Thread: ebay fraud help newbie here!

Any other sellers been having a Russian guy by the name of Alex contact you? or buy from you? he seems very interesting in shaving items and stones.


I am a little confused as to what is going on, something seems odd with this. even though his paypal info looks good and he has perfect feedback. I am seeing some info that says he lives in NJ, other that says California, and other that says Russia.

He has purchased from people like AJ and Star shaving, and they all gave good feedback.

if paypal says the funds are good is there anything else to look at? (in my case I have to wait until they receive the items and give feedback before I receive the money. I have only been selling on ebay for 2 months) so I am still waiting for his 1st purchase to clear and be available, he has now purchased from me again. I am a bit scared to ship this latest item...

I would not have known anything weird if he had not sent me a message from a different ebay account (russian address) asking me a question about an item and mentioning that he had purchased from me before. (which was a NJ shipped to address)

I was not sure if I should post the ebay usernames of this guy, is it ok? I am probably as confused as you are and a bit lost. if it is ok to post his ebay name, I can give some links that show better info.

If it were me, the stink-o-meter would be going off also. Having been bitten in the past by similar schemes I can only advise you to trust your instincts. Change your parameters to accept only direct bank transfers, or, if you accept e-checks make sure you list that the items will NOT be shipped until the e-check clears your bank.

He may just be using someone in the US to help him buy stuff.

A LOT of people (stores and sellers) will not ship to Russia or some of the former soviet countries because either customs or postal is corrupt. As a friend of mine described it, if you send something they don't want you to send there, they keep it and sell it. If you send something that they like, then they keep it and sell it.

Is your situation with paypal due to a young/newer account? I've only ever had one payment that took 3 days to clear (I don't sell that much), but I wouldn't send anything to anyone if it didn't clear first.

I've seen this a few times with buyers outside of the US. They buy multiple things from sellers and have them shipped to friends or family in the States who then send the items to the buyer, cutting down on the shipping costs by combining multiple buys into one package.

Sellers only have two options..Good or none. Most of the high volume sellers leave generic A+++ feedback immediately after the purchase is made, and long before the buyer would cause problems. I'd contact some of those sellers and find out if they stand behind the feedback they left.

Yes, I am a newer seller, I am not a trusted seller yet, as I have only been selling for 2.5 months. at the end of this month I will get my money instant. for now it gets put into an escrow and shows up as a balance in my paypal. as soon as the buyer gives positive feedback and the tracking # shows delivered then it leaves escrew and shows up as available balance.
this is to protect buyers.

for this russian guy, his funds are verified. I have had a buyer in the past who used an e-check, and paypal lets me know, and I just dont ship until it clears.

in this case, his funds are verified and in my escrow. so technically this purchase is good.

as I said, I would not have been the wiser if he had not sent me a message from another account with a different address.

and yes my stink-o-meter is going off. but Paypal, ebay and other sellers feedback looks good.
the 'ONLY" thing I have seen off is his address is not verified. so that could line up with DaveW's post about someone helping him to buy stuff..... at least he has not mentioned using western union..

In the case you're dealing with, I'd only worry about it if his history prior to a certain date was spotty, and then all of the sudden the account had a whole bunch of unrelated purchases on it. That might suggest a stolen ID, but even then it would be possible that someone just got hooked on something. Nobody here got suddenly hooked on straight razors or stones did they?

Make sure when you ship anything to him that you ensure it and track it (Only a couple bucks via usps) and then make sure your camera is set to correct time and date and photograph you packing the box with shipping label showing and then photograph box and shipping label being handed to postal employee so if you have a PayPal dispute you will have evidence on your side.

I've done proxy ebay buys. Buyer from Canada, ship to South America, North Africa or Europe. Some sellers won't ship outside of North America and I got friends and family all over.

I think I will just flat out ask him what is going on. I checked his feedback and it goes back to 2010 with about 10+ purchases per month for all kinds of things with perfect feedback.

I am thinking you guys are right about the proxy buys. perhaps someone is boxing up and sending a but-load of stuff back to Russia for him all at once. and I will go ahead an ship this newest item, paypal says the funds are good, so the monkey is on their back. (I will take a photo of the shipping, that sounds like a great idea.)