eBay

clhad-6389 · ‎17-02-2024

Firstly I know there are scams with fake payments. This isn't that!

Basically my husband was trying to sell some car parts on eBay, collection only. A buyer in Lithuanian requests buying and arranging a courier themselves. They repeatedly ask for an invoice on purchase. My husband finds out how to do this via eBay chat and the buyer purchases and pays straight away. My husband sends the eBay invoice by pdf.

The buyer has now gone silent. The courier was supposed to come this weekend but we have heard nothing. Money is already in my husband's bank account.

So...guessing a scam involving the invoice. But what? The buyer predominantly sells car parts and has a company and a lot of neg feedback for sales they've made on eBay. Are they going to use the invoice to con someone else, claiming money in some way and then claim their paid money back through eBay for not receiving the item? I'm guessing eBay/ PayPal will at some point pull the money back to the buyer when the sale doesn't complete.

I can't see that my husband will be out of pocket (just frustrated about the waste of time this has been) but what is the buyer's intention?

Many thanks,

Clare

tressygirl · ‎17-02-2024

I cannot see any scam here as payment has been made.

With their ' boss' being in Lithuania the courier wouldn't be worried about being chased up for being late.

However, if they were coming this weekend, well there's a lot more of this weekend yet to come.

No scam, just need to wait a little longer for this courier today, or tomorrow.

clhad-6389 · ‎17-02-2024

But if a genuine eBayer, why be almost annoying about messaging before the sale, then completely silent upon getting the invoice they kept badgering for? He was messaging my husband on the daily but now he's heard nothing for 5 days since purchasing the items. The buyer said the courier would contact ahead of this weekend but no contact made. We explained we could not wait in all weekend and the buyer had said they would let us know when the courier was coming. It just all seems very odd!

Thanks,

Clare

tressygirl · ‎17-02-2024

I don't think it seems odd , just maybe a language barrier in perhaps using strong language , wrong wording, for requesting an invoice, which may be very important for this buyer and their work? Buying from another country, they may be able to retrieve some Custom duty, or tax so an invoice maybe very important for your buyer.

Couriers at the best of times , are they ever 100% reliable when they say they will come on ** day at ** time ?

If they told you they were coming at the weekend there is still plenty of time for them to appear.

*vyolla* · ‎17-02-2024

Was this an eBay invoice?

If a buyer purchases an item, unless the postage amount is being added, changed or combined then the buyer doesn't need an invoice, they just buy the item and click on the 'Pay' button.

What was the reason for issuing an eBay invoice?

Clearly your buyer has paid if the money is not in the bank account, so no issue there.

clhad-6389 · ‎17-02-2024

No idea why they wanted an invoice. They kept requesting one and have gone silent since my husband forwarded a pdf of one generated by eBay. I think the buyer originally wanted my husband to kind of make one up himself but I told him not to do that. They have a lot of feedback on eBay as a seller selling car parts so they obviously know how it works so the request for an invoice seemed strange.

I didn't expect them to pay to be honest, so that's why we're kind of scratches our heads over this one!

They have not confirmed that any courier has even been organised yet.

I was suspecting that if they did not arrange collection eventually Ebay would intervene and return their money? Although it seems a lot of money to part with even if they were pretty sure they could get it back via buyer's protection or whatever.

I guess we will wait and see what happens! Thanks for the replies.

Clare