Question regarding eBay trading

[lopri]

I've gotten this message from a fellow e-bayer on an auction item that I've listed.

Hi, If I win this auction, I will pay with PAYPAL (confirmed address is in Turkey), but I want this item to be shipped to an address within USA which is not associated with PAYPAL. (This is just to avoid customs difficulties that may be encountered upon arrival of the package to Turkey. The item will be hand carried to Turkey later). As soon as the item is received by my collegaue at the USA address that I will inform you, I will confirm the transaction. Please confirm if you can agree to this; i.e to ship to an address not associated to paypal transaction. Thanks ***** ****

What should I say?

 

[Matthias99]

Might be something that the folks in FS/FT could answer, but clearly he's trying to avoid paying importation duties/taxes on the goods (this is about the only reason to 'avoid' customs, unless he happens to be a wanted criminal or the goods themselves are illegal). This is illegal for him to do, but not *really* your problem.

Shipping to an unconfirmed address is not the safest thing either; I certainly wouldn't send anything to an unconfirmed address before you have the payment for it in hand (or electronic account, as it were).

 

[Rage187]

If you do ship to an unconfirmed address you have no protection. Not worth it IMHO.

 

[Vin0134]

Been there, shipped to an unconfirmed address. Result? Screwed over. Only ship to confirmed addresses.

 

[ribbon13]

Tell him "Payment recieved before I ship. Period."

 

[gozulin]

This guy might be trying to scam you or he might be telling the truth. Here is what you should say:

"Paypal the money to whatever friend of yours in the U.S i'm supposed to ship to. Have him mail me a POSTAL MONEY ORDER (no cashiers check or regular money orders accepted). When I receive it and cash it, I'll send you the item."

Postal Money orders are guaranteed 100%. You go to the postal office and cash them. No bank account needed. Once you have the cash in your hand, it's over. They can't take it back. This is unlike banks which will often take fake money orders, give you the cash, then days or weeks later, take the money back because it was a counterfeit. Google money order scam for more info.

 

[lopri]

So is it OK as long as I receive the payment before shipping?

 

[imported_rod]

Unless the item you're selling could be illegal in some way, there shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure you have payment first.

RoD

 

[lopri]

No my item isn't illegal.

 

[pontifex]

its a scam.

when i 1st placed stuff on ebay for sale, i got a ton of emails exactly like that. i sent them emails explaining how i would accept payment and do shipping and they never emailed me back after that. my 1st sale was a used ps2 i had up for like $100. some guy offered me $500 but i had to ship it to like bosnia or something and he had to send it to his "associate". just delete any emails you get like that.

i have a friend who does a lot of sales on ebay and he's been screwed over. they might send you the money but once they get the item, they pull the money back or they pay with stolen checks or whatever. then you get screwed out of the item you're sellign and the money you received for it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: lopri
No my item isn't illegal.

you can't sell illegal items on ebay anyway.

oh one other thing. these people always try to buy outside of ebay or paypal. like they never bid or they never click buy now. thats a good sign its a scam. if they don't actually bid on it or use the buy it now feature, 100% SCAM.

 

[lopri]

Thanks pontifex.

 

[Texun]

Run like hell. The fact that he wants to see the item received by his friends before he OK's the payment is all you need to know.

 

[nugglets]

though i agree that this is iobviously someone trying to scam you, there is a very good reason for wanting to avoid customs. ever tried ordering something from outside north america? especially something electronic? customs can be a REAL bitch, holding your goods for weeks or even months. ive even had a few things that customs lost, both sending and receiving items from europe. ive done exactly what that guy said, had something shipped from italy to a friend of mine in italy who then brought it with him when he came to the states a few weeks later. much MUCH easier than dealing with customs.

 

[Pix3lDezigner]

This is definitely a scam, I've received emails like that all of the time. Usually people like this are using stolen credit cards and they coincidentally want the items shipped to a different address to avoid being tracked. I would definitely not even respond to this guy or deal with him.

Not to hijack this thread, but it relates, and I've always wondered this. I use eBay quite frequently and luckily have never really been scammed or ripped off. I do my homework and am careful with what I do. But I usually sell a lot of stuff and had a question about PayPal.

I usually get paid via PayPal for the items I sell, and I was wondering when the money is officially yours. When the money is in your PayPal account, is there any way for the person to pull it back somehow? Because sometimes I've seen the money sitting in my PayPal account, and before I withdraw it to my bank account, I ship the item. It takes like 3-4 days for the money to enter my bank account. If they received the item before it clears into my bank account, can they somehow pull that money back? Just curious, thanx!