Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam

Gobsh

Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam 

COURIER is a method of delivery that is calculated AFTER the sale and wide open to scamming.

I won an auction item for a fair price. The scammer was not happy that I'd won it for such a low price so he added the courier charge, after the sale, of a whooping £500.

Scammer claimed it was a mistake and said he would rectify this but he obviously never did.

Result was that I couldn't pay for the item and consequently received a strike for non-payment, and can't even leave a negative for the scammer because the sale doesn't go through. I did contact eBay customer service that did absolutely nothing about it. 

Scammer is still active still advertising and still scamming on eBay using the courier delivery method to bail out of auction sales he's he doesn't like

soolin

Gobsh said:

Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam 

COURIER is a method of delivery that is calculated AFTER the sale and wide open to scamming.

I won an auction item for a fair price. The scammer was not happy that I'd won it for such a low price so he added the courier charge, after the sale, of a whooping £500.

Scammer claimed it was a mistake and said he would rectify this but he obviously never did.

Result was that I couldn't pay for the item and consequently received a strike for non-payment, and can't even leave a negative for the scammer because the sale doesn't go through. I did contact eBay customer service that did absolutely nothing about it. 

Scammer is still active still advertising and still scamming on eBay using the courier delivery method to bail out of auction sales he's he doesn't like

It’s is near impossible to list something without a postage charge, unless you mean it was a collection item where seller agreed to send. Sellers can’t charge more for an item or postage once item sells .

Spoonie_Turtle

soolin said:

Gobsh said:

Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam 

COURIER is a method of delivery that is calculated AFTER the sale and wide open to scamming.

I won an auction item for a fair price. The scammer was not happy that I'd won it for such a low price so he added the courier charge, after the sale, of a whooping £500.

Scammer claimed it was a mistake and said he would rectify this but he obviously never did.

Result was that I couldn't pay for the item and consequently received a strike for non-payment, and can't even leave a negative for the scammer because the sale doesn't go through. I did contact eBay customer service that did absolutely nothing about it. 

Scammer is still active still advertising and still scamming on eBay using the courier delivery method to bail out of auction sales he's he doesn't like

It’s is near impossible to list something without a postage charge, unless you mean it was a collection item where seller agreed to send. Sellers can’t charge more for an item or postage once item sells .

Is there still the option to send an invoice?  If so then could that be how the seller did it?

soolin

Spoonie_Turtle said:

soolin said:

Gobsh said:

Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam 

COURIER is a method of delivery that is calculated AFTER the sale and wide open to scamming.

I won an auction item for a fair price. The scammer was not happy that I'd won it for such a low price so he added the courier charge, after the sale, of a whooping £500.

Scammer claimed it was a mistake and said he would rectify this but he obviously never did.

Result was that I couldn't pay for the item and consequently received a strike for non-payment, and can't even leave a negative for the scammer because the sale doesn't go through. I did contact eBay customer service that did absolutely nothing about it. 

Scammer is still active still advertising and still scamming on eBay using the courier delivery method to bail out of auction sales he's he doesn't like

It’s is near impossible to list something without a postage charge, unless you mean it was a collection item where seller agreed to send. Sellers can’t charge more for an item or postage once item sells .

Is there still the option to send an invoice?  If so then could that be how the seller did it?

They can send an invoice but it should be possible (it never used to be) to amend any postage costs, a seller can only see the options they put on the listing they can’t add more. It is more likely that no postage was given and instead it was a ‘collection or a courier can be arranged by seller at cost’ listing. In that case if it only showed collection that it is possible to add a courier charge, but it wouldn’t be a scam, just a case of buyer not getting a confirmed costs with seller beforehand. 

Gobsh

Spoonie_Turtle said:

soolin said:

Gobsh said:

Watch out for the eBay COURIER scam 

COURIER is a method of delivery that is calculated AFTER the sale and wide open to scamming.

I won an auction item for a fair price. The scammer was not happy that I'd won it for such a low price so he added the courier charge, after the sale, of a whooping £500.

Scammer claimed it was a mistake and said he would rectify this but he obviously never did.

Result was that I couldn't pay for the item and consequently received a strike for non-payment, and can't even leave a negative for the scammer because the sale doesn't go through. I did contact eBay customer service that did absolutely nothing about it. 

Scammer is still active still advertising and still scamming on eBay using the courier delivery method to bail out of auction sales he's he doesn't like

It’s is near impossible to list something without a postage charge, unless you mean it was a collection item where seller agreed to send. Sellers can’t charge more for an item or postage once item sells .

Is there still the option to send an invoice?  If so then could that be how the seller did it?

They simply used Courier or could been Freight option for delivery and this is not calculated until AFTER the sale. I've been scammed with delivery charges twice, once was just a large delivery charge but in this instance they changed it to £500. Ebay customer service confirmed it but wouldn't do anything about it and I got a strike for none payment. The item I won was £40 and buyer is STILL selling using this courier/freight method to evade low bid wins

sonearandyetsofa

As a seller of large, bulky items I can confirm that we still have the option to list items with "courier" or "freight" (same option, just shows up differently on different pages) as the delivery method. As OP has described, this means the buyer isn't shown a set price for the delivery charge up front, and additionally is unable to pay for the item until the seller sends the invoice with a delivery charge or alternative delivery method on it. It has a legitimate use where the seller is selling items that are difficult but not impossible to deliver, particularly where the customers' location makes a big difference to the delivery cost. EBay doesn't give sellers an option to set delivery charges by distance, so we used to use it for that very reason, but stopped as it mostly just confuses people.

OP, the only way to avoid getting an unexpected delivery charge when the listing shows "courier" is to ask the seller before you bid or buy what the charge will be.