Is this dodgy? Buyer in Thailand wants me to ship to Holland

oochable

Hi
Just a bit concerned as fairly new to selling on ebay. Have received email from a buyer in Thailand (registered Feb this year with about 80 feedback - only 1 negative) stating that he wants me to post item to his friend in Holland and he will be paying by registered postal giro from Thailand in sterling which I can cash at any post office (?). He cannot pay by paypal as he doesn't have an account. He then goes on to say do not worry I am not a nigerian scammer!!
Am I likely to incur any charges if I pay this in to bank / Post office?
It is only a small value item (max £30 currently at £5). He has not bid as yet.

Should I be worried or am i paranoid?

Thanks in anticipation
Jo

Tallymanjohn

Personally I would stick to UK-only bidders, it's getting to be a bit of a minefield out there at the moment & whilst they may be genuine you have to ask yourself whether you want the extra hassle of 3rd party purchases, even if the value is relatively low.

Amba_Gambla

yes yes yes.....

Holland is a big base for Nigerian/419 scammers

what was the item? I'm guessing a mobile phone?

Fake postal orders are a big scam of theirs.......

Amba_Gambla

......although there is a chance they are genuine.......

oochable

It's an old pair of binoculars - valued by an auction house at about £30 max.
Can I insist on paypal only? My listing states will post to Uk and will accept paypal / cheques only but have not blocked foreign bidders ...yet.

Amba_Gambla

these people are well versed at scamming, and can scam you on paypal, by cheque or by postal order (sorry, not trying to scare you)

have you had emails from the buyer? Do you know how to check headers on emails? If so, we could see where the email is being sent from....

(for more info on 419 scams, check out www.419eater.com )

oochable

I've had a couple of messages through My Ebay messages - showing this at the top - I've missed off their ebay member name
Positive feedback: 98.9%
Member since: 09-Feb-06
Location: Thailand
Registered on: https://www.benl.ebay.be

Thanks for all your advice - decided to block bids from abroad in preferences and hopefully it will work.

mikey-mike_2

On the other hand, if it is a payment you can cash at the post office like a postal order (do they still do those?) then I don’t see a problem.

On the other hand if it’s a cheque to pay in so your bank can claw back 3 week later when it turns out to be fake then run away as fast as you can

Basically do it if you can get cash with no possibility of a claw back, you could even suggest Western Union, this was very popular with sellers when I was trying to buy a laptop last year but again, wait until you actually have the cash in your hot little hand