eBay Purchase from Suspicious Seller

Hedgehog girl on 19/08/2014 - 21:11

Hi guys,
Spoiler alert: I was not scammed by a seller:) hopefully!

The story is:
Bought a fitbit Zip off ebay for my mom. The seller had only 4 feedbacks, all positive and the item was the same fitbit. Paid using Paypal and received a message from the seller: "I am going to refund you your PayPal payment so if you would kindly pay via direct bank deposit after you receive the item, it would be very much appreciated. The reason for this is that they are asking me to wait too long to withdraw my balance. Pls do not worry at all as I offer you buyer protection as well. I will replace the item if it has any issues just as long as it is not ruined through misuse…"

I know it sounds suspicious, but I actually received the item today and it looks like genuine. Works fine and the package was unopened, well before I opened it:)

The seller sent me another message with his bank details. And it appeared that the details are for Australia Post Prepaid Card. I remember a lot of discussions here and on whirlpool where scammers used prepaid debit cards for payments.

So the question is, what are the chances that I got scammed?
I got the item. I even got full refund but of course going to send the payment back in a couple of days if nothing will happen with fitbit.

Please advise:)

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Comments

  • cr7 on 19/08/2014 - 21:14
    +6

    so whats the problem? you have the item and you havent paid if anything the seller has a problem

    • lakers1222 on 19/08/2014 - 21:35
      +1

      totally agree. please change the title to:

      eBay Purchase from Suspicious Buyer

      • [Deactivated] on 19/08/2014 - 23:07
        +1

        eBay purchase by suspicious buyer

        ;-)

  • [Deactivated] on 19/08/2014 - 21:44

    Odd post, but as a rule of thumb, whenever there is any request, let alone an insistence, for an exchange of funds that relates to an eBay item - or after the sale of one - always insist on staying within the PayPal realm.

  • NancyCat on 19/08/2014 - 21:44
    +3

    The seller refunded your money. And you still have the item. So who is scamming who?

  • hj0809 on 19/08/2014 - 22:06

    It takes the same amount of effort to post here or to pay the seller. You should have just paid the dude already.

    "pay in a couple of days" yeah right you're not gonna pay are you.

  • juventino on 19/08/2014 - 22:41
    +1

    His account is probably unverified which means he can't withdraw any money. Once it is verified, certain time needs to pass before the withdrawing facility is available.

    The alternative could be that the accounts are hacked. He asked you to do a direct deposit so he can withdraw and use the money straight away. If you pay by Paypal, he can only withdraw by cheque or to a bank account, not to a prepaid reloadable card, which he's not willing to do since he will be exposed easily.

  • neil aus on 20/08/2014 - 00:45
    +1

    Ask him for a normal bank account that is associated with a real ID, then xfer to that. It sounds like the eBay account is not his, or the item is somehow stolen.

  • Davo1111 on 20/08/2014 - 02:08
    +2

    sounds like hes just trying to avoid the heinous ebay fees.

    • Hedgehog girl on 20/08/2014 - 07:40

      I thought the same, but he could just have asked me to cancel transaction and I would agree without hesitation:)

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