I Can't Guarantee This Was An Ebay Scam But Seems Like One To Me, Was It?

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 2,933
casualcoincollector Pillar of the Community United States 574 Posts	Posted 01/30/2019 03:57 am Here is the scenario. Please let me know what you think. An ebay buyer who had just created an account on the same day with zero feedback purchased a several hundred dollar item from me last Sunday. The buyer paid immediately through PayPal and PayPal said that the shipping address was confirmed. Things started getting weird on Monday when I tried to ship the item at my local post office. My local post office informed me that the address that the buyer had provided doesn't exist. So, I messaged the buyer explaining the situation and to ask them to confirm their shipping address, I get no response. I called ebay customer service today. They told me to not mail the item, add the buyer to my blocked bidders list and cancel the transaction, sighting the reason of "Something was wrong with the buyer's shipping address". So, that's what I did. I still have yet to hear from the buyer. Everything about this situation screams ebay scam to me but what's the scam? The buyer paid in full and provided the shipping address. So, what would be my liability if I had printed out an ebay shipping label with a PayPal confirmed shipping address and just dropping the item in the mail instead of mailing it myself at the post office without using an ebay shipping label? Also, I don't remember there ever being a "Something was wrong with the buyer's shipping address" choice for canceling a transaction, is this new? It seems like it must be a big problem since it is only one of the three choices for canceling a transaction. What bothers me the most is that PayPal says that the provided address is confirmed, whereas google and the post office says that it doesn't exist. Has anyone here run into this kind of issue? Was it a potential ebay scam? And if so what kind? Please let me know your thoughts on the matter. Thanks. Edited by casualcoincollector 01/30/2019 03:58 am Report this Post to the Staff

Pauldog Valued Member United States 325 Posts	Posted 01/30/2019 04:34 am If the post office told you that the address was bad, you'd eventually get the package back if you mail it. But you run the risk of the Postal Service losing it, breaking it open, etc. The ebay "cancel sale because of address problem" isn't all that new. It's been around at least several months, and probably a lot longer than that. I've used it more than once, especially with buyers outside of the USA. If it were me, I'd cancel the sale. You're not hearing back from the buyer (who has a new account), and ebay advised you to cancel. I don't know what the scam could be, either. I think I was a victim once of a foreign buyer gaming the system. It was a buyer with a brand new account, and I made the mistake of shipping to a country where the Postal Service does not do delivery confirmation. The buyer claimed he never got the package, but refused to go through the motions of trying to figure out what went wrong, such as contacting his customs service. He simply kept insisting on his money back. Because there was no delivery confirmation, ebay gave the buyer a full refund, including $14+ for shipping. ebay's list of which countries have USPS delivery confirmation is out of date - there are now more countries on the list. There are some countries you'd expect to have it, but don't - Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, Czech Republic, Ireland, some others. And some countries have it, but you might not have expected it - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia... ('m talking about First Class Package service. Higher classes have more countries where you can get confirmation.) Edited by Pauldog 01/30/2019 04:37 am Report this Post to the Staff
oriole Pillar of the Community Canada 5246 Posts	Posted 01/30/2019 07:30 am If you have an address, trying finding it on google maps and get a street view of the place, if you can. That is more of a matter of curiosity. Report this Post to the Staff
edweather Pillar of the Community United States 7375 Posts	Posted 01/30/2019 08:53 am Probably the best thing, would be to just cancel and be done with it. But......the gamer in me says, hold on to the package, and just wait to hear from the buyer. If you have a decent profit in the coin, might be worth it to chill for a few days. Report this Post to the Staff
thisistheshow Pillar of the Community United States 987 Posts	Posted 01/30/2019 09:00 am I do not have experience as a seller, but all of this is very informative. Using Google Street view is probably a good vetting measure. I used to manage a retail store that made furniture and electronic deliveries. We used an "address scrub" program to check for fake addresses. Sometimes it kicked back an address which did exist, so maybe this wasn't a scam, but it is suspicious. Report this Post to the Staff
Pauldog Valued Member United States 325 Posts	Posted 01/31/2019 01:37 am You can also use the USPS.com Zip Code search tool to check the address. If it fails, you could try slightly different numbers on that street to see what house numbers are legitimate. There are also reverse address lookup websites, and county property tax search. Report this Post to the Staff
casualcoincollector Pillar of the Community United States 574 Posts	Posted 02/01/2019 07:11 am Thanks for your input everyone! I still have not heard from the buyer. So, I think I made the right decision by cancelling the transaction and I'm a bit more confident that this was a potential scam of some kind at this point. Edited by casualcoincollector 02/01/2019 07:12 am Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 2,933

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