Am I about to get scammed?

I just sold an expensive limited edition item to someone with no feedback, based in China which I'll be shipping through the Global Shipping Programme from the UK. Maybe I'm being overly cautious but the fact the seller hasn't got any feedback and is abroad is giving me pause. Is there anything I can do to protect myself?

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Am I about to get scammed?

@see_that_animal  "Is there anything I can do to protect myself?" ...... cancel using problem with buyer's address if you are feeling uneasy about the transaction.

 

"I just sold an expensive limited edition item"  ........ I would add that this could be a genuine sale, depending on the item.  Items are often purchased to be copied and sold back to the western market.

 

Finally, I would add that I sell to Chinese buyers regularly, and have done for years, and I have never had a problem.  I have also had many offers from Chinese sellers offering me everything from "genuine" military medals through to WW2 German helmets.  I obviously steer well clear and keep my business dealings there in one direction only.

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Am I about to get scammed?

Good Aftternoon STA

 

Who is to tell at this stage but my money is on it being some form of set up and you having problems in the near future.   Surely most of the items for sale in the UK can be reproduced and bought for pence in China (particularly watches and clothes). 

 

Good luck but I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Am I about to get scammed?

If you are feeling uneasy about the transaction then I would advise that you do as has already been suggested and cancel the sale, citing "Problem With Buyer's Address" as the reason why.

 

Once you have done that, in order to avoid a recurrence of the problem if you decide to relist the item, add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List so that he/she  cannot purchase anything else from you in the future.  If you also activate the "Don't Allow Blocked Buyers To Contact Me" option in your Seller Preferences (if you have not already done this previously) then the buyer will not be able to contact you again.  However, given that you have recently been in a transaction with this buyer the blocks will take a bit longer to kick in than they would have done had you never sold anything to this buyer, but once they do kick in the buyer will be unable to contact you.

 

Finally, if you do not wish to sell items to buyers in China - or for any other country, for that matter - go back into your Selling Preferences page and click on the Postage Preferences link.  Although I gave up selling on eBay some years back, I have done my best to remember what I used to do when I wanted to block certain international destinations.  If I remember correctly the procedure is as follows, although eBay may well have changed things since I last sold on eBay, in which case some of the following information may be inaccurate to some extent by now.

 

Once you have clicked on the Postage Preferences link a Manage Postal Settings page should appear on the screen.  Scroll right down to the bottom of the page and on the left hand side of the screen you should see a line that reads "Exclude Postage Locations" with the options "Domestic" and "International" in the centre.  Click on the Edit link to the right of that page and it will take you to a new page where you can change the settings with regards to which countries you do and do not wish to post to.

 

To block buyers in certain overseas destinations look at the lower half of the page, which is entitled "International."  You will see a list of all of the different regions of the world - look at each option in turn.  If you want to block every country from that continent then just click on the main box next to the name of the continent in question and every single country in that region will be blocked from being able to purchase anything from you.  If, however, you don't mind posting to some of the countries on that continent but specifically want to block others then click on the link that says "Show All Countries."  Put a tick next to all of the countries that you want to block and leave the boxes blank next to any countries that you don't mind posting to.  Repeat the process for each continent until you've finished making the necessary updates.

 

Once you have finished doing this scroll right down to the bottom of the page and tick the box in the bottom left hand corner next to the sentence that reads "Also Apply To Current Listings" and then click on the blue "Save" button.  As soon as you have done this anybody who lives in any of the countries and/or continents that you have put a block on will be unable to purchase anything from you.

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I blocked buyers in China. Years ago I sold an expensive blender about £150 if I remember correctly. I sent it and then the buyer said they didn't want to pay the custom charges so would I divert it to another address? I can't do that for obvious reasons. So the blender was returned to a courier depot somewhere a long way from where I live. They said I had to pay £60 to collect it or they would destroy it. So obviously I lost the blender and the buyer claimed they didn't receive the item so ebay gave them their money back. It was a nightmare. Never, ever again. Though this was in the days before Global Shipping. I don't think they could say the item wasn't received but they could try something else. 

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Am I about to get scammed?

Good Morning E2F

 

Have you noticed that you have the same feedback score ie 666 as the original poster?  

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