Thought I was a Ebay veteran by now, but is this a RED FLAG?

ranorama

Anyone know of hackers doing work like this, I just got a RED FLAG type of feeling from the circumstances. Please read...

A wax box sells last night on Ebay for $540, hi bidder (rating 281) Paypal's the money to me within 30 mins of end of auction. No message there, just a confirmed TEXAS address. 15 mins later, I get a Ebay message in My Ebay from the guy's user ID regarding this item. It is as follows:

Hello,

I am the winning bidder of the 1988 fleer box. I have just finished paying for it. I would like to know if you could mail it to the following address - P.O. Box 703, Rocklin, CA 95677. I am in the process of moving and will no longer be at the current address. Please let me know. Thank you for your time and look forward to getting the box.

a) send to a PO Box in Calif?
b) why not include this in Paypal message?
c) you're moving in the next 3-4 days, in the middle of the month?
d) forwarding US mail won't find you?

just curious, are there problems with false ID's in Ebay doing scams like this? anyone know?
this has the smell of someone sitting in Calif picking up deliveries at a PO Box.

sagard

Paypal won't cover your back if you send to any other address. Of course they probably will not cover you anyways, but that is another topic.

TripleCrown

Call me suspicious but I would cancel the sale myself. (JMO) It all sounds a little weird to me. Why is this guy buying baseball cards online if he is moving in 3-4 days? Like sagard said, PayPal wont cover you if it's sent to any other address I think.
Other members here are sellers and truly outstanding guys, they'll let you know what you should do from a "sellers" point of view. Be patient and hold out for some input from them.

Good Luck
TC

onlyanumber

I have purchased stuff in the past during my moving, but never anything more than a couple of bucks. Forwarding would send it to its new home. I have also mentioned to sellers that please send to the address in the email instead of on paypal as I just moved. I've never sent anything ahead however.

Is there any chance you could call the California Post office that that P.O. Box sits in and question them on the owner of the box? Would they be willing to supply you with the owners name? Or is that against the rules of the post office?

MooseDog

I don't know you might want to send the guy and email with your reservations...Give the guy the benefit of the doubt unless his answers don't sound right. With this kind of money it pays to be at least a little suspicious. I was born in Texas and moved to California many decades ago, and if I was in Texas and had a chance to move to California even in the middle of the month, I'd do it in a heartbeat!

Rocklin is a fast growing area (near Sacramento) with reasonable (by CA standards) housing, lots of jobs and great weather.

Spahnfan

In the Paypal account page under security tips, there is this message:

Don't share your account: Don't use your PayPal account to collect or transfer money for someone else. These types of activity are often conducted as forms of money laundering or mail fraud and may result in significant criminal penalties. If someone contacts you and asks you to transfer money on their behalf, you should deny the request and contact us immediately.

I think I would do as they suggest.

MuckyMutt

You can pull the buyer's contact information from Ebay. Then give the guy a call. Explain to him that in order to be covered by Paypal's seller protection that you need to ship it to his confirmed address. Then send it to that address - it can be forwarded to his new address. Of course, when you call the guy you'll be able to confirm any suspicions regarding his real identity and if he is the one that actually bid on the item. Also, be sure to send it Registered because it requires a signature. Since it is over $500, Paypal requires signature confirmation of receipt for the seller protection to be in effect.

One other note, despite the red flags you cannot just not ship the item because of the extra hassles. Once the auction is over, it is a 2-way contract - they have to pay and you have to ship.

Spahnfan

Just out of curiosity, what does the paypal details say about the transaction. Is there actually a transaction in your Paypal account with $550 added to your account? Does it say he won it yesterday at the price listed? I checked the completed auctions for 1988 Fleer Wax boxes and there weren't any that sold last night.

Besides that, the price he said he paid was about $530 more than the going rate.

I would say there are lots of red flags in this transaction. There isn't one thing that sounds legit with this deal.

jimq112

If you talk to the winning bidder and he doesn't know anything about moving, go ahead and tell the guy who emailed you that you'll send it to him. Then call the police at the town where he wants it shipped, see if they want to get involved. $500 is a lot of money.



I'm almost positive that USPS charges to forward parcels to a new address. Letters and postcards are free but I'm pretty sure they charge. I'm a carrrier so I don't see that part much but I do get "postage due" on forwarded parcels.

Ship it INSURED to the address on paypal, make sure that whoever gets it has to sign for it. You can get a chargeback if you can't prove delivery, and $500 is a lot to lose!

shagrotn77

Get the buyer's phone number, which is available to you since you have completed a transaction with him, and give him a call.

fsjeter

I'm with muckymutt. Either pull the contact info or check the bottom of the winning bid notification from eBay (buyers phone number should be imbedded in the garbled info at the bottom). Give them a call and make sure everything is on the up and up.

Scott

pandrews

muckymutt and shagrotn are right.. call the guy and tell him you'll have to ship it to his paypal confirmed address.. tell him you'll send it quick so hopefully he'll get it before he moves or something..

Carew29

IF the guy has paid you, what is the problem? Mail the dam thing to the P.O.Box requiring a signature to pick it up. add Confirmation to it as well. Problem solved. You got idiots here telling you to send the money back. As long as you keep the receipts handy, you have covered your ass. Out

fsjeter

<<IF the guy has paid you, what is the problem? Mail the dam thing to the P.O.Box requiring a signature to pick it up. add Confirmation to it as well. Problem solved. You got idiots here telling you to send the money back. As long as you keep the receipts handy, you have covered your ass. Out>>

And if some computer genious managed to somehow spam an email using that person's username he's looking at a paypal chargeback for non-receipt (the P.O. box is not a confirmed paypal address). He could potentially be out the cards and the money. I'm not advocating giving the money back just making sure the buyer really does want the item sent to the p.o. box.

Scott

Edited to add: I don't think his "ass" is covered in this instance but I may be wrong.

pandrews

<< <i>IF the guy has paid you, what is the problem? Mail the dam thing to the P.O.Box requiring a signature to pick it up. add Confirmation to it as well. Problem solved. You got idiots here telling you to send the money back. As long as you keep the receipts handy, you have covered your ass. Out >>



you're an idiot..

you're suggesting he mail it to the new address in Cali?

did i say you were an idiot yet?

envoy98

Make absolutely certain you send it to that confirmed address, or wait for the buyer to move and update his paypal information. You will not be covered if this is a fraudulent transaction or if the guy just decides he wants to do a chargeback on the basis of non-receipt. If you don't ship to that confirmed address with signature confirmation, you are leaving yourself wide open. You have NOT "covered your a$$" if you ship elsewhere.

If it weren't a $500+ item I might consider a phone call to be sufficient. In this case, I'd cover my a$$ here and either ship to the confirmed address or wait for a new confirmed address.

Just my .02

pandrews

carew,

i apologize, that was uncalled for..

you're just highly ignorant about paypal, evidently..

you're correct, he shouldnt have to refund the money.. i wouldnt..

but if he sends the item to the po box, he will not be covered by paypal's seller protection policy.. the buyer can then claim he didnt receive the item and paypal will take the money from the sellers paypal account..

packCollector

do not send it to california!!!!!!!!! the buyers user info was probably phished and when they saw him buy a big ticket item , they logged in and sent the message through ebay to you. the buyer may not even know if he doesn't monitor his email account or if the scammer selected not to send an email to himself.

DO NOT MAIL IT, email to the paypal email address and have him call you. i am not even sure how reliable his contact info is on ebay ,do you need to confirm it through your email account when you update it?

I REPEAT , DO NOT MAIL IT!!!!!

Sets

Tell the guy you will ship fed ex; and physical address is required. Where is he moving to the beach?

Ahmanfan

<< <i> I checked the completed auctions for 1988 Fleer Wax boxes and there weren't any that sold last night.

Besides that, the price he said he paid was about $530 more than the going rate.

>>



well here is the actual transaction, and this is a very nice price for the box: http://cgi.ebay.com/1988-89-FLEER-BASKETBALL-WAX-BOX-Jordan-Sticker-HOT_W0QQitemZ8777824641QQcategoryZ26369QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There are other sports, ya know.
John

WinPitcher

I think the buyer can change his confirmed address with paypal. have him do that before you mail it. IF not then you must send to confirmed addresses to be covered.

Steve

fsjeter

<<I think the buyer can change his confirmed address with paypal. have him do that before you mail it. IF not then you must send to confirmed addresses to be covered.>>

I thought paypal would only confirm the address if it was the same as the billing address on the CC. Wouldn't he have to change that first? Maybe I'm wrong.

Scott

ranorama

HOLY COW! I have some detective work to do before I make a move. I watch other threads with warnings about security, but figured it would never happen to me, on either end of the transaction. Now I have this to sort out. I will next attempt to phone contact my actual buyer as Pack Collector said. I promised speedy shipments always to prompt payers, but this case is gonna have to be the exception.
Thank you everyone for your help, I didn't know the $500 by-laws clearly either.

I would be irate if I paid for an expensive item, waited.....and waited.....and nothing came. All because I didn't know someone hi-jacked my mail and told a dealer to "send it here!"

I hope for a quick resolve, thanks to all.

If it is a mail hoax, Ebay has some security issues to perk up on.

EagleEyeKid

I thought paypal would only confirm the address if it was the same as the billing address on the CC. Wouldn't he have to change that first? Maybe I'm wrong.

No, you are correct. He can submit his new address to Paypal, but it's a time process thing where Paypal will have to actually send this guy a code to his mailbox. He would then have to go back to paypal and input that code to show that it is actually him.

I would either refund his money or ship it to the confirmed address. Since it's over $250; I would advise you send it with signature confirmation as well. Good luck on the outcome.

WinPitcher

All I meant was one can change a confirmed address. How one goes about that I am not sure. My point was simply send only to confirmed address and ( use del confirmation) .

Steve