Am I about to get scammed?

[elizabennett]

Hello-i sell used books as a private seller and have just had someone ask for a shipping quote for 63 books. The user information shows they have been on eBay since 2022, 100% (vague) feedback, country listed as Albania but contacting me through eBay France and using English. This has got my Spidey senses tingling but can't figure out how is would be a scam. No book is worth more than 99p.  Any thoughts? My only one is they get the books, open a complaint to get the money back and sell the books themselves, but as I mentioned, they are all cheap paperbacks. Thanks!

[technthread]

Have a look at their feedback left for other users.

You could potentially work out the weight of all books once boxed and then create a single eBay listing for the bundle. They can then buy via eBay GSP as 1 order and you get the eBay protection that comes with it. 

[**peaseblossom**]

 I can't see that anyone would choose cheap books for a scam.  They probably just want the books.

There's no ebay in Albania so they might use the french one.   Or there are quite a few Albanians living in France.  And English is a popular language in most countries especially when contacting someone in the UK.    🙂

[technthread]

Just to add to what I said, by creating the 1 listing eBay will calculate the shipping and import charges for them and it is what it is. I'd do it that way rather than ship outside eBay GSP on this one. 

[elizabennett]

That sounds like a good plan-thank you

[jere-nott]

As Peaseblossom explained eBay Albania does not exist. Also you should go into your setting and block countries that you do not ship to.  I have about 120 countries on my blocked list which include Eastern Block, Russia, Africa and some South American countries. What does 63 paper backs weigh, about 10kgs. That would cost about GBP25 to ship abroad via DPD, a bit cheaper with Evri (if it ever got there with Evri!)

I could buy a paperback at my local boot sale for about 20p each

[selkirkwatches]

If you would like me, you will find that your "Spidey sense' is probably more accurate than you think. 

What I would do is consider how much money is being made in profit. I am guessing, not enough to make the risk worth while. Also, sadly the destination country has a reputatiobn for a highr than average "scam rate". If it were me, i would ignore them and place the buyer on my "barred" list.

Best, Colin

[tommystrezures]

IT may well be (and years ago we had a similar consignment of our own unwanted books sent to Albania without issue) We asked the buyer why, and they were kind enough to let us know that they were using them for teaching english in the schools as then it was nigh on impossible to buy the books locally.

[rjwilmsi]

I can't see low-value paperbacks as being a target for scammers.

There are various items that are harder to get hold of oustide of western Europe/North America, so there is a market to import them. But given how easily books can be found online (pirated) I wouldn't think paperbacks is one of those markets.

As tommystrezures says there may be a genuine education-related reason.

It would be easier for you to only allow the sale via GSP (then don't have to do customs form yourself etc.). However, that is not a guarantee of no problems because the buyer can always open a return.

[elizabennett]

Update-so after some research I ended up shipping the books as a single job lot (after the buyer did a bit of haggling). They gave a London address and I'm thinking the books then get taken to Albania for another purpose (as suggested by others). They were an eclectic mix suggesting they may be put in a library or sold on over there. I'm still not sure but hopefully I was just confused by the convoluted methodology. Thank you for all of your suggestions. 

[papso22]

You need to read this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/charity-listings-policy?id=4286&st=...

As you are selling donated goods and not your own unwanted possessions you also need to upgrade to a business account.

[4_bathrooms]

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@papso22 wrote:

You need to read this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/charity-listings-policy?id=4286&st=...

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Weirdly I didn't think that would apply as the OP is not a charity; they are donating the proceeds of their sales to a charity. I wondered if a charity mentioned in one of their listings would even be found in eBay's charity search but to my surprise it was.

From what I can gather the OP is required to use eBay's "eBay for Charity" feature. It looks to me that eBay has this in order to ensure the sale proceeds actually go to the named charity. Also note that under this feature eBay reduces the seller's insertion and final value fees by the same percentage they chose to donate. So, if the OP was donating 100% of their sale proceeds to their chosen charity their insertion fees and final value fees would be zero meaning the charity would actually receive more money than if it had been a standard sale. 

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@papso22 wrote:

As you are selling donated goods and not your own unwanted possessions you also need to upgrade to a business account.

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I don't believe this is correct; if the charity was listing the items themselves they would need to register as a charity (registered charities are businesses). As I see it if the OP is donating most or all of their sale proceeds they only need to use the above mentioned feature. I believe this is required because if someone tells you they are collecting or selling for charity in most cases they (legally) have to disclose how much of the donation/proceeds they receive will actually go to the charity named.