Hmm, I think a fellow cruiser tried to scam me

[Reefmagnet]

So I had an unused autopilot drive on Ebay as buy it now. It was at a very good price, in fact so good I ended up cancelling the listing because I decided to keep the unit and modify it rather than replace it with another. I did have a guy contact me during the course of the sale wanting delivery to a New Zealand marina. English is obviously not this person's first language. I gave the freight quote and they had a couple of days to purchase the item before I eventually cancelled, but were having problems with the blue button. One was I had not allowed international buyers, but I changed this first up. I later found out his eBay feedback was insufficient to buy my item although I never received notification of this.

A couple of days after I ended my listing this buyer reappears wanting to know where his item is and when I will post it. I advise that it's no longer for sale and a few more days go past and then I get this email that there must be some misunderstanding, yada, yada yada. They tell me that they "can't go back in the water" as they're waiting for my drive. So I feel sorry for this person and was still 50/50 keep or replace so start corresponding to organise the sale and sending of the package. Anyway, I had some misgivings and last night the penny drops. This person had mis-spelt they're own name in the first message to me and they kept, rather subtlety, insisting they would pay once the item was confirmed posted (ding! ding! ding!). I also thought it was a bit odd that the pending installation of an autopilot drive would prevent them from splashing their boat as it shouldn't need to be on the hard to swap out a drive?

Now this person has been on ebay for 6 years but their one and only feed back was way back when they first signed up. More alarm bells. The person's country is listed as a non-english speaking Northern European country. I start to notice that some of the messages have come through at times that are the middle of the night in NZ. Ok, now I'm suspicious, but this could still all be legit. So I send this person a message with my phone number telling them to text or call me so I could call them back and confirm them as a genuine buyer. Surprise, surprise this gets ignored and I get the "I have bad internet tonight, but here's a copy and pasted message of my request for you to send then I pay" message in reply. I then worked around the ebay messaging system to send the potential buyer my direct email address with a note saying they must contact me or no deal and zip... they've vanished.

To me, the whole event has the faint smell of scam, but the disturbing thing is that they appear to be a cruiser that needed the item and are based out of, or have access to a marina. I'd like to think I'm mistaken, but not so sure???

[zboss]

You went above and beyond. This person is probably not even a cruiser. Forget about them and relist it as you had it.

[travellerw]

They were not a cruiser but a scammer.. They were most likely going to buy your item with a stolen ebay account and then resell if locally.. Pretty old and crude scam.

Personally, I only ship to verified addresses..

[SVNeko]

Basic eBay scam attempt. Happens all the time. Glad you didn't fall for it.

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[Bulawayo]

Never send anything until full payment is cleared and in your account......also watch out for fake messages purporting to be from Bay saying payment is cleared.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

Never send anything until full payment is cleared and in your account......also watch out for fake messages purporting to be from Bay saying payment is cleared.

And never circumvent the ebay system. It is based on payment before shipping. It provides some protections to both buyer and seller. Don't conduct business outside it.

[OldFrog75]

Doesn't insisting on payment with PayPal eliminate these issues? I know there's an extra charge for it but still...

OT but my brother purchased and paid for an item at auction on Ebay and was subsequently told it was listed in error as the item had already been sold. He was PO'd because he really wanted it but nothing he could do about it other than get a refund.

[scuba0_1]

You should do them a favor and up date there comment section. And not a good one.

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[cajucito]

I would agree with BanB always use the system and it works. All Cruisers depend on each other and are almost always trustworthy. Not everything that barks is a dog and Ebay is full of sob story scammers beware.

[darylat8750]

Also notify EBay of the scam. They have a fraud dept.

I made the deal for a big snow thrower for my tractor. The dealer's listed business was only a hundred miles from my place so instead of shipping I was going to go pick it up with my trailer. I asked for an address and the seller kept demanding payment. I said I would hand him cash in 3 hours when he put it on my trailer so where do I pick it up? He threatened me with bad feed back and fraud. I informed ebay of the problem and they said it was a scam.

[farmall.dude]

(almost) Never sell outside US (Canada sometimes). Always use PayPal. Notify eBay immediately. Payment must clear before shipping, period. Even if using PayPal, they can hold payment for up to 30 days if the person paying isn't validated. If it smells like a scam, it is. Once I refused to sell any other way, the number of scammers dropped off SIGNIFICANTLY.
Even if the buyer is a Nigerian Prince wanting to buy my [widget] at twice the asking price...

[Randyonr3]

something somewhat the same came up with myself a week or so ago as I got an e-mail from a fellow cruiser stating they were in the south pacific, their cash and documentation had been stolen and were dealing with an issue of their boat being attached due to non payment of entry into the country..

All off what they said made sence, and I did know the people who were susposed to be sending the message..
What tipped me off was the dog they had, his name was Charlie.. I asked how Charlie was doing with all the issues at hand.. The reply back stated that Charlie was in town at the court house trying to figure out all the legal issues to try to get the boat releasted...
Good Work Charlie...................

[Reefmagnet]

The buyer backed out of the deal rather than contact me to confirm their identity so I guess they didn't need the drive as badly as they thought they did :-(

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[Cheechako]

Walk away ....FAST!

[rwidman]

"I think a fellow cruiser tried to scam me"

Cruisers are people. Just people who cruise on a boat. Some are good people, some are bad people, just like people who aren't cruisers.