Seller requests to send item to other person, offering more money.

[happyflowers123]

I Haven't been selling on ebay for very long. Recently I listed a phone I was selling at a starting price of $250. A buyer contacted me and asked what my selling price was, I told them I would sell the phone outright for $300 (probably through adding a buy it now option to my listing) The buyer then responded saying they would give $400 outright and they wanted me to help them send the item to their fiance. This sounds suspicious. How should I deal with this situation?

[tstore]

This should be fine as long as you tell them the address for their fiance must match the address they use when checking out / paying for the item. Do not send to an overseas address and ensure you send item via registered post

[digital*ghost]

That has all the signs of a classic scam, particularly the offering $100 more than your outright price, and phones are a very common target for these types of scams - do not respond to the person any more, put the ID on you Blocked Bidder List (most easily accessible via the site map, or by bookmarking this link: http://pages.ebay.com.au/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html )

You can also set up some custom blocks to prevent fraudulent buyers from making a purchase or bidding on your items by going to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer requirements. The best ones to stop these kinds of bidders are the Phone Verification block (bypassed if the member has a PayPal account or credit card on file with eBay, though), and the one that blocks members with a primary postage address in countries you don't post to, as they are most commonly overseas. 

You can also report the member ID to eBay, by clicking on the Contact Us tab in the Customer Support section - eBay should take action if the account is shown to be hijacked or fraudulent.

[phorum_junkie*]

No doubt the fiance will turn out to be in Nigeria and they will tell you that the money is being held by Paypal until you provide proof of shipping!

Even if they are not an out and out scammer ask yourself why they are asking for a BIN price? It is usually for one of two reasons, they think it will go for a lot more so want a bargain or they are a rival seller hoping you will end the listing to sell to them and of course you never hear from them again.

The only place you should send it to is the name and address as it appears in Paypal and you will also have to send it with a road only sticker on it and cannot send it overseas using Aus Post as it contains a lithium battery.

There is no longer any such thing as registered post for parcels so a bit difficult to use that service, you do need to send with signature required and with extra cover if it is more than $100.

You need to have all your buyer blocks in place when selling an oft scammed item like a phone particularly the one that excludes bidders with a primary delivery address you do not post to and also block bidders who are not phone verified.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Very suspicious! you say 300, and they say 400? oh dear. A scam.

Don't communicate with them anymore, and report it to eBay and let them look into it (if they choose to).

As Digi said, and block them is also good advice.

Be careful of any follow up emails you might receive purporting to be Paypal payments from them/people you're not expecting to be giving you money. Don't click on any links in any suspicious looking emails. This is a scam follow-up technique if they get any details from you.

Anything from Paypal/eBay/your bank that has links, or action required, it is always best to go directly to the official website or give them a call.

[cq_tech]

"Do not send to an overseas address and ensure you send item via registered post."

Apparently registered parcel post no longer exists as we know it, and has been replaced with over-the-counter lodgement of your item with a SOD (Signature On Delivery) form, and if the item's value exceeds the $100 insurance provided, you can purchase extra-cover for an additional amount.

[davewil1964]

It's a scam cq.

First hint - delivery to a third party.

Second hint - offering, after knowing what the seller would take, more than the seller was prepared to take.

it's a classic. Which means only mugs would be taken in. Why would any buyer offer substantially over the seller's asking price unless they had no intention of paying? And were relying on the seller's greed/lack of knowledge to complete the scam. Wherein no money is forthcoming and the seller would lose the goods.

However, OP, the scammer now probably has your email address. For the next at least 18 months be aware that you will probably be subject to phishing scams. NEVER click on links in emails - go to the alleged site directly. And/or mouse over the links. Which will show URLs that have nothing to do with the purported site you are being directed to.

The old adage - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is - definitely applies to online selling/purchasing. Especially phones. Unfortunately for legitimate sellers.

[cq_tech]

Oh, I thought we'd already established that it was scam, and a pretty obvious one at that.

I was simply correcting tstore's advice to use registered post, as although it still exists as Registered Post International, domestically it has been replaced with SOD + extra cover.

There's no point even contemplating accepting genuine sales for mobile phones from OS buyers, unless they're prepared to accept it sans battery, and if I was selling one, I'd make that fact perfectly clear in my listing. It's moot anyway, as I'd personally only ever sell within Australia.

[davewil1964]

Sorry, i misunderstood what you were saying.

I won't even sell books OS.