Suspected Fraud - Sellers details do not add up

pdotie

Ok, I will try to keep this brief.

I sold an Amazon Voucher on eBay last night.

BIN, Buyer pays immediately by Paypal and sends a message asking "When will I get my voucher"

What I am worried about:

In the email from Paypal, the details are as follows:

Buyer
Indian Forename and Surname
username
[EMAIL="vjivram@hotmail.com"]Indian initial and surname@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]Shipping address - confirmed
scottish forename and surname
room ** xxxx street
Town, County
Postcode
United Kingdom
The email I received from eBay has the same scottish name and address details, but a completely different (and random email address)


Buyer is a new user, registered yesterday, yet has bought:
£45 argos voucher plus my £50 amazon voucher
Flat screen TV
Wireless Dongle
3TB Hard Drive
Mobile Broadband Router
Digital Set Top Box

The Indian Hotmail email address is registered to a different ebay ID (but I am unable to find out which, as eBay will only tell you that it is registered).

The address is funny: Room 30, XXX street.

I have rang the two hotels in the town, and one of them does not have 30 rooms so I asked the buyer, "when you say room 30, is that at the "Victoria" hotel - to which he replies yes, thats the one.....

So, it is all fairly clear that this is a scam (at least to me!)

I rang Paypal, and they said, because he has a confirmed mailing address, if I send him the voucher in printed form, then I am covered by their seller protection.

What are my options to get out of this without losing £5 worth of Final Value Fees? If I refund the transaction and request a cancellation, if the buyer does not respond, I think I have lost my fees?

Do I have anything to lose by actually putting the voucher in the post with a recorded delivery tracking number to satisfy PayPal?

Views and recommendations would be appreciated.

alfiesmum

I would do nothing at all and wait until the buyer claims for non receipt, and then refund through Paypal. I think you'd automatically get fees back this way? Bit of a wait though. And keep the money in Paypal, otherwise you'd go to a negative balance. I know it's fibbing a bit, pretending to post out, then refunding like a good seller would when it gets 'lost' in the post. Just the buyer does sound a bit 'iffy' don't they...

Or could you contact the buyer, tell them it's no longer available for sale, refund them and try your luck with a mutual cancellation maybe?

Myyrrddyn

or send the item recorded delivery then you get a reciept to say it is posted and you can see when it was recieved.

paulofessex

Just wondering how you can see what a person has purchased on that day

pdotie

paulofessex wrote: »

Just wondering how you can see what a person has purchased on that day

-> Advanced search

-> Search by bidder

-> Enter bidder's userID

-> Include completed listings

-> Search


handy to know.

go_cat

I personally would refund the payment and risk a neg rather than risk losing the money

alfiesmum

Goofbay is another way to check ebay history of an account. Not complete in some cases, but a good indication.

hermum

Have you put the address into Google Maps to see if it looks like a large enough building to house 30 rooms?

hermum

You could have done with having a different name on here. Saying that you'll email the code is opening yourself up to a scam as ebay don't allow that.
For Paypal you have to prove delivery, recorded rarely tracks to delivery so is a waste of time. I dont know about ebay seller protection.
I think that vouchers would need to be sent special delivery to claim from RM.
How about messaging the buyer again & saying that you've just discovered that you have to post it delivery & ask what day would be best for them to be in to sign for it. Explain that in a building with more than 30 rooms you'd be worried that someone else would sign for it & they would lose their money.
Hopefully they will then realise that they've been rumbled & say that it's too difficult to be in and will agree to a cancellation.
How many people I wonder have a confirmed paypal account before an ebay one?

chancesare_2

Vouchers are not covered by buyer protection so they will not be able to win a dispute, they may not even be able to open one.

13.3 What type of payments are eligible for re-imbursement under PayPal Buyer Protection?

PayPal Buyer Protection only applies to PayPal payments for certain tangible, physical goods that can be posted. Payments for the following are not eligible for re-imbursement under PayPal Buyer Protection:

intangible items

services

real estate (including, without limitation, residential property)

businesses

vehicles (including, without limitation, motor vehicles, motorcycles, caravans, aircraft and boats),

custom made items

travel tickets (including, without limitation, airline flight tickets)

items prohibited by the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy

items that violate eBay’s Prohibited or Restricted Items Policy

licences

access to digital content

industrial machinery used in manufacturing

items equivalent to cash (including, without limitation, gift cards)

Items purchased using Website Payments Pro or Virtual Terminal

.

justAnotherGirl_2

hermum wrote: »

How many people I wonder have a confirmed paypal account before an ebay one?

I did, Paypal can be used on quite a lot of other websites