I'm selling something on ebay, and the person who won the item is supposedly from Ireland, but wants the iPod shipped to their "store" in Nigeria. I'm thinking this is a scam... I told the dude to put x dollars in my paypal account and I'll ship the damn thing, but I've never used paypal before, and don't know if I'm being taken for a ride or not...

I got an email from paypal which seemed pretty legit (except for some misspellings/bad grammar), but it was sent from the email address "paypalcustomerslink@emailaccount.com" and not a paypal address. Again, having never done paypal before, I'm wondering if this is legit.

Another thing I find fishy is the fact that the email says that "the funds can only be credited into your account immediately when we confirm that you have posted the goods to the buyer. We therefore advice you to dispatch the goods and provide the buyer with an evidence that the goods has been shipped. Thanks for using paypal."

Anyone know what's up? Am I supposed to see the money in my paypal account immediately, or do I have to prove that I shipped the item first? I'm not sending this thing to Nigeria if I'm gonna get fucked over. I'll be out a couple hundred bucks if I do.

Thanks for any help, links, info, whatever.
Ron

9/19/2006 11:25:47 PM

As a general rule, anything on your computer that involves Nigeria is a scam.

9/19/2006 11:28:27 PM

i wouldn't ship SHIT until you get the payment. not sure how things work in nigeria, but that's how we roll here...

9/19/2006 11:30:20 PM

word up, haha...

I figured what the hell, they can have my shit all they want, but I didn't know if I was supposed to SEE the money in my paypal account first, or what... this "posting the goods" thing is ridiculous.

9/19/2006 11:31:26 PM

dude this is 200% scam, i know from alot of experience,
first of all nearly 99% of anything to do with nigeria is a scam
second no money until they verify the shipment, paypal offers no such verification
third the language they use "dispatch" thats european, paypal people are american so its a scam

its not even close, it happens to thousands of ebay people every day

9/19/2006 11:33:46 PM

alright, so for future paypalling, should i expect the funds to show up in my account if someone has put them there? there's no "hold" put on them for tracking numbers, or any shit like that?

guess i should have known, when the guy joined ebay yesterday, and has zero feedback. jesus.

9/19/2006 11:36:33 PM

yeah, unfortunately about 10% of ebeyers are scammer so you have to be careful
you should always, always get the money before you ship
and if you ship you should ship to a verified address, otherwise if the credit card was stolen you could lose your money, it happened to me, twice

9/19/2006 11:38:54 PM

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&source_page=_home

9/19/2006 11:42:00 PM

^^ damn, that sucks...

not to mention this is a real hassle.. i have to fuck around with "second chance offers" now

9/19/2006 11:43:24 PM

Quote :

"alright, so for future paypalling, should i expect the funds to show up in my account if someone has put them there? there's no "hold" put on them for tracking numbers, or any shit like that? "

Yes...The funds show up and then you ship.

Please report this to eBay immediately so that he won't successfully scam anyone.

[Edited on September 19, 2006 at 11:45 PM. Reason : l]

9/19/2006 11:44:24 PM

UHM, I don't want to be a vice here, but have you FIGURED SHIPPING TO NIGERIA.

9/19/2006 11:49:26 PM

^^good advice, thanks

^actually, yes, and the "buyer" was more than willing to pay the extra money... another red flag i guess

9/19/2006 11:51:09 PM

yea im going through an ebay scam right now at least i didnt lose a lot of money ($30) but i really needed the book..so im trying to get my money back

9/19/2006 11:55:24 PM

hah, nothing but happy fun times here

9/19/2006 11:59:40 PM

nigeria = don't reply

9/20/2006 3:18:59 AM

If you ask for Western Union, can you get caught in a charge-back if the CC was stolen? I know on Paypal you get screwed.

9/20/2006 6:33:32 AM

it's even easier for them to take the money back with Western Union than it is with PayPal. In other words, you're 99% guaranteed to be scammed if you use Western Union.

9/20/2006 9:29:42 AM

Quote :

"I got an email from paypal which seemed pretty legit (except for some misspellings/bad grammar), but it was sent from the email address "paypalcustomerslink@emailaccount.com" and not a paypal address. Again, having never done paypal before, I'm wondering if this is legit."

scam

he sends money into paypal = you shipping it whereever the fuck he wants

9/20/2006 9:39:59 AM

god wtf is wrong with people in nigeria

this must be the countries biggest source of revenue

american internet fraud

9/20/2006 9:42:56 AM

http://www.paypal.com

all to easy

9/20/2006 9:45:11 AM

Quote :

"it's even easier for them to take the money back with Western Union than it is with PayPal. In other words, you're 99% guaranteed to be scammed if you use Western Union."

i always thought it was the other way around. i thought once you got the money out it was as good as cash and they couldnt get you, so you never send western union.

oh well, doesnt matter, i know not to use it ever (though i had no problems the one time i did a long time ago).

9/20/2006 9:47:18 AM

i always wonder how these scammers are so persistent
and now i know its because alot of people still dont know about them

9/20/2006 10:04:51 AM

I bet there are about 10 legitimate business men in Nigeria and they can't sell shit. lol

9/20/2006 10:33:27 AM

scam, yes

report that shit to ebay and get a refund/relist your item ... or just move on to second chance

9/20/2006 9:34:09 PM

so much for that official thread

9/20/2006 9:38:17 PM

anytime you see the word nigeria, its a scam. thats no joke.

9/20/2006 9:50:13 PM

nigeria

[Edited on September 20, 2006 at 10:27 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2006 10:27:44 PM

I had this happen once when I used to sell things. Do NOT ship out of the US for any auction. That solves 99.999% of the problems you will encounter like this.

9/21/2006 7:52:15 AM

you'll still have those douches who say they have a fedex account in X state and they'll send you a mailing slip and then pay you when it gets sent out.

that one doesnt even sound legit, so shrug.

9/21/2006 8:44:31 AM

You cant spell "Niggers stealing shit" without Nigeria

9/21/2006 12:01:04 PM