nigerian scammers

e36Adz · 12 Mar 2006 at 00:07

ok I put a fone of mine on ebay, its not a new fone, not worth much but basically the auction has been messed up now since someone from netherlands has won the bid, he has no previous feedback, he just signed up that day the auction ended, and has emailed requesting to please send the fone to nigeria as its a present for someone.

Dont worry as soon as the word nigera got mentioned, alarm bells were ringing

but basically hes messed up the auction now, what can I do in future to stop these ****s from outside the UK from bidding at the very last second.

Will I have to relist the item on ebay again now?

Kappa · 12 Mar 2006 at 00:19

I've had these problems before, basically you can set your preferefences for example so if people have less than 2 feedback, they HAVE to have a credit card on file to bid, and so on. Check it out.

maranello168 · 12 Mar 2006 at 00:48

you can also set your listing so that anyone from outside the UK are prevented from bidding/ending your listing

fluiduk · 12 Mar 2006 at 11:39

We get them in store daily trying to use other peoples proofs of ID, or home made passports and bank statements to try and get contract phones.

Worryingly though they are getting better and better at fake proofs. You just learn to triple check everything.

Aaron

lozza · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:27

e36Adz said:
ok I put a fone of mine on ebay, its not a new fone, not worth much but basically the auction has been messed up now since someone from netherlands has won the bid, he has no previous feedback, he just signed up that day the auction ended, and has emailed requesting to please send the fone to nigeria as its a present for someone.

Dont worry as soon as the word nigera got mentioned, alarm bells were ringing but basically hes messed up the auction now, what can I do in future to stop these ****s from outside the UK from bidding at the very last second.

Will I have to relist the item on ebay again now?

Do a second chance offer to your next highest bidder, if they don't buy then request a credit from ebay

e36Adz · 13 Mar 2006 at 01:01

Cheers lads

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 01:56

Dont see how it makes a difference where they want to ship it to as long as you get the money first. Unless you do something stupid like give them money for "customs" or something.

BoomAM · 13 Mar 2006 at 02:42

Same things happened to me.
I was sorta suspicious when i got an email off them thanking me for selling the phone. When the item i was selling was a Psion Series 5MX PDA!

daz · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:11

Energize said:
Dont see how it makes a difference where they want to ship it to as long as you get the money first. Unless you do something stupid like give them money for "customs" or something.

The usual way is to pay for the item using a forged cheque, that appears to clear after 3 days in your bank (so the seller sends the item), but a week or more later, the bank discovers the cheque is a fraud and the funds are removed from your account.

e36Adz · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:15

Energize said:
Dont see how it makes a difference where they want to ship it to as long as you get the money first. Unless you do something stupid like give them money for "customs" or something.

Thats what I always thought, as long as I get the money first then whats the problem? Well daz gives the reasons above, so these days its just not worth the risk especially for more expensive items.

scaramanga182 · 13 Mar 2006 at 13:44

I've had exactly the same thing happen to me, thoroughly annoying when they do it on a buy it now and you then lose all your listing fees etc. :mad:

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 17:11

Simple solution is to take the money out of the account as soon as you recieve it

. I always do this when selling anything on ebay.

BoomAM · 13 Mar 2006 at 17:46

That wouldnt work.

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 20:07

Why not, if you dont have any money in your account the money cant be taken back again and It certainly works with paypal, Its been usefull in stopping problem buyers from stealing money from your account while paypal sort the situation out.

BoomAM · 13 Mar 2006 at 20:25

The money will be withdrawn by the bank/ebay regardless of if you withdraw it yourself. It'll be taken from your other money in the account, or if there is no other money, you'll get charged an amount that covers the original money that they want back, and by the bank itself for 'loaning' the money.
There isnt a way around it.

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 20:30

You could just not pay the money as its not your fault if someone uses someone elses card. Everytime paypal want the money back off someone they never get it because the person just takes all the money out of their account, causes so many problems.

BoomAM · 13 Mar 2006 at 20:34

Unfortunatelly it doesnt work like that.

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 20:37

Why not? It seems to because my brother who bought a 360 which never arrived never got the money back because paypal couldnt retrieve it from their bank account because they aren't allowed to.