# What would you do in this eBay situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315 "2007-11-14T01:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/1 "2007-11-14T01:06:37Z")
I’m selling a relatively pricey item (about $100, item #230190870206 if you’re curious), and I got this question from a potential buyer: > [@](#): > > HI. I need to buy for a friend. Could you ship to that address? > thanks for your time =) Notable is the fact that the person asking the question has 0 feedback. Now, I’m a bit wary of this because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t qualify for PayPal’s seller protection, and that sucks. OTOH, if that person were to pay by check and give me the friend’s address, I would be none the wiser, and it would add up to almost the same thing. Really, it’s the lack of feedback that makes me leery of the whole thing. That and dealing with eBay’s Safe Harbor is a horrendous pain in the butt. (At the same time, though, the $iren $ong of money is making me wonder what the worst is that can happen…) I know, I know. :rolleyes: :o ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/2 "2007-11-14T01:12:02Z")
It sounds to me like they’re just shopping for a gift. As long as their payment clears, I’d ship it to wherever they want. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/3 "2007-11-14T01:52:37Z")
I have shipped to other addresses and it was never a problem. Don’t forget to offer gift wrapping, at an extra charge of course, as a service folks really appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/4 "2007-11-14T03:50:37Z")
It’s a scam, as I just got that exact same question, word for word, on an item I was selling over the weekend. My question was from “irodolph2097,” also with 0 feedback. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/5 "2007-11-14T05:25:50Z")
I would be very wary of that buyer. Tell him to send you the money via western union and see how/if they respond. I would give it a 90% chance of being bogus. Just my opinion ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/6 "2007-11-14T05:35:25Z")
[QUOTE=JCorre] I would be very wary of that buyer. Tell him to send you the money via western union and see how/if they respond. I would give it a 90% chance of being bogus. Just my opinion [/QUOTE] Exactly. Checks and money orders can initially clear, then come back to bite you on the ass. On top of that, he wants you to ship it to a temporary drop site(his “friend’s house”) instead of his own address. If something goes wrong, you will find out his “friend” either lives in an abandoned house or a mailbox company. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/7 "2007-11-14T08:30:54Z")
I agree - I think it’s almost certainly a bounced payment scam. Googling [this](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22I+need+to+buy+for+a+friend%22+%22Could+you+ship+to+that+address) turns up a number of results, all on eBay, with the exact same wording. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/8 "2007-11-14T08:46:09Z")
Wow. It finally happened. Scammers have either developed language skills that are on par with the stuff you’d typically see on the internet, or the language skills of people on the internet have finally devolved to those of your typical scammers. I don’t know why I didn’t think to Google the text of the message ( :smack: ). I guess even my cynicism has its limits. And that’s why I know to turn to you all for help. Thanks, everyone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/9 "2007-11-14T08:51:49Z")
[QUOTE=racer72] I have shipped to other addresses and it was never a problem. Don’t forget to offer gift wrapping, at an extra charge of course, **as a service folks really appreciate.** [/QUOTE] You’ve obviously never seen my gift wrapping. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/10 "2007-11-14T15:15:48Z")
[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom] It’s a scam, as I just got that exact same question, word for word, on an item I was selling over the weekend. My question was from “irodolph2097,” also with 0 feedback. [/QUOTE] Well, it could be a scam, esp. with zero feedback, but I just did this very thing for someone and I know I wasn’t scamming the seller. I bought something, paid for it from my own US PayPal account, and asked the seller to ship it directly to my friend in the UK. She very kindly gave me an estimate and then once she was ready to actually ship, told me that her estimate had been a tad high and the real cost was X. And she shipped it and it got there fine. I was really glad she could ship directly to my UK friend rather than insist on shipping it to me (and charging) and then my friend would have to pay that shipping plus the cost of getting it over to her. So it’s not always a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/11 "2007-11-14T15:52:48Z")
Oh I know it’s a situation that can actually happen. But the fact that the wording of both questions were exactly the same, both from buyers with 0 feedback, says that in this instance it’s a scam. (My reply back to the guy was “Once the payment has fully cleared, I will ship to whatever address you like.” Never heard back.) ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-ebay-situation/426315/12 "2007-11-14T16:06:44Z")
Tell them you’ll ship it to Mars if they want, but only after you have cash in hand.