SMC Discussion Areas

I am selling my mackbook and this person from Minsk Belarus has asked to buy it now. They said they will pay viia paypal which was my request and that I can send it to their shipper in the use via fedex with signature delivery and they will ship it to them. They will sign a letter saying I am only responsible to get it to the shipper in the USA. It sounds Ok but its still fishy. Why buy a macbook from me in the USA when they can get one there. But with paying paypal can it really go wrong? I told them I will not take extra money and send them the rest and he laughed and said of course not he is not from Nigeria. :)

what would you do? He offered me exactly what I wanted out of it and its not a crazy price. Its basically what its worth but the bidding is slow at the moment. What would you do?

Ask him why he's buying it from the US instead of from Belarus? I would also contact paypal and ask them if this is a scam. I just got the graigslist scam 3 times today.

If you are uncomfortable, say no. The stress  trying to get your money back if it is a scam isn't worth a quick sale

How's his feedback? Get the  shipper name and  see if it comes up in Google, as a legitimate address or business.

josh,
with all the other problems and concerns you've  had with Ebay in the recent past.. I just don't like how this sounds.. Cant confirm or deny a scam, but you and Ebay have just not gotten along..? :biggrin:

Yeah I agree with signguy... you've had so much trouble... it isn't worth it... just let it run its
time on eBay to the end... Do you have interest in the auction (watchers)?... Let it run...

have him send a "Bank Check"...let it clear....then send it.

As an "Overseas chap" myself I know how frustrating it is to get some people in the US to sell to me. Recently I wanted to bid on a high end vending machine (birthday pressie to myself) and contacted the seller to see if he would allow me to do so. I have good feedback both as a buyer and a seller of vending machines which is all there for him to see.

He never responded and I never bid.

The emerging markets of the Eastern block countries will enevitably mean that a good deal of trade will go that way.. Would be a shame to turn a sale down BUT I also take into account the issues that you have had with Ebay in recent years and perhaps this time you might want to air on the side of caution.

If you decide to send it, I would pay for a tracking number and receiving confirmation or ship it as a fragile item. With it being so far overseas, they could claim they never got it in the mail, or possibly being damaged on arrival..

I agree you should always do a delivery confirmation. It doesn't cost that much.

Sounds a lot like this

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

I didn't even look at the feeback score and I just saw that it is zero. I sent him a nice message that said I will only ship it in the USA and no buy it now or ending the auction. These scammers have no heart. How could you live with yourself knowing you are hurting someone else. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Josh another option is a bank wire transfer, once they do it and its in your bank there is nooo return. if its a scam 100% they will refuse the bank transfer

I wouldn't mess with a 0 feedback bidder.  I did however sell some stuff to a guy overseas.  The whole deal freaked me out at first.  If his feedback was not perfect I would have backed out. 

He had some sort of USA shipping company that was handling the logistics.  He payed with paypal, I sent the parts to California and he was happy.

I googled the company and they had a great rep, so I took the chance.