A new type of eBay scam?

[hoot]

An item I was selling on eBay has just been purchased using the "buy it now" feature. Shortly afterwards, I received the following e-mail:

hello,
i would like to pay for this item via postal order, you know my address is in malaysia but right now i'm in nigeria,i was sent there on a business mission,and i want to give it to my friend as a brithday gift, so i will like to know if you can ship it to nigeria,i dont mind paying any amount for the shipping cost,pls if you can do this for me i'll be very grateful.if you accept kindly send your full name and address which am going to send the payment to and i will also like you to get back to me with the shipping cost to Lagos Nigeria Here's the shipping address.
[...]
pls reply ASAP

Needless to say, I did not respond to this obvious scam. Nevertheless it's extremely annoying, especially since the "buy it now" function effectively ended my listing, and I don't expect it to be as popular next week, which is too close to Xmas. :bang:

 

[losta]

I find it much easier on EBay to state which countries you will ship to. I usually say only US because it makes it so much easier. I would ship to europe as well but ask for bidders to contact you.

I have also noticed many auctions recently require a paypal account which seems like a good idea.

 

[John Robertson]

I am most certainly NOT racist but I can't count how many spam e-mails I've had from that region offering all sorts of very dodgy deals. At the moment I now automatically report any e-mails from Nigeria and its surroundings as spam.
A friend in banking told me its a hotbed of fraud!!
Sorry if I have upset any Nigerians but its these people are giving you a bad name!!

 

[raid]

Inform ebay about the scam and request a free relisting of the item.

 

[bobofish]

Can you not simply cancel his bid?

If your stipulations were too open (no conditions on feedback/location) then perhaps you can't, but do so in the future!

As much as I'm sorry for any honest Nigerians, Indonesians, and so on that want to bid on things, unfortunately, their fellow nationals have screwed things up for a lot of people...

Be specific about which countries you will accept, or not accept, and if you feel really generous, ask anybody from country X to preapprove with you before they bid.

 

[brightsky]

Not only can you state what countries from which you will accept bids, but you can also restrict bids to only those countries.

When you list an item, specify which countries or regions from where you will accept bids. Then
in My eBay, under My Account, select Preferences. Under the section Selling Preferences, select Buyer Preferences. Click to add a check mark to "Block buyers who are registered in countries to which I don't ship."

That's a sure fire way to prevent what just happened.

 

[ch1]

PayPal Only!

This is why I use PayPal only when I sell.

Simple - if you do not have a valid PayPal account you cannot bid and you cannot win.

Not totally "fool proof" but as good as it gets right now.

If you are willing to pay the "vig" for PayPal you might as well require it for payment!

PayPal only!!!