Scam on eBay?

[SurreyGuy]

When I advertise an item on eBay, why do I get a "buyer" buy the item and then send me a message along the lines of "can you please send this item to a relative of mine in Nigeria"?

Then, when I go to contact the "buyer", I get a message telling me that they are no longer registered.

Is this a scam? If not, why has this happened to me more than once?

[chazza]

Yes it is a scam - there are loads of them floating about ebay, usually involving Nigeria. Another one is where the seller is contacted and offered way over the odds for the item if they will send bank details for the buyer to send the money to

[moogman]

dont deal with ANY nigerians. ok they are not all scumbags but the ones i have delt with are.

[alankinguk]

It is a very common con. The Nigerians buy with stolen credit cards or "skimmed" cards - you ship the goods only to find that you have lost the item and are liable for the money taken from the card as well. AS BELOW - assume they are all crooks. Best and safest way is to use PayPal or WorldPay - they handle the risk and you have some insurance against loss. This scam is very common in the Art world see http://kingart.mylinea.com/warning_to_artists/

[khana]

I hesitate to use ebay at all anymore and certainly not for anything that costs a larger sum of money. The scams are rife.

Be very careful with highjacked accounts and also people paying using paypal, which turns out to be a stolen account and the money being debited by paypal weeks after you have received payment.

[SurreyGuy]

Cheers guys!

It's a shame that eBay can't "vet" sellers/buyers :o(