An iPhone 4 for $1000+ on ebay?

[Gareth]

It's possible your brother got opted in to eBay's Global Shipping program. They've been a bit sneaky about it recently. I actually like the GSP though as it makes it super simple to ship international sales. Basically, you are only responsible for getting the item to a US shipping address at which point eBay takes all responsibility for international delivery. So have him check what the actual shipping address is (is it a US address, or one in Spain)?

But, I would also assume stolen PayPal or credit card.

If he's in the GSP program, they can't claim "not received" against your brother as long as he has proof (with signature due to value) that it got delivered to the US address.

So, the question (if he wants to take the risk for the reward), is who does the potential chargeback go against? Does eBay/PayPal eat it? Or would they pull it out of your brother's PayPal account? Another thing to consider is whether or not there's a hold on your brother's PP funds, depending on how often he sells.

[hal]

graylocks wrote:
that is the question. my brother put his IP4 up on ebay hoping to get maybe $100. an hour before closing it sat at $45. then a war broke out between 3 buyers, then just 2 and the auction closed at $1011. no one who bid on it had an ebay rating/ranking which was the first source of discomfort for my brother. his first thought is it was a prank - the internet equivalent of calling and asking if your refrigerator is running.

the buyer is in Spain. my brother did specify US sale only. what kind of game might be being played here?

You need to block access to non-US bidders by choosing that option in the ebay sale settings for the listing. I've been doing this for years and haven't made an exception in 8 years probably.

BUT sometimes a valid auction will yield this kind of result. You need a very popular item (like an iphone) and two VERY interested people.... they get tired of outbidding one another and eventually one will say, "Well, DAMMIT - I'm not going to lose this one... I'll just bet infinity and that way, I'm SURE to win."

If two do this, then the end result is infinity minus one. I've had this happen on my sales a few times back when I did only auction style listings. It is a stupid way to bid... and stupid people often will not followup. I actually had one person refuse to pay in this situation because, "I never expected that the bid would go that high."

facepalm...

Foreign scamming is a constant evolving study - just best to avoid foreign sales altogether on expensivish times. Unfortunately, your brother left the back door open and might get a neg for this.