wanted me to provide him with my bank details/name+account details/ plus my email address saying that his bank wanted to send a confirmation of the transaction directly to my email. With no reason he gave me two of his email addresses (Not his "real" name but the same email ID with outlook and  Yahoo but later on he kept giving me one email address of the two without any explanation. Furthermore I became  abit suspicious when I noticed that he did not provide his street number  to the postal address and also a different name appeared on the postal address. I requested to correct it but he seems to ignore it. Instead In his messages he keeps asking for my email address.It is very annoying.. I sent him a message last night that I would need to cancel the order in case the payment will not be done in 48 hrs. He replied me today and all he said he was in the proccess of completing the transaction but his bank needs my email address.

I do not believe i should give him or his bank my email in order to deposit the fund. I had already enough of this game..Any advice would be highly appreciated . Thanks and regards

[lyndal1838]

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@bubweb wrote:

Thanks for your further comments.He said of the "someone"  is his son who resides abroad..my first thought was that should be ok especially being a few weeks away from Christmas and I made it clear in my listing that I ship the item to Australian destinations only. I have never meant to have it delivered outside Australia. 

I also looked his 50+ positive score feedback however he obtained none within the last 12  months or even longer.

Needeless  to say that I learnt from this case and I will hopefully sort out this scammers faster in the future. 

All the best

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As soon as you saw that it was to be sent to his son overseas the alarm bells should ring.

And I agree with the others.....it is a hijacked account.

This has certainly been a learning curve for you.  Next time you will know not to take everything at face value.....and how to protect yourself from these scammers using hijacked accounts.

If you don't want to sell overseas you need to block bidders whose primary addess is in a country you don't post to.

Make sure you have as many blocks in place as possible.

Oh and just another warning....as you have already given him your email address you need to be careful of any phishing emails that you are likely to received over the next few months.

[go-tazz]

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@bubweb wrote:

thanks, you are right, I should have given him a  fake email address but ... there is always a first time

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That wouldn't have achieved anything as they would've just moved on to the next seller.

As Silver stated,you need to report them to eBay as a hijacked account:

http://ocsnext.ebay.com.au/ocs/cusr?query=1485

[bubswebcloset]

His postal address was based in Melbourne and  the suburb is supposed to be one of the most expensive area what I did not realize till the next day that he had no street number only street name +suburb+postcode.

His english sounded excellent.

[bubswebcloset]

Thanks, very helpful advice.I am absolutley a hobbi seller but I look like need to be armed against these scammers professionally!

[lyndal1838]

Unfortunately all ebay sellers are fair game for the scammers and equally unfortunately they target sellers with low feedback as they think they have little/no experience.

[*tippy*toes*]

Probably the best thing to do now would be to not respond to any more messages. Exactly 4 days after the sale (to the second), open up a non payer dispute. 4 days later, go back and close it. That is probably the quickest and easiest way to get your fees back. Add that buyer to your blocked buyer list http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin

I would also advise setting up buyer requirement blocks. They won't stop hijacked accounts as they usually have some feedback, but a lot of scammers will create a new account and you can stop them. You can also stop serial non payers. My settings I'll put below. Most people have them set the same  http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferences

Set to:

2 non payment strikes in 12 months

Tick to block buyers in locations you don't post to

Block buyers who have 4 policy violations in 6 months.

The next 2 are optional and personal choice. I don't have either ticked.

Tick to block buyers who haven't gone through phone verification. I also have the sub box ticked to apply only to people with 5 or less feedback. This is the setting that should stop the scammers who create new accounts as very few will phone verify their account (adding PayPal or a credit card does act in the same way as phone verification)

Tick to apply the above settings to current and future listings.

Tick to stop blocked buyers contacting you (it won't stop your current scammer contacting you as they are currently in a transaction with you).

Submit.

[go-tazz]

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@bubweb wrote:

Thanks, very helpful advice.I am absolutley a hobbi seller but I look like need to be armed against these scammers professionally!

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Then have a read of my guide,(it gives you an idea on how they try and scam you):

http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Nigeria-is-a-scam-Fake-shipping-agent-Contact-Live-Help-/1000000001695207...

[saarzi]

Oookaaayyy.  You didnt originally tell us he wanted it posted overseas etc etc.

In that case, yes, scammer.

Its not unusual for a bank to request email address to send receipts (mine does that all the time).

Its not unusual to have a different name or address on the postal address.

Its not unusual for people to have multiple email addresses with different names on them (I have 4, one from 20 years ago, and I use them all for different things.. actually i have about 6, but only really use 4).

HOWEVER..

If he is doing all that PLUS not confirming his own address, AND encouraging you to contact him outside of Ebay, AND asking you to post directly overseas,  then those last two points are big ones, and yes, hes probably a scammer.

Id ignore all emails and communication and open an item not paid case to get your fees back. You can then relist the item.

Id also call Ebay customer service and report him - you need to be clear on what went on though - Ebay CS arent too bright.

[sparrow2207]

2 of my banks "as an option" ask for email addy to send a confirmation email to recipient.  You do not need to fill it out if you don't want to - Im not going to send an email off to telstra etc when I pay a bill as they already get my customer ID.  Not eveyone has emai and those that do don't want more junk maill.

[bubswebcloset]

Good evening to all those members who took the time to respond me today,

just wanted to let you guys know that I am 100% sure now that I got scammed as I received  three emails in the last 30 min /Citibank sent from gmail, Nigerien postal address was given to me to post the item when it would have never been posted internationally inthe first place + informing me that funds will be released  once its been shipped etc 

I have reported the member who is most likely behind a hijacked account.

Many thanks to you all again for taking the time to respond me. Cheers