Help confirming this is a scammer.

[nosif666]

hi everyone I need some advice. 

I put this item up for sale yesterday evening and two people offered to buy it from me at a certain price yet when I try to communicate with the individual they also wanted to pay for a apple gift card valued at $300 which they would pay me on top of the $250 for the item I am selling. 

[springyzone]

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@nosif666 wrote:

hi everyone I need some advice. 

I put this item up for sale yesterday evening and two people offered to buy it from me at a certain price yet when I try to communicate with the individual they also wanted to pay for a apple gift card valued at $300 which they would pay me on top of the $250 for the item I am selling. 

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How can you even consider that it may NOT be a scam?

You have an item listed on ebay.

1.  Anyone who wants it can 'buy it now'.

They just hit that big blue tab and pay. Job done. They don't need to message you.

They certainly don't need to pay you extra on top of the $260. Ask yourself-what normal person goes in and offers over double the asking price when they don't need to? It is not an auction, it is a normal sale.

2. The other option you have on that item is 'Make an offer'.

Believe me, the buyer interpretation of that is that you may be open to a lower price than $260 you have listed it for. So you may get offers for eg $230 or $200. If you get an offer above $260, be suspicious because-refer back to #1. They can already buy it at $260.

If you are going to sell on ebay, do it all by the book. These scammers rely on people, especially fairly inexperienced sellers, to think there may be a huge profit on ebay just about to fall into their lap, that  anything is possible on ebay. It isn't. Ebay is a marketplace like anywhere else.

Anytime you see a remarkable offer of money or goods for free, on ebay or anywhere else, it is pretty much going to be a scam.

And as countess said, make sure you are signed up for managed payments or you might never see your money, even if you make a legitimate sale.

[etb321]

You've received very good advice.

Don't respond to any message outside of ebay messaging

Any suggestion of you providing gift cards, for any reason, block the buyer and if necessary cancel the sale.

Report the buyer.

I'm not sure how the scam plays out but it's pretty certain it would end in tears.

[padi*0409]

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@etb321 wrote:

I'm not sure how the scam plays out but it's pretty certain it would end in tears.

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So you didn't read the link I gave you then.......................

[brickworksmarket]

I was also trying to understand the scam and did not see any similar in the link. The link is more for consumers not sellers or businesses which face different types of scams. 

[brickworksmarket]

The way I see it is if you supply the gift card and the payment you received is fraudulent it will then get reversed. I have seen this with businesses where someone buys over the phone and the seller does not sight the card so is not protected and payment is reversed after delivery. Hence why Paypal is seen as a more secure form of payment.

[*casey*]

"the payment you received is fraudulent "

No payment will be received as it's a SCAM

Repost of the Countess's information:

The instant that a gift card is mentioned, and the suggestion that eBay is holding the payment in escrow, you should immediately cease all contact .

The instant you see an email from a gmail address purporting to be eBay, you should immediately cease all contact.

Picture of a gift card plus its receipt enables the use of it. Scam.

[sandypebbles]

100%

There is nothing remotely legit about any of it

Gift card or not

Not to mention eBay does not have a gmail address

Nor do the address people with things such as 'dear seller' (or similar) 

It should only be treated as the scam it is

[brickworksmarket]

Here is the original post.

I put this item up for sale yesterday evening and two people offered to buy it from me at a certain price yet when I try to communicate with the individual they also wanted to pay for a apple gift card valued at $300 which they would pay me on top of the $250 for the item I am selling. 

I don't see any mention of escrow payment or mention of a gmail message from ebay. Maybe it was edited out and so have missed this part.

Understanding how a scam works helps to avoid one in the future. Obviously something was edited out of the message as I am unable to see what others are saying regarding messages from ebay and escrow payments.

[brickworksmarket]

I feel like I'm doing a word search and everyone sees the word gmail but me. Please be kind enough and point it out. 

[*casey*]

The OP posted  the original email they received  from the scammer but it was removed by a mod as it had the OP's personal email address showing