Pretty certain I'm being scammed with Nigerian shipping request...

[ellaedit]

Hey guys, 

Just wanted your thoughts on this. For context, firstly, I'm not a professional ebayer. Recently made myself clean out all the things I've been hoarding and threw some low to moderately high priced items to recoup some cash

One of my listings was a set of camera lens ($300ish), which was quickly purchased by someone who registered in the US. Wasn't that keen on shipping it overseas but the item isn't too heavy so it's not something that I was completely put off by and just wanted to sell it quick smart

To get to the point and not make it confusing, I'll outline the events in the following points:

- Buyer seemed nice and responsive at first, we had about 2 decent conversations about the item and shipping, still questions unanswered regarding logistics

- Didn't receive any message from ebay about the item that was beyond the norm (which confused me a bit if you read the email below)

- Receive a long winded explanation about his ebay and life situation, sun and moon, before request to basically send it to Nigeria. I have attached his email below its quite long but didn't want to leave it out

- I'm no pro seller as I mentioned, but not so naive to not know right away what this is. My question is, how do I respond and go from there? After which, am I wrong to just go ahead and cancel the item on eBay, do I let them know this occured? - the request being outside of ebay, etc. 

Timeline:

1. Buyer purchased on eBay, I messaged saying "hey thanks! I'll get back to you with the exact shipping cost shortly" etc. 

2. Buyer sends me

3. I replied with long and detailed description of the condition, not much to it because its been taken out literally once - seriously. I asked if he was an Aussie currently overseas for whatever reason (as I was recently and he said "Hi mate" I learned from living in a few countries that we really are the only people who do this and maybe Brits) because if he'd like to wait for me to ship to an Australian address instead of the one listed on eBay (San Fran, USA), I'd be happy to arrange that cos it'd be cheaper. 

4. Didn't hear from him for quite some time (about 2 weeks)

5. I receive this email (direct to my inbox, not through eBay mesages - 2 weeks after last contact)

Irrelevant off-topic side note: managed to get rid of something for $400+ that I bought for my sister before finding out she's already gotten one from her bf to a lovely buyer, YAY! That one had been weighing on me quite a bit as it was pretty dumb and quite a dear mistake so I'm super thrilled and was dancing around singing "i love ebay! I'm going to sell everything on ebay now" for a bit before this came up quite quickly thereafter this brief honeymoon...

[twyngwyn]

This is why I do not sell internationally.....looks bogus to me!!

[lyndal1838]

Do not contact the buyer in any way....as you suspect, it is an attempted scam.

I would ring ebay and let them know what has happened.

As you have already had contact with them you need to run all your virus scans and change all your passwords to ebay and paypal.

And be on the lookout for phishing emails over the next few months.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

The "buyer" will not have paid. At best, you'll get a fake email saying that they have paid, but the funds won't be in your account (which you only check by going directly to the PayPal website, as links in emails should be avoided even from the most offcial-looking PayPal emails). 

If you contact eBay (I recommend requesting a callback via the Help & Contact link above), they might remove the listing from the site completely and credit your fees (make sure you do get a credit of the fees, as they would be hefty on a $300 item - if you plan on relisting the item, you may want to create an [unlisted] copy of the listing prior to contacting eBay because if they do remove it, there will be no trace of it whatsoever, anywhere on the site). Alternatively, if it's been 4+ days since the purchase, you can open an unpaid item dispute, then close it after a further 4 days since opening the case to receive a credit of the fees (it will show you if enough time has passed when it says 'you can close this case now' after viewing it in the resolution centre). 

You may also want to go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer Requirements and put some blocks in place to help stop this kind of thing. Blocking buyers with unpaid item strikes is always recommended (2 in 12 months is the most strict setting), blocking members who have not been phone verified is recommended for those who are listing scam-prone items, and you can also block buyers who have a primary postal address in a location you don't post to. If your listings are set up with domestic postage only, putting this block in place should be enough to prevent sales to any members with an international postal address. 

[lyndal1838]

Digi, the OP mentions a timeframe of about 2 weeks between contacts with the buyer....more than enough time for a NPB case to be opened and closed again.

[digital*ghost]

Ah, I missed that (was skimming a little  )

Definitely open an unpaid dispute ASAP, then, as you only get a maximum window of 31 days from the date of sale to open one. 

[go-tazz]

Just follow the guidelines on my guide that deals with this scam:

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

The Nigeria scam is the first part of the guide,

Get them to call you is the best option.

[ellaedit]

Oooh thank you, thank you! All so helpful.

I admit being somewhat startled that this being my second sale and just 3 days since the listing went live. I either have the worst luck or these guys are efficient and widescale- prob both. 

Update: received a fake email as per expected game plan.

Off topic but did you guys see the nigerian scam episodes on shows like 60 min, Dateline where people would send hundreds, up to hundreds of thousands of $$ in various Nigerian schemes.... I know this isn't a high value item but being fresh uni graduates who only recently came off some tight student budgets, even just imagining having fallen for a trick and losing $300 in that way, made my stomach sink a little. I can't imagine the people who lost their entire life savings and ultimately heartbroken by love stories that never even existed. 

Again, thank you!

[ellaedit]

Wow thank you and for the guide!

[ellaedit]

Thanks for all the tips! I was just a bit confused as to eBay's interest in this as it was outside of their messaging system but that clarified everything and more!

And you're right I'm getting phishing emails, went straight to my spam folder so I didn't realise. 

Best!

V