The Wholesale Forums

[BillyA]

This is what sucks about Ebay. Scammers can go ahead and bid on your item and ask you to jump through all kinds of hoops (like mailing to Nigeria) and we DO IT!! Why? We don't want the NEG feedback.

[Nadz]

i used to have a problem with nigerian bidders but all you have to do is go to your seller preferences and tick the paypal account required box - stops them from bidding on youre item.

[BillyA]

Yes but these scammer have people in the US or UK that bid for them. Then ask you to mail to Nigeria.

[dcon]

Hi guys send them an empty envelope it may cost you a few pound but I bet you leave the PO with a smile on your face

[prezfromny]

Or filling up their prepaid envelope with rocks, tires, etc.

[BaiLong11]

I have never gotten begative feedback from one of these experiences on eBay. If the winner of the auction requests that I send it to their sick son in Nigeris (or whatever the newest excuse is) I report it straight to eBay. They are pretty knowledgable about this type of scam and will shut it down quickly. They also gave me a refund on my auction costs.
I have gotten two scammers on eBay kicked off like this in the past month!!

Oh, and about what Nadz said. If you require that a seller have a Paypal account, that means that you cannot offer any other type of acceptable payment. And lots of (ok, well some) legit people like to send in cashier's checks and the such.
You will lower the demographic of your buyer's market if you only offer Paypal.

[icomguy]

I was at the point of getting almost a nigerian scammer every day. Always the same old story: Buyer is living abroad in [pick a european country] - usually for a church seminal, has a young relative [pick any relative] going to school in a university in nigeria - typically Lagos, willing to pay you $20 to $30 more than your "buy it now" price and insists in using their own shipping.

I got so sick of reporting these guys every day to eBay (which does shut them down very quickly), filing for a FVF refund, and relisting. I just recently turned on the "must have a paypal account" option. It has cut the scammers down big time, but still a few get through - must be hijacking someone's account or something. This option still allows you to receive checks and money orders if you desire. It may force you to have a paypal account but it does not force you to pay via paypal.

-Paul

[BaiLong11]

Oh, I never knew that icomguy... Very informative. Thanks

[diablo audio]

Ebay should send out memos to new members warning them to be careful when approached by someone who is from or wants you to mail stuff to Nigeria. But I wonder if that would be too politically incorrect for Ebay to do...

[Babybean]

I think the biggest question going un noticed here is how on earth do they hi jack ebay and paypal accounts?