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I’m a Relatively New eBay Seller and I believe A buyer may be attempting to Scam me. Advice?
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Started by OJ Pimpson,

61 posts in this topic

OJ Pimpson

OJ Pimpson

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Thanks for reading and for any advice, I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible. 
 

started selling on eBay this year during pandemic I have ~200 completed sales and 100% feedback and my experiences have been overwhelming positive. I know many here complete thousands of sales annually on eBay and I’d appreciate any input. I’ve read some of the eBay horror stories with regards to these types, so anything you advise me on would be great. 
 

on to the possible scam.  Here are the details of the sale. 7 day auction for a CGC slab, sold for $875 dollars on Thursday. Winner paid the following morning, Friday, and I shipped later that afternoon. Used USPS priority with insurance and signature requirement and informed buyer that a sig would be needed. Package was delivered today - Tracking info states “Delivered - Left with Individual” (This may be relevant later, as USPS, FedEx and UPS drivers in my experiences will not always get the sig but rather hand off the package and ask their name)  skip to 11:30pm pacific time I receive the following message from the buyer “Did not receive item did not sign for been home all day waiting for package”   I immediate reply to him and ask him to check with anyone he may live with and if no one says they accepted package that I would go to post office and request an inquiry. No response as of yet.

Red Flags and Why I think this may a scam attempt. 
 

- The first and most mild red flag is that his account was created in 2019 and his user name is an unintelligible string of letters with a few numbers in between and has a feedback in the 70’s (I’m not going to name him because as of now this is only a suspicion.)

- next and slightly more suspicious is that during the auction he sent me numerous messages asking me to end the auction and sell to him directly .  I need to note that he never suggested that I sell to him outside of eBay which would have been a major red flag, however I don’t know if he would have as I politely declined each time he asked. To be fair I should also note that this book is an brand new variant that I was first to market with so he may have really wanted it as there were no other CGC 9.8s available or even on the census at the time  

- biggest red flags. Obviously it’s a red flag that the USPS claims they handed this to someone at his address and he claims he didn’t receive it. USPS obviously makes mistakes so this isn’t damning evidence  but what struck me immediately was his message  “didn’t receive item didn’t sign”  maybe it’s just me but I found it incredibly odd that he mentioned that he didn’t sign for the book. If I was waiting on something to be delivered to me and the tracking number showed that it had been delivered, I’d message immediately and say that USPS Tracking shows it delivered the package but they did not, it goes without saying that one didn’t sign for a package that wasn’t delivered. This made me suspect that it were possible that the postman handed him the package and failed to make him physically sign for it (which they often do in my experience) and this guy had an idiotic thought that since he didn’t sign for it he could claim that he never received it  furthermore the guy says he had been waiting all day at his house for the package, when his other mail was delivered and the book didn’t arrive you might think he’d check the tracking and see that it said it had in fact been delivered and message then, however he waited until 1130, however I realize that there could be numerous reasons why he waited until this hour  

anyway that’s all I have. Am I jumping the gun? I don’t think this a slam dunk he is for sure trying to scam me evidence but it seems really sketchy to me

 

should I contact eBay immediately and get in front of this to let them know something scammy might be in the works? I do intend on going to post office in the morning to let them know what he is claiming. Should I alert them that I believe this might be a possible eBay scam? Also do I need to be worried about being implicated in some form if they come to believe that this is insurance claim fraud?

 

i’d really appreciate any honest feedback and/or advice.

either way at this point I think I’m going to take a break from eBay selling  on top of the fees, I feel like scammers get to lurk in the shadows as sellers cannot leave feedback and publically out these types. Additionally I have some major books at CGC that if I receive the grades I believe they should get would be worth many thousands. Some of which I intended to sell on eBay now I’m just not sure I feel comfortable with this.   

 

thanks again guys 

 

 

 

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Action252Kid

Action252Kid

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I would contact eBay and put them on alert of this.  I'd focus more on the fact that you had signature confirmation and that it shows as delivered more so than it being a possible scam -- scam or not, you "should" be covered, since you required signature and it shows as "delivered" -- but better to get ahead of it before the buyer tries to open up a case.  The buyer legitimately may not have gotten the package, as USPS really is just dropping off packages without getting an actual signature (as you noted), but as a seller, you did everything you had to do, so eBay should have your back in this instance.  

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Action252Kid

Action252Kid

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5 hours ago, Angel of Death said:

You should be fine since it was "delivered" with signature confirmation. I'm not sure if I've seen a successful scam when signature was required for delivery.

It definitely seems sus, though, so I'm with you here.

I had what I suspect was an attempted scam last December on a ~$5k eBay sale.  It was a buy-it-now, the guy buys and pays, I tell him I'll Express Mail it to him the next day.  Shows as delivered/signed for, then a week later he tells me he was gone for vacation when the package came and that the mailman had signed for him and the package wasn't there any more.  I was ultimately protected by eBay, but they can really make your life hell if they choose to do so -- he opened up a case with eBay, they froze the funds for about a month, until finally siding with me.  That's why I'd get in touch with eBay now rather than later, to try and avoid that hassle.  

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Inhuman Fiend

Inhuman Fiend

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Definitely suspicious but as others have noted, you are completely covered since USPS confirmed delivery at the address (doesn't matter that USPS didn't obtain signature, as long as they noted it was given to an individual at the delivery address). Certainly you can contact eBay and be proactive, it can't hurt...but I'm pretty sure regardless of how "in the right" you are, they will still freeze the funds until they complete their investigation...especially since you are a relatively new seller. The investigation will likely be very short since you have confirmed delivery, but do expect the funds to be frozen. If you really need the money, I would withdraw now from Paypal and move to your bank account so if they freeze your account you will already have the money. Good luck!

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the blob

the blob

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yup, many of these companies and usps are bad about getting real signatures. my wife gets wine, which must be signed for, and they often just leave it in the front

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AndyFish

AndyFish

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Been selling on eBay since the beginning-- you might be over-reacting but there is enough here that would concern me.   I would contact eBay first-- and don't leave it to the involved process of messaging them-- CALL them.   1-866-961-9253   You will get much better results if you actually talk to someone, and don't be afraid to go up the ladder if you feel the first operator isn't getting what you're saying.

If payment was made by PayPal I'd reach out to them too  1-402-935-7733  Nobody likes talking on the phone anymore but you get much better results.

Then reach out to the USPS -- basically useless but you'll need to start a trace and if they are falsely claiming they did not receive something that's mail fraud, make sure you point that out to the USPS person you call.   

After that, if he ups it to a claim you'll want to file a police report because this item is now potentially stolen.   Hopefully your LPS is helpful, and you may have to call his local police station too.   

 

Edited by AndyFish
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kav

kav

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8 hours ago, Dimez said:

his message  “didn’t receive item didn’t sign”

huge red flag.  he has the book.  It's like when a parent says in an angry voice "Jimmy get in here!" and Jimmy comes in and blurts out "I didnt eat the cookies!".

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kav

kav

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3 minutes ago, wombat said:

If he was following tracking and saw that it was updated to delivered and signed for his response doesn't seem odd to me.  

then he should be contacting post office what can the seller do about it?  A legit message would be "It showed delivered and signed for so I called the post office and-"

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wombat

wombat

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1 minute ago, kav said:

then he should be contacting post office what can the seller do about it?  A legit message would be "It showed delivered and signed for so I called the post office and-"

Then call me shady because the first person I would have contacted was the seller. As far as I'm concerned until the package has been legit delivered it is 100% the seller's fault. 

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kav

kav

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3 minutes ago, wombat said:

Then call me shady because the first person I would have contacted was the seller. As far as I'm concerned until the package has been legit delivered it is 100% the seller's fault. 

if a package tracking shows delivered and signed for what can the seller do about it?

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kav

kav

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8 minutes ago, wombat said:

Whatever it is you expect the buyer to do about it. 

If you expect anyone you meet to hand you $100 does that mean you can make such a demand?

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kav

kav

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2 minutes ago, wombat said:

Sure. Why not? Just don't let the demand police catch you.

I will try this immediately.

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