Dodgy seller or not? Urgent Help Please!

mark_dumpleton

Hi all,

I bought a phone from eBay yesterday (yes, a big risk in itself I know) But the guy has 99.3% feedback and he has 409 feedback!

Anyway, it was the Nokia N80 and it cost me £160 for a brand new and unlocked phone. The guy has about 15 of these for sale and they all sold out the same day.

He replied to questions asked within less than 5 minutes of them being asked, so it wasnt that his account was being hijacked.

Today I got a message from him saying:

"Dear customer

There is a problem with my paypal account, please log on to Ebay and look up item number 12006498**** or check the item “********” in my items for sale for more information.

I recommend you do this quickly if you want your phone before Xmas"

Now, looking at the item that he told me to read the following is in the description:

Dear customers

Due to a mistake by Paypal I am unable to fulfil your order for the phones you have ordered from me using Paypal

What you need to do:
Log on to your Paypal account and get a full refund. I will be calling Paypal later today to request you are all refunded.

If you want me to fulfil your order in time for Xmas.
Send me via Royal Mail special delivery by 1 pm cash for the order, phone only no P&P. You are covered up to £500 in compensation by Royal Mail, you will need to do this by 12.00 pm Saturday 16th.

Make sure you include your name, address, Ebay ID, phone ordered and colour.

If you do this I will give you free next day postage, I will post Tuesday 19th so you get the phone Wednesday 20th.

I am going to my supplier on Monday 18th, and as they don’t do credit I need to pay them 1st before I can get your order.

I can not do collection in person, so please do not ask.
Please do not leave me negative feed back, this is Paypal’s fault not mine.

he also gives his address to send the cash to....
I really want this phone and my parents were getting me it for Xmas so what does everybody suggest we should do?

Any help atall would be greatly appreciated, I'm starting to think this is a scam.

Mark :mad:

lisaburton

I would risk it because royal mail will only cover yoyur cash for insurance if it doesnt arrive at the destination.
Not saying the seller will but what if the seller does a runner with your cash you will not have any paper trail and may find it really hard to get any money refunded.

Only my opinion others may know of something that would be better.

Thanks
Lisa

frivolous_fay

Sounds like seriously bad news to me.

He may be legit, but the payment methods he's suggesting are seriously high risk for buyers.

Perhaps he cares if you get your phone before Christmas... or perhaps he wants to pressure you into making a snap decision... or wants you to post your cash before he's naru... or before a hijack is stopped!

pennylane99

is this the seller...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120064982828&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D120064982828%2B%2B%26fvi%3D1

MickKnipfler

Where is he? Maybe we should set up a trustworthy Escrow service between us!

Leanne200

He is probably buying a load of phones that he has arranged to 'fall off the back of a lorry'. He needs the cash upfront and realises that paypal will take 5-10 days or something to clear into his bank account.

Seems all too dodgy!

soolin

This couldn't sound more scammy if it tried!

Advertises paypal then has a problem (don't they always) so now wants cash. Cash is obviously not covered on ebay if the phone doesn't arrive so basically you are being asked to send cash to a complete stranger who already admits to having paypal problems (have they caught up with a scam already I wonder?)

Wouldn't even touch it with someone elses bargepole. Get your money back out of paypal ASAP.

Soo

EDIT: The other 'scam' trigger, if the above is not already enough, is the 'urgency' of it all. He can only scam for a couple of days at least, as soon as one person fails to get their phone they willw arn the others so he needs to get as much money in as he can before he gets caught.

JR19

If you're not in a hurry, it might be best to wait until the 'problems' with Paypal are resolved and then make payment - at least your payment will be protected.

I nearly got caught out the other week in a scam. The seller had gained 100+ positive feedbacks by selling sim cards for 1p and free postage, then listed tons of items, only accepting uncrossed postal orders - many Ebayers' lost out and Ebay didn't pull any of this sellers listings (despite 80+ negatives!) They are now no longer registered with Ebay.

pennylane99

something else the seller is doing...;)

http://www.ad-mart.co.uk/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?db=personals&website=&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=10269&query=retrieval

http://www.ad-mart.co.uk/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?db=personals&website=&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=10175&query=retrieval

mark_dumpleton

UPDATE:

he now changed the listing to include the following:

Dear customers
Due to a mistake by Paypal I am unable to for fill your order for the phones you have ordered from me using Paypal

All that have paid me via Paypal, I have refunded.

If you want me to for fill your order in time for Xmas.

Before Saturday 16th 12.00 p.m. going to your local Nationwide and pay the amount for your order without the cost of P&P, into the following account number *************

Then post using Royal Mail special delivery by 1.00 p.m Monday the cash recipet given to you along with your name, address, Ebay ID, phone ordered and colour.

If you do this I will give you free next day postage, I will post Tuesday 19th so you get the phone Wednesday 20th.

I am going to my supplier on Monday 18th, and as they don’t do credit I need to pay them 1st before I can get your order.

I can not do collection in person, so please do not ask.

Please do not leave me negative feed back, this is Paypal’s fault not mine.

True, he did refund us by PayPal but from what all of you have said i think i'm going to leave it...
I want to find out exactly what problems his paypal account is having, any way of finding this out?

And also, if I was not to send him the money via post can he still leave me negative feedback from the item?!

HELP!

mark

Elliesmum

Don't worry if he leaves negative feedback - you are allowed to reply to feedback, if that helps.

At the end of the day the amount of money that can be lost risk far outweighs the neg feeback potential in my book. Plus you can give neg feedback if you wanted.

I would just walk away and be happy you got your money back through paypal.

HTH's

EM x