ebay sale

Indiana Mike · #1 01-07-2006, 05:29 PM

This may be in the wrong forum but I see so many ebay comments/threads here
I just sold a bass on ebay,I was suprised I got the buy it now price.
The good part is they paid asap via paypal using credit card.
The nervous part is I got an email saying "this is sara's father ,she just bought your bass using my ebay/paypal account. It is legitimate and she will contact you to set up shipping"

The more nervous part, I email back and say" have her call me at 5555555555 so I can discuss shipping"
Two min. later I get a call from her.
Talked and she sounds sincere and on the up and up.
I look at paypal details of transaction and find that the bass was paid for using an ebay acount with good feedback but no activity for two + years. The credit card belongs business in california. The bass is to ship to miami florida.
I am getting worried!!!!
I think I'll call the business in california monday and verify it is A-ok.
Am I being paranoid?
I cannot aford a chargeback and don't want to lose a fantastic bassfor nothing.

Fred312b · #2 01-07-2006, 05:43 PM

never hurts to check, but i believe that if paypal has verified the account, that it's on them if the charges are bad... don't be too suspicious though- there are many ways this is legit- she could be away at school, parents are divorced, etc... hope it all works out for you

Figjam · #3 01-07-2006, 05:45 PM

Sounds fishy. but +1 ^^ It could be legit.

jordanm · #4 01-07-2006, 05:52 PM

I've had to pay with parents cards before and ship to different addresses while I was at school. Wait until the funds clear and you have the money in your bank account (transfered from paypal) and verify it with your bank that it has completely transferred. After that there isn't much anyone can do even if it is fake..

Indiana Mike · #5 01-07-2006, 05:54 PM

I did a search on paypal ,read pages of info and basically you CAN be responible, If paypal gets charged back , so do YOU!
I'll call california monday and verify it first, I am a trusting person but something just says check it out first.
If it does turn out to be fraud I'll post it back here.

Fred312b · #6 01-07-2006, 05:57 PM

hmmm... that's interesting... i thought that's why paypal verified addresses though- i've never checked an address when dealing with paypal- i am fortunate that it's never come back to burn me... oh well, check away then my friend...

Heavy Cream · #7 01-07-2006, 06:21 PM

Beware i sold a basshead on ebay the buyer used a stolen CC and they reversed the money long after after i took it out of my paypal account leaving me with a negative balance.

xcental34x · #8 01-07-2006, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter griffin

This may be in the wrong forum but I see so many ebay comments/threads here
I just sold a bass on ebay,I was suprised I got the buy it now price.
The good part is they paid asap via paypal using credit card.
The nervous part is I got an email saying "this is sara's father ,she just bought your bass using my ebay/paypal account. It is legitimate and she will contact you to set up shipping"

The more nervous part, I email back and say" have her call me at 5555555555 so I can discuss shipping"
Two min. later I get a call from her.
Talked and she sounds sincere and on the up and up.
I look at paypal details of transaction and find that the bass was paid for using an ebay acount with good feedback but no activity for two + years. The credit card belongs business in california. The bass is to ship to miami florida.
I am getting worried!!!!
I think I'll call the business in california monday and verify it is A-ok.
Am I being paranoid?
I cannot aford a chargeback and don't want to lose a fantastic bassfor nothing.

I would abort. Has West African scam written all over it.

truckin88 · #9 01-07-2006, 09:31 PM

everything sounds ok, except the mailing address. I would contact the credit card company/paypal, the name on the paypal account, and question the buyer on the address

xcental34x · #10 01-07-2006, 09:37 PM

The mismatching addresses are the number one way of spotting credit card fraud. Did you know scammers have unsuspecting US citizens within the US that help them to forward goods out of the country? The use of the father/daughter story is very typical of West African scammers.

ddnidd1 · #11 01-07-2006, 09:42 PM

Get their home telephone number. Call it and see if you actually get them. Also get the last name and do a search (or reverse search) on the net to see if the number matches up with the address and name.

If its on the up and up, they'll give you all of the information you ask for. If they hold back on any information then start to worry.

Also, flat out ask them why they are using a credit card number from a business in California. They should have some good explanation.

This doesn't sound like a blatant scam by any means.

xcental34x · #12 01-07-2006, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddnidd1

Get their home telephone number. Call it and see if you actually get them. Also get the last name and do a search (or reverse search) on the net to see if the number matches up with the address and name.

If its on the up and up, they'll give you all of the information you ask for. If they hold back on any information then start to worry.

This doesn't sound like a blatant scam by any means.

Scammers are a lot more meticulous these days. Trust me. I help these SOBs every day at work.

ddnidd1 · #13 01-07-2006, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xcental34x

Scammers are a lot more meticulous these days. Trust me. I help these SOBs every day at work.

I didn't say it couldn't possibly be a scam, I said it didn't have the ear marks of a blatant scam.

I've bought and sold a lot of high end basses on Ebay and so far have been able to weed out the scammers. However, there are no guarantees when your doing business over the net and there's always a first time.

If Peter gets to the point where he has some real legitimate concerns, he can always demand a Postal Money Order up front before shipment. However, if that was not stipulated in the ad he may get negative feedback for changing the rules after the sale.

I'm curious, what's your involvement with scammers?

AxtoOx · #14 01-07-2006, 10:03 PM

I don't want to add fuel to the fire, but, If it's a father daughter thing that's fine, I'm a parent and my daughter lives in another city, I have paid for things for her,but not w/ a business credit card. How do you explain that to your accountant? The other thing is, I've been in business for many years, in my experience honest people never bother to tell you they are honest, dishonest people continually swear they are. The fact he made first contact to head you off at the pass is a red flag.

xcental34x · #15 01-07-2006, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddnidd1

I didn't say it couldn't possibly be a scam, I said it didn't have the ear marks of a blatant scam.

I've bought and sold a lot of high end basses on Ebay and so far have been able to weed out the scammers. However, there are no guarantees when your doing business over the net and there's always a first time.

If Peter gets to the point where he has some real legitimate concerns, he can always demand a Postal Money Order up front before shipment. However, if that was not stipulated in the ad he may get negative feedback for changing the rules after the sale.

I'm curious, what's your involvement with scammers?

Scammers have ways of counterfeiting cashiers checks and money orders.

I am a relay operator for an IP Relay service that is overrun with scams calls from West African scammers posing as deaf callers, using endless and endless numbers of stolen credit card numbers. I also have the occasional "girlfriend calls" in which a scammer calls a person they have become aquainted with and earned their trust to ask for money or forward stolen goods to their home country. I've literally seen it all, and I'm helpless to do anything about it.

a3holerman · #16 01-07-2006, 10:30 PM

Get verification from the business......this smells of a scam

Indiana Mike · #17 01-08-2006, 05:14 AM

I have decided to do a few things,
#1 Call the business monday and ask for accounting, give them the purchase info and see what they have to say, yeah or neah

#2 Call the business monday and ask for daddy by name,I have a last name from the email/ ebay account. I say this because the email from both people appear to have a first initial and last name as the start of their address.

The next may or may not happen , depends on what I find out.
#3 ship the bass to the business after calling them and verifying that that payment was A-ok. It's a sporting goods kind of online store and they ship stuff all day long, if daddy works there he can foward it to her.

I feel really paranoid, and I don't like how that makes me feel. I should be excited ,I got the buy it now price!!!

I refuse to lose money to theives if I can help it. From now on the the merchandise is getting mailed to the credit card billing address or I'm not selling it.

kdogg · #18 01-08-2006, 05:31 AM

If you have contacted the email account associated with the verified paypal account, and you ship to the verified paypal address, then you are protected from charge backs by paypal (seller protection). Anything else, and it becomes your risk and responsibility. I would contact the buyers and inform them that you only ship to the verified paypal address associated with the account they used to pay you. And be sure to get delivery confirmation with signature required.

purfektstranger · #19 01-08-2006, 07:18 AM

'I think I'll call the business in california monday and verify it is A-ok. Am I being paranoid?'

No not at all. Smart I would say. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of dollars are we talking here. Was it less than 500 or more? I only ask because scammers will usually go for higher value basses and the bigger score. After reading your initial post, there are some things I don't like about your deal. First of all you were surprised that your Buy It Now was used. That in itself isnt proof of a scam but if your BIN was really inflated, I would be a bit suspicious of the buyer's motives. I would check out the father, call him at work, check out the business and the credit card. Get the daughter's full name and contact details. Call the daughter as well and find out why daddy is buying her a bass to send to Florida when he is in California. You are selling it and run the risk of getting screwed, so do as much as you can to try and minimize that from happening. You might also mention that the Ebay account used to buy the bass hasn't been touched in two years. Some scammers target low action accounts with phony password update requests and then highjack the accounts for their scams. Be as thorough as possible. It will probably be okay but do the most you can to protect yourself.

Indiana Mike · #20 01-08-2006, 08:04 AM

I did have the BIN inflated a little. It was a mim jazz bass and the BIN was $350 us. I know that nobody here would pay that for a mim jazz. I did a lot of upgrades ( custom shop 60's, new CTS pots , tone cap,switchcraft jack, shielded the cavities with copper tape as described here on talk bass,jackplate ,knobs,pickgaurd,gotah bridge and new screws all around ect...) but that can actually DECREASE value. I would have been happy with $250 + shipping and handling of say $40.00.
I felt that with all the intelligent people here as far as the subject of bass goes I would have never seen that kind of money. I am not trying to rip anyone off , just trying to recoupe some of my expense I had with this bass. It really is a nice bass and the work was maybe not on the level of an expert luthier but was better than most. I had about $425 invested in the bass. I upgraded it only because it is one of those MIM that is flawless, good fretwork,good neck, playability is awsome. It is a one of a kind MIM in my eyes. I have 5 basses,3amps,3 stands,3 wall hangers,miscellaneous odds and ends and my daughter has one bass ,one guitar,two amps ect... and my wife says she feels like she lives in a music store and to buy the amp I want she asked me to let some of it go. Those were my only reasons to sell anything, maybe some of this is a brain game on my part to keep my gear.
It still sounds fishy to me and I am going to check it out .