Is someone trying to scam me?

DisturbedZen

DisturbedZen

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I recently sold a laptop on ebay, the buyer (X) emails me stating: "Another ebay user (Y) wishes to buy the product and I agreed to let the buyer (Y) contact you, the seller to have it sold to him rather than myself."

I told the buyer (X) I cannot do that, the buyer (X) stated that me and the other buyer are protected by paypal, and the buyer (X) will leave pos feedback when the OTHER buyer (Y) recieves the laptop. Of course buyer (Y) being the one who would pay me.

I think there must be a scam trying to go down, why would one win an auction, and let someone else buy it? Doesn't make sense, I'm just curious HOW they would scam.
 
Well it would be purchased outside of Ebay, so it could be a scam. I'd ask for Cash, Personal Check, or USPS money order, and see what they say. DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL!

Or just relist it, which is what i'd prolly do.
 
Its a scam.

Refuse to sell it to anyone but the original buyer. Inform the original buyer that you expect payment within 10 days or you will leave negative feedback, an NPB, and you'll relist the auction.

There are several ways this could be turned against you. Original buyer could claim to have never received the item, since your DC# goes to the 2nd guy, you're screwed.
 
Listen to dafoomie; if this was a softgun, then it's not a tremendous loss. This is a laptop, so you want to protect yourself.

A negative isn't a big deal compared to losing your laptop and the money for it. Follow eBay procedure to the letter, and you'll come out fine.

Besides, I've had plenty of scammers win my auctions, but I've never rec'd negative feedback when I didn't send the item out/reported them/left them neg. Don't sweat the small stuff, chachi.
 
keep the email the guy sent to you too as proof that way if he does leave you a negative you can contact ebay and let them know what happened and they could probably reverse the negative.
 
That's the dumbest trap I've ever heard of. Think about it.

1. in non-scam reality, the alternate buyer would send a message to YOU, not to the winning buyer, if they were trying to upsell the win.

2. What makes your laptop unique on eBay? There's 10s of thousands of computers being sold at any given time.

3. Paypal protection is ONLY if sent to the winning bidder's VERIFIED Paypal address...not his friend, not his mom, not his "approved alternate buyer".

If you're afraid of a negative backlash (as I always fear myself) offer the 10-day payment, then file a NPB and listing refund, but don't actually leave negative feedback. You can do everything else needed to get a refund and relist it without actually hitting them with a neg, thereby reducing your chances of them lashing out. Just stay polite and E-mail them once a week with "sorry, no payment yet" reminders so it doesn't come as a surprise to them.
 
Well, he has 300+ feedback. >_> And the last neg he got was between 6-12 months ago.

Either way, Im not selling to this other guy. Just curious how/if they were scamming me.
 
[quote name='AzN_BaLLeR']Well, he has 300+ feedback. >_> And the last neg he got was between 6-12 months ago.

Either way, Im not selling to this other guy. Just curious how/if they were scamming me.[/QUOTE]

Could be a stolen account or one just built up to start a mass rip-off.
 
[quote name='AzN_BaLLeR']T_T, I have low feedback so if I leave a neg, I'll get a neg. Then i'll be ruined. >_>[/QUOTE]

If you file a NPB and he doesn't even respond to it, he can't leave feedback. You can give him a neg and he can't touch you. Keep in mind though that its only if he doesn't respond to the complaint.
 
[quote name='greendj27']If you file a NPB and he doesn't even respond to it, he can't leave feedback. You can give him a neg and he can't touch you.[/quote]

Oh yeah? That's interesting, I've never read that before. Got an eBay link that explains it, by any chance?

I've got one or two deadbeat bidders I've been holding off that I'd like to neg if I have assurance that they can't retaliate out of spite.
 
[quote name='Kerig']Oh yeah? That's interesting, I've never read that before. Got an eBay link that explains it, by any chance?

I've got one or two deadbeat bidders I've been holding off that I'd like to neg if I have assurance that they can't retaliate out of spite.[/QUOTE]

I'll find it. It's a new policy that went in place in January or so.

Ebay Help link

Feedback and Unpaid Items

If a buyer does not respond to an Unpaid Item notification and the seller closes the case with an Unpaid Item strike, the buyer can still leave a feedback comment about the transaction, but any feedback rating they leave will not appear and will not count toward the seller’s feedback score. An eBay administrative note will appear under the buyer’s feedback comment, explaining that the buyer did not participate in the Unpaid Item process

He can leave a comment but no positive or negative and its followed up with a message from ebay saying that he didn't pay. Basically he can't do anything.
 
[quote name='greendj27']It's a new policy that went in place in January or so... Basically he can't do anything.[/quote]

Great info! Thanks, Green. eBay finally gave some hand to the sellers for once.
 
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