ebay question

jl-lb.ms

jl-lb.ms

John A. Lever
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Wondered if any of you veteran ebayers could offer a solution. I won a Leica M6 yesterday, but the seller asked me to send the Paypal to an alternate address. I just used the standard checkout, but he emailed me back and said to retreive my payment and send it to the alternated address. Luckily I was able to cancel the first transaction.

Does this sound fishy? The seller has not offered any personal information, even a name, and he has -1 feedback. The address for the paypal is a brand new account, created like a day ago.

Any ideas how I can complete this without risking getting totally scammed for over a grand?

thanks,

John
 
I try not to be too suspicious, and I've been blessed with many years of no problems with eBay/PayPal... but I'm smelling fish also. No advise, however. I don't know what I'd do but I'd be tempted to walk away from the deal and take whatever consequences (bad feedback, possibly) happens. In theory there is PayPal and credit card protection... but that can be a PITA.
 
Like William said: Close the transaction, forcibly if need be. I'm not sure you can report it to eBay, as no scam has actually occured, but don't hesitate to if need be.
 
Yes, if the seller wants someone else to get the money, he can handle that himself privately without involving you. Unless he has a very convincing explanation, I'd not pay that way.
 
My only rules I follow on eBay when buying:

Check their feedback
Read their feedback
Do everythig through eBay


Email the guy and say you cannot send to an alternate paypal address, as "this is against eBay TOS" and if he tries to talk you out of it, then you know there's something going on.

Also, if it's a brand new paypal account he's obviously going to take the money and run. A spam email address, fake details, removing bank details from paypal as soon as you pay.

BEWARE!!!!


EDIT: Also go to eBay help and either ask in the community thing, or email eBay about it. It can take a few days but you usually get a vague response on what to do.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I wouldn't do it. I would "report" this suspicious activity to ebay too with an explanation. The seller may be legit, but it isn't worth the risk. He has changed the terms of the auction after it closed, that is the explanation I would give to ebay why you are not completing the sale.
 
I agree - you are out of this deal. Stay out.

If you want to report it to eBay/PayPal that's a good thing to do.

But first, just protect your $ and your identity!

(Always use the CC option with PP!)
 
Follow-up

Follow-up

Thanks to all of you for telling me what I already knew or should have known.

Beware of seller mwright405. He has a (-1) feedback, soon to be (-2) except we're in a stand down.

Here's a copy of my final email to him/them, whatever:

<<<<Hello - You have not answered my questions below, so I do not feel that we
can complete the transaction. Please feel free to re-list your item.

I would recommend that you NOT give me negative feedback or report me to
ebay as a deadbeat bidder. First, I did pay you via Paypal and you rejected
the payment. Also you have (-1) feedback compared to 100% for me. Another
negative feedback from me would put you at (-2) and that would not help you
to sell a very expensive item.

If you have a problem with me, I'm happy to go with you to ebay to sort it
out. Recall that I paid you and you rejected it.

Let's agree to close this quietly and move on.>>>


So, no negative feedback and no further noise from this creep. Oh yes, the previous (attempted/relisted) buyer for this same item left this feedback "let me payment for other paypal accounts,insecurity is trade." OK, so the guy is English-challenged, but now he makes sense: same scam - pay another Paypal account.


Over, at least with no financial damage...

thanks,

john
 
Banned!!!

Banned!!!

After all's said and done... received this from ebay:

"The following is a notice from eBay Trust & Safety regarding:

Item Number - 7620087032

Item Title - Leica M6 TTL film camera.

Our records show that you were a bidder or buyer of one or more of this seller's items. We recently removed this seller's active listings and suspended the seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we cannot share further details about this seller."

Your intuition correct. Thank you.
 
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