Warning to ebay sellers

derryb

Made a $1795 gold sale on ebay. Then received the "my dad's in hospital, I need you to send to a different address" message from a different, newly created ebay account that was immediately closed after the message. Original sale/payment appears legit, but a red flag is a red flag. Cancelled and refunded before I realized the address change request did not actually come from the buyer.

Appears scammer saw the completed sale on ebay and was able to get my user ID to request a legit purchase be rerouted to him.

Be careful out there and remember only ship to the paypal address. I go so far as to mark all my shipments "Return Service Requested." This is USPS current lingo for "Do Not Forward."

coinpalice

some people just can't make a honest living. since gold prices are going viral, you will see more of this in the coming months

AUandAG

Just ignore, send to Ebay/Paypal address and you are covered under ebay/Paypal rules. Great idea to inform buyer and see what was up.

bob

opportunity

I would never, ever sell bullion on Ebay. Just way too much chance of a scam.

U1chicago

If you received the message from a completely different account, then it’s a known scam and not related to the person that bought the item. The original buyer is almost certainly legitimate.

There are a bunch of people that track sold items-particularly expensive ones (like gold) and then send a message pretending they bought it and need to send to a new address.

I’m guessing it looks like the message I had in this thread.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1003175/another-ebay-scammer

mbogoman

I got the exact same message on the sale of a $1300 diamond ring last week, from an Ebay ID different than the original buyer. I immediately notified Ebay and they NARU'd the fake buyer right away. 30 minutes later I got another - same thing, immediate NARU. They are obvious to spot if you are aware.

Edit: I did not cancel the sale. Nothing wrong with the original buyer.

Jimnight

Unbelievable. Thanks for your post.

291fifth

It sounds like something has been hacked.

jmlanzaf

@291fifth said:
It sounds like something has been hacked.

No, they are simply sending a message from a different account. No hack required.

CoinJunkie

@291fifth said:
It sounds like something has been hacked.

Any eBay member can search recently sold items and then simply send the seller a message. No hacking required.

AlanLastufka

I've sold over $100k in coins on eBay. I've received messages like this before. I always write back and tell them I can only ship to confirmed PayPal addresses. Doing so, I've never had a single problem with eBay or PayPal, knock on wood.

TwoSides2aCoin

Send them a fake. (Just kidding).

derryb

@TwoSides2aCoin said:
Send them a fake. (Just kidding).

funny you should say that. I just put a bogus ASE in the mail.

davewesen

You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

3stars

So after ebay fees you got less than melt? Why not just sell the coin to a local dealer for that amount?

derryb

@3stars said:
So after ebay fees you got less than melt? Why not just sell the coin to a local dealer for that amount?

above melt. discounted Final Fees, Top rated seller.

derryb

@davewesen said:
You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

Was not sure if buyer's account had been hijacked. Message to buyer using a hijacked account would be useless. When in doubt, punt.

derryb

@opportunity said:
I would never, ever sell bullion on Ebay. Just way too much chance of a scam.

Have had four bad buyers over the years, PP covered me in all four cases.

Besides, why give up a good income stream?

CoinJunkie

@derryb said:

@davewesen said:
You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

Was not sure if buyer's account had been hijacked. Message to buyer using a hijacked account would be useless. When in doubt, punt.

You stated that the suspect message originated from a different account than the buyer's. I'm confused. If PayPal indicated that the transaction was covered by their seller protection and the buyer's address was "confirmed", there was virtually no risk in shipping the coin. You could have also contacted eBay if you wanted some extra assurance.

derryb

@CoinJunkie said:

@derryb said:

@davewesen said:
You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

Was not sure if buyer's account had been hijacked. Message to buyer using a hijacked account would be useless. When in doubt, punt.

You stated that the suspect message originated from a different account than the buyer's. I'm confused. If PayPal indicated that the transaction was covered by their seller protection and the buyer's address was "confirmed", there was virtually no risk in shipping the coin. You could have also contacted eBay if you wanted some extra assurance.

Did not notice suspect message came from a different ebay account until after I cancelled the transaction. Red flags are like whack-a-mole. You move quickly.

Coulda done a lot of things. Cancelling the transaction and not shipping was the safest.

Stork

@mbogoman said:
I got the exact same message on the sale of a $1300 diamond ring last week. I immediately notified Ebay and they NARU'd the buyer right away. 30 minutes later I got another - same thing, immediate NARU. They are obvious to spot if you are aware.

Edit: I did not cancel the sale. Nothing wrong with the original buyer.

Kind of sucks if it was a legitimate buyer who had the sale intercepted/interrupted as appears to be (somewhat) easily done.

jmlanzaf

@derryb said:

@CoinJunkie said:

@derryb said:

@davewesen said:
You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

Was not sure if buyer's account had been hijacked. Message to buyer using a hijacked account would be useless. When in doubt, punt.

You stated that the suspect message originated from a different account than the buyer's. I'm confused. If PayPal indicated that the transaction was covered by their seller protection and the buyer's address was "confirmed", there was virtually no risk in shipping the coin. You could have also contacted eBay if you wanted some extra assurance.

Did not notice suspect message came from a different ebay account until after I cancelled the transaction. Red flags are like whack-a-mole. You move quickly.

Coulda done a lot of things. Cancelling the transaction and not shipping was the safest.

Sure, but that costs 3%.

derryb

@jmlanzaf said:

@derryb said:

@CoinJunkie said:

@derryb said:

@davewesen said:
You cancelled the sale without messaging the eBay buyer? Do they have low feedback or something to make you feel they are not legit?

Was not sure if buyer's account had been hijacked. Message to buyer using a hijacked account would be useless. When in doubt, punt.

You stated that the suspect message originated from a different account than the buyer's. I'm confused. If PayPal indicated that the transaction was covered by their seller protection and the buyer's address was "confirmed", there was virtually no risk in shipping the coin. You could have also contacted eBay if you wanted some extra assurance.

Did not notice suspect message came from a different ebay account until after I cancelled the transaction. Red flags are like whack-a-mole. You move quickly.

Coulda done a lot of things. Cancelling the transaction and not shipping was the safest.

Sure, but that costs 3%.

Sure, but losing the coin costs 100%
Besides, saved half of that 3% non refundable PP fee by not shipping the coin.

But, now I know. If request to change shipping address comes from a third party ebay ID then I know buyer is legit. Especially, as in my case, if that third party ebay account was opened and closed on the day of the bogus message.

Cougar1978

While only ship to buyer address per eBay PayPal thanks for sharing.

logger7

Did you lose the 3% paypal fee?

On selling gold on ebay, many of the bullion and semi numismatics are going a little over melt, it doesn't make sense when you factor in the ebay, paypal and shipping costs.

derryb

@logger7 said:
Did you lose the 3% paypal fee?

On selling gold on ebay, many of the bullion and semi numismatics are going a little over melt, it doesn't make sense when you factor in the ebay, paypal and shipping costs.

yes, no refund of the PP fee.

Gold is at seven year high. Much of what is being sold today was bought for much less in the past seven years, leaving a good profit margin even when netting a little over CURRENT melt. Remember, it wasn't bought by the seller at current melt.

logger7

I got Rarcoa's sheet recently; they are paying under melt on a lot of no problem Libs. etc. Unless the type coin grades 64 or so, it is hard to justify the submission. $50 more on type I $20 gold unless it is high AU. Of course there are stronger buyers out there and there is a big appetite for quality certified coins.

amwldcoin

I don't understand @derryb If you had shipped the coin to the Paypal address you were covered. You likely lost a potential good customer.

BAJJERFAN

@logger7 said:
I got Rarcoa's sheet recently; they are paying under melt on a lot of no problem Libs. etc. Unless the type coin grades 64 or so, it is hard to justify the submission. $50 more on type I $20 gold unless it is high AU. Of course there are stronger buyers out there and there is a big appetite for quality certified coins.

Rising prices bring out more sellers than buyers so basically you're at the mercy of whatever the buyer wants to offer.

davewesen

@3stars said:
So after ebay fees you got less than melt? Why not just sell the coin to a local dealer for that amount?

do you have a local dealer that will pay melt?

jmlanzaf

@davewesen said:

@3stars said:
So after ebay fees you got less than melt? Why not just sell the coin to a local dealer for that amount?

do you have a local dealer that will pay melt?

usually they are at 97 or 98%.

U1chicago

@amwldcoin said:
I don't understand @derryb If you had shipped the coin to the Paypal address you were covered. You likely lost a potential good customer.

It sounds like he understands that now but decided to be safe rather than sorry initially when he didn’t know all the info.

We can call it a learning experience for all following this thread of how to proceed if something similar happens again.

derryb

@U1chicago said:

@amwldcoin said:
I don't understand @derryb If you had shipped the coin to the Paypal address you were covered. You likely lost a potential good customer.

It sounds like he understands that now but decided to be safe rather than sorry initially when he didn’t know all the info.

We can call it a learning experience for all following this thread of how to proceed if something similar happens again.

A lost future customer is regretful.

A lost $1795 coin is more regretful.