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

[cq_tech]

I trust you've already added him to your BBL. If not, do so immediately.

[kopenhagen5]

SCAM!!!

There probably isn't a pick up agent.

A lot of the time they want as much personal info on you to scam in other ways using your details.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@cq_tech wrote:
I trust you've already added him to your BBL. If not, do so immediately.

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Hi, I actually tried to look at this the other day for a couple of insulting best offer bidders, how do you actually block someone?

[expanded_perceptions]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

SCAM!!!

There probably isn't a pick up agent.

A lot of the time they want as much personal info on you to scam in other ways using your details.

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Thanks for that info! Pays to be vigilant, if the person had offered a reasonable amount then I would not have been as suspicious. Good job he was called 'John Smith', so cliched it makes me glad they failed just for the lack of imagination!!

[elusiveeditions]

OP- glad you've already had some great replies. This was an attempted scam, no doubt.

I empathize with your curiosity regarding 'What if I said yes then went to meet the scammer or agent of, took a pic and went to the police?'. I've been very tempted to set up similar 'stings' myself 🙂

On this- has anyone had any luck getting police involved with proper ebay scams? I know there's a seller here who recently sent a 2k camera and accessories and the buyer is claiming SNAD, saying only the accessories arrived... I believe that seller has involved the police.... but they didn't say much about the response they got over the counter at the copshop. Will they actually do anything? I can't imagine they'd be keen.

[beautbots01]

To block someone you go to your Site Preferences (under Account Tab). Scroll down to Buyer Requirements (here you will also see your Buyer Requirements Activity Log which shows buyers who have been blocked because of your existing settings, ie No Phone Verification, Too Many Unpaid Item Strikes etc.  Any click on the Edit button to change your selling preferences.  Scroll down to the bottom of the questions (if you haven't seen this before you might like to check out how you can sift out unwanted buyers).  Before you click on the Blocked Buyer List make sure you check the Apply to Active and Future Listings box.  

Then click the Blocked List link and add the buyer's id to your list and submit.  Hope that makes sense.  Definitely worth knowing how this works. 

[expanded_perceptions]

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@elusiveeditions wrote:

OP- glad you've already had some great replies. This was an attempted scam, no doubt.

I empathize with your curiosity regarding 'What if I said yes then went to meet the scammer or agent of, took a pic and went to the police?'. I've been very tempted to set up similar 'stings' myself 🙂

On this- has anyone had any luck getting police involved with proper ebay scams? I know there's a seller here who recently sent a 2k camera and accessories and the buyer is claiming SNAD, saying only the accessories arrived... I believe that seller has involved the police.... but they didn't say much about the response they got over the counter at the copshop. Will they actually do anything? I can't imagine they'd be keen.

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Yes I agree, some top replies! As soon as I saw the name I thought "righty oh", glad I followed my gut. I had already asked him why he was willing to pay over the asking price before submitting this question to the community. As I said earlier, took him/her all of 1 minute to respond to my 8 hour reply to his!!!(another red flag). And surprisingly its now 7 hours since my question to him/her and no reply!!!

I admit I did not know how the scam could work, until the replies!! Thanks everyone!!!

[expanded_perceptions]

Hi,

Thanks so much, I will try it out!!!

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@beautbots01 wrote:

To block someone you go to your Site Preferences (under Account Tab). Scroll down to Buyer Requirements (here you will also see your Buyer Requirements Activity Log which shows buyers who have been blocked because of your existing settings, ie No Phone Verification, Too Many Unpaid Item Strikes etc.  Any click on the Edit button to change your selling preferences.  Scroll down to the bottom of the questions (if you haven't seen this before you might like to check out how you can sift out unwanted buyers).  Before you click on the Blocked Buyer List make sure you check the Apply to Active and Future Listings box.  

Then click the Blocked List link and add the buyer's id to your list and submit.  Hope that makes sense.  Definitely worth knowing how this works. 

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[phorum_junkie*]

In future never reply to these chancers, all you do then is confirm that you have an active email account so they can spam you later.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

In future never reply to these chancers, all you do then is confirm that you have an active email account so they can spam you later.

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You are probably right! I have my email address on my selling account (not even sure if this is ok by eBay?) for better communication. The 'buyer' emailed to ask "I am wondering what is your best price on this item"? A fairly standard question at first glance?