I've been listing Lego again on Ebay trying to sell out my collection for financial reasons. I was contacted by a person wanting to buy everything I had listed so far (about 20 sets) and everything else I have (about 80 more sets). He said we could do the transaction through a paypal invoice. He has been a member of Ebay since 2013 with 100% feedback. In his message his emailis different from user name. It ends with Uptown trades out of Brooklyn New York. Would you do this deal? I would have to ship everything.

You mean an off-ebay paypal transaction? Sounds a bit risky as Paypal will side with the buyer if there is any issue whatsoever and you don´t have the same seller protection as on Ebay AFAIK.

I would find another way - maybe cash on delivery or collection. If it´s a lot of stuff, sometimes it is better to offer a discount for buyer collect and have them pay you cash-in-hand.

 

He is in Brooklyn and I am in Mobile, Al. Don't think we can do a cash in hand deal. I was wondering if I had the same protections from paypal as Ebay. It seems a little sketchy to me as his username deals with toner and he has never listed Lego before.

 

1 minute ago, rastascoob said:

He is in Brooklyn and I am in Mobile, Al. Don't think we can do a cash in hand deal. I was wondering if I had the same protections from paypal as Ebay. It seems a little sketchy to me as his username deals with toner and he has never listed Lego before.

 

Well ebay won´t protect you if you bypass them!

I´d say it´s a bit too sketchy to get involved in but YMMV. Cash on delivery to the shipping company could be a safer option if the buyer refuses to wire you the money. They´ll take a comm and you will get the money in a cheque several weeks later but they won´t deliver without getting it from the buyer. We sometimes use that option in Europe, dunno if it is possible in the US.

 

Contacted through eBay? This violates eBay's terms bigly. eBay can charge you fees for all items you have listed if you go through with this transaction (if you suddenly pull all of the listings, eBay reviews your messages, and determines you're evading fees).

Yeah I am beginning to think they are contacting me through a hacked account as they have not had a transaction in the last year. Thank you for your help.

28 minutes ago, rastascoob said:

I've been listing Lego again on Ebay trying to sell out my collection for financial reasons. I was contacted by a person wanting to buy everything I had listed so far (about 20 sets) and everything else I have (about 80 more sets). He said we could do the transaction through a paypal invoice. He has been a member of Ebay since 2013 with 100% feedback. In his message his emailis different from user name. It ends with Uptown trades out of Brooklyn New York. Would you do this deal? I would have to ship everything.

I got contacted as well! By Uptown Trades but my contact was named MIra with a random phone number attached to it.  I didn't bother answering since it's likely something scam-sounding. Don't do it, @rastascoob

Yes It depends on how you view the message but the Uptown Trades part on shows in my email view not the view on Ebay. I am trying to figure out how to contact Ebay to tell them of the problem. Was your question sent from a user name with the word toner in it? @TANV

3 minutes ago, rastascoob said:

Yes It depends on how you view the message but the Uptown Trades part on shows in my email view not the view on Ebay. I am trying to figure out how to contact Ebay to tell them of the problem. Was your question sent from a user name with the word toner in it? @TANV

Yeah, it was. Here's the message below:

Hi,

Id like to buy all your Lego sets you have available, and pay you now for your whole lot.

We buy ones that are in nice condition boxes.

Please send me a list of what you have to offer. model number, qty, and condition. 
 

- tonerinkplus

Got the same email yesterday. If you read that email again, you will find the font of the content is different from her name/photo at the end of the message. I think it is a scam. Only 32 feedbacks. Last one is over 1 year.

I am on the phone with ebay now trying to let them know.

Let them know and they blocked him from my account. I told them that at least two other people. They didn't seem to worried.

Re: Selling a large inventory via eBay / Paypal. Sure there are people who do it, but I wouldn't.  Paypal only covers seller protection up to $750.  A scam buyer could make a $5000 or $10,000 purchase via Paypal, do signature delivery, or whatever, and then call the credit card company that funds his Paypal account and claim the merchandise was not received, or fake, or credit card was stolen, i.e. unauthorized transaction. The credit card company CAN claw back funds from Paypal, who will in turn, claw back those funds from you.  Certainly you can fight it, maybe even win (or maybe not)... but who wants that hassle? Just sayin'... large transactions like this are always risky through Paypal.  Face-to-face cash transaction at a police station is better.

First of all, report the buyer to eBay as it’s against their rules and they’ll think more of you if it all turns to crap later.

Personally, I’d report the buyer, delete their message and block them. eBay is not as safe for sellers as it once was and we don’t need dodgy charactera like this.

What’s to stop the buyer emptying the boxes and returning them full of crap for refund via a SNAD case? Any big purchase stinks of SCAM to me. I’d only ever sell <£100 sets on eBay. Anything more and I have to meet the buyer where they come to me with cash.

If it’s too good to be true, it ALWAYS is ;-)

Edited October 3, 20178 yr by TabbyBoy

2 hours ago, TANV said:

Yeah, it was. Here's the message below:

Hi,

Id like to buy all your Lego sets you have available, and pay you now for your whole lot.

We buy ones that are in nice condition boxes.

Please send me a list of what you have to offer. model number, qty, and condition. 
 

- tonerinkplus

Yup, fishy and too non specific to be genuine. What if your stock is all Chima Firebikes and SW buildables?

21 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Yup, fishy and too non specific to be genuine. What if your stock is all Chima Firebikes and SW buildables?

I'd take the risk of selling them then.

4 hours ago, rastascoob said:

Yeah I am beginning to think they are contacting me through a hacked account as they have not had a transaction in the last year. Thank you for your help.

Yup. This one came up in the ebay Fruitcake thread a week or two ago.

My guess is it's more of a phishing attempt than a merch scam.

I've been listing Lego again on Ebay trying to sell out my collection for financial reasons. I was contacted by a person wanting to buy everything I had listed so far (about 20 sets) and everything else I have (about 80 more sets). He said we could do the transaction through a paypal invoice. He has been a member of Ebay since 2013 with 100% feedback. In his message his emailis different from user name. It ends with Uptown trades out of Brooklyn New York. Would you do this deal? I would have to ship everything.

I was contacted by this person about 6 weeks. Mira was their name. I spent about 3 hours going through my entire collection to find 'perfect' condition boxed sets. I was able to compose a list, which I then forwarded to the potential buyer via email. They really only seamed concerned about the price. I tried too get them to make an offer, either for individual sets or the entire lot, but they wouldn't. They insisted I quote prices. So, I spent another 3 hours concocting prices which I would be satisfied with. When I sent them back the list of prices their response was short and curt. "Your prices are way higher than we usually pay." I told them it's more important to me that I make my money back than to move product. That I'm a collector first and only a small time reseller trying to support a hobby. They just didn't like that all my prices were slightly over retale. Anyways, they sent me back one more reply stating that they are always willing to buy sets that meet their criteria. And that ended that.

Normally I wouldn't have given this person the time of day. But, my family is financially being squeezed by our recent move across the country and the fact I'm still searching for work. So, I tried to push a transaction through, but they refused my prices.

This was my experience.

I will say, when I received the initial message from this buyer, it didn't say 'nice' condition boxes, it said 'perfect' condition. They've changed this. Otherwise, it's all the same.

I've been contacted by scammers before, and been down my fair share of unruly rabbit holes. Honestly, the interaction I had with this person came across as sincere. However, it was clear to me that they don't have much experience buying and selling legos.

Wow glad I stumbled across this thread. I was contacted by this buyer about 2 weeks ago. Left his e-mail address and phone number, so I kept in contact with him through e-mail after that so eBay would have no trace of the convo. He asked me to list sets o would be willing to get rid of, so I did, and he made me an offer. I denied it, made him and counter offer and he denied it, he then made me a counter offer on that and I accepted. I can say with confidence it is not a scam, he was very picky about which sets he wanted, and was pretty petty when haggling the price. I went ahead with it. I got paid over a week ago. He got his delivery, I got my credit card paid off. Nice and easy. I find it hilarious I'm the only one who did business with this guy lol.

Wow glad I stumbled across this thread. I was contacted by this buyer about 2 weeks ago. Left his e-mail address and phone number, so I kept in contact with him through e-mail after that so eBay would have no trace of the convo. He asked me to list sets o would be willing to get rid of, so I did, and he made me an offer. I denied it, made him and counter offer and he denied it, he then made me a counter offer on that and I accepted. I can say with confidence it is not a scam, he was very picky about which sets he wanted, and was pretty petty when haggling the price. I went ahead with it. I got paid over a week ago. He got his delivery, I got my credit card paid off. Nice and easy. I find it hilarious I'm the only one who did business with this guy lol.

Only one brave soul in the bunch? I passed because it just seemed too shady. The weird email font thing set off warning signals for me. Glad it worked out for you.

10 hours ago, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

Wow glad I stumbled across this thread. I was contacted by this buyer about 2 weeks ago. Left his e-mail address and phone number, so I kept in contact with him through e-mail after that so eBay would have no trace of the convo. He asked me to list sets o would be willing to get rid of, so I did, and he made me an offer. I denied it, made him and counter offer and he denied it, he then made me a counter offer on that and I accepted. I can say with confidence it is not a scam, he was very picky about which sets he wanted, and was pretty petty when haggling the price. I went ahead with it. I got paid over a week ago. He got his delivery, I got my credit card paid off. Nice and easy. I find it hilarious I'm the only one who did business with this guy lol.

When I get these types of "I buy all your LEGO" messages, I find them impossible to do business with because they want absurdly low prices. I'd be interested to know what you sold and for how much and if you made any profit.

It'd be an interesting way for the authorities to find the lego theft rings thou, they'd be more than willing to sell for absurdly low prices if they could unload all at once...

Only one brave soul in the bunch? I passed because it just seemed too shady. The weird email font thing set off warning signals for me. Glad it worked out for you.

You're able to judge the character of a person by the font they choose to write their emails in? Do you realize the power you wield?!

Was it comic sans by chance? I hear people who use that font are jerks.