Proving buyer’s authenticity

[louisfirb_0]

Hi - I’m selling my high end watch and I have received the offer price. The buyer wants me to ship to an alternative address in London. 

i don’t use eBay very much. How do i ensure this is an authentic buyer and not any sort of scam?

thank you 

[tressygirl]

Noooo, you're heading for a scam to lose the watch and the money!

You only post the to the name and address eBay provide for you when they send you that all important message that the buyer has paid, and provide the address on the order details for the item

Do not accept the offer press decline, and block this person from returning to your sale here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/bmgt/BuyerBlock?

@louisfirb_0 

[louisfirb_0]

Thank you, this is exactly what I’m worried about. 
if I accepted the offer and the address and sent to me from eBay after payment would that suggest all is good or is there still a way I could get scammed?

[papso22]

Your watch is part of the authentication programme, you need to read how that works.  Watches do not go to the buyer's address from you.

It does provide you with more protection from scammers than if it wasn't part of the programme,  but you can never be completely protected. 

All sales on ebay come with an element of risk.

[tressygirl]

The red flags are there from the start.

They are suggesting to send to a different address you have to ask why.  The answer is , if you send to an address different from that provided by eBay,  tracking cannot prove its delivery,  they'll open a case for item not received, and they would receive a full refund, and keep the watch.

It's a scam,  avoid them at All cost, decline the offer,  and  block them now.

@louisfirb_0 

[john1297576]

Apart from being an obvious scam, there is nothing to stop any buyer claiming not as described, and returning any old piece of junk to get a full refund.

[red_magpie]

could get scammed?

If the buyer entered their alternative address at checkout and eBay gave this as the delivery address you would at least be covered by eBay's seller protection, such as it is. If the watch qualifies for eBay's authentication scheme you would send it to the authenticator’s address anyway.

The authentication scheme plus tracked proof of delivery means that eBay seller protection should at least protect you from the usual risks of false money back guarantee cases or fraudulent chargebacks. But there is no risk free way of selling on eBay, especially as sellers don't even know how the buyer paid or what protections their payment provider may offer that can be abused to make false refund claims.

A big problem, as buyers now pay eBay and not the seller, is that if a buyer initiates a false claim through their payment provider that claim likewise is made against eBay, not the seller. So the seller is not even a party to the claim; eBay decides whether to accept it and if they do the seller has to repay them - and pay them an admin fee! The way this procedure now works means that buyers have all the rights, including a right of appeal to the financial conduct authority, whilst seller have absolutely none. eBay's money back guarantee policy is unregulated, so there is no right of independent appeal against their decisions.

Personally I wouldn't risk selling anything on eBay that was valuable enough to qualify for authentication.

[jckl1957]

Simple steps to keep your sale safe:

Look in Payments and make absolutely sure the money is there and is being safely held by Ebay.

Only send to the address shown in 'order details' when you are logged into your Ebay account.

Because you have to send the watch to the authenticator, you will never see the buyer's address.  Once it has been checked, it will be sent on to the buyer by the authenticator.  They will use the address the buyer used at checkout when they paid.  (You could message your buyer and inform them of this process.  It is important that they choose the correct address when they pay.  They can't communicate with the authenticator and request it is posted to a different address.)

If the buyer opens a case, they will have to return the watch to the authenticator.  They will check it is the same watch in the same condition and return it to you.

As long as you follow the right procedure and (no private emails, no WhatsApp, all messages through Ebay) you should be safe.