Ebay buyer weirdness

[aquilles10]

So I sold a Powermac on ebay yesterday. It sold for an amount that I'm happy with. However the buyer is raising all sorts of red flags with me. He has zero feedback, and even though I specifically want payment through paypal in the auction listing, he wants to send payment via money order because he is having "errors" with paypal.

When the auction ended, the shipping zip code I got was for Miami, but now he wants it shipped to San Pedro, CA (local to me). This is all sorts of shady for me. Any advice? I want to bypass this guy and offer the powermac to the second highest bidder.

Here is his email to me:

I am so excited for winning this AppleMac..Thanks so much.

I am writing to you today to inform you that I'm still having Error on my PAYPAL but PLEASE NOT TO WORRY because I will prepare PAYMENT to you AS SOON As Possible.

Since I can not make it on PAYPAL, I am planning to PAY you using MONEY ORDER. Please SEND me a COMPLETE NAME and ADDRESS so I can prepare the payment.

By the way, Here is my ADDRESS...

SAN PEDRO, CALIFORNIA
90502

Also please let me know if there's a changes on the S/ H once you send the item here in SAN Pedro, CA.

Thanks so much and Thank you for your kind understanding.

[archipirata]

SCAM!

[space-time]

if he wants if shipped locally, why not offer to deliver it there in exchange for CASH? do not take MO. cashier's check or personal check

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Scam. It sounds like a slight variation on the 419 reshipping scam.

Did I mention scam?

[Carnos Jax]

Done a lot of selling on eBay. Upon first reading your post, I thought the buyers request was very strange, but somewhat plausible (though red flags would be raised in my mind as well). HOWEVER, when I read the actual text of the message, it sounded so much like a SCAM...yes, I'd figure out a way to avoid this buyer all together. Contact eBay and present the situation to them (via LiveChat). Ask them if there is a way to offer the bid to the second highest bidder without incurring the risk of negative feedback from the winning bidder. Worst case, ask them if they can nullify the auction due to the scammer (this way the scammer can't give you negative feedback).

[The Grim Ninja]

Require a Postal Money Order as payment. Cash it out at the post office before you ship. Any risk at that point would be solely on the buyer.

[marksomebodyelse]

Email him back and let him know you will ship 30 days after the payment clears your bank. I bet he never responds.

[MysteryGuest]

This is a scammer.

Be careful, there are fake postal money orders out there.

http://www.usps.com/missingmoneyorders/security.htm

Personally, I would have nothing to do with this guy. You should be covered eBay-wise if your auction said you'd only take Paypal.

Oh, and it appears they are arresting the victims of these frauds:

http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDoc...featur.htm

Sheesh!

[JoeH]

MysteryGuest wrote:

Oh, and it appears they are arresting the victims of these frauds:

If it appears they are knowingly receiving or trying to pass the forged ones. If you get many dollars in MO's over the value of an item, most persons know that is suspect. The US Postal Inspectors do not mess around when dealing with fraud either through the mail or by using USPS MO's.

[hal]

it all sounds scammy EXCEPT that the address he gave you is local to you. That NEVER happens in this kind of scam. Get his address and deliver it personally - collect the cash.

If he can't deal with that, then move on...