Non-US, Un-verified Paypal??

[JKirkland]

I sold an item I had listed on ebay for about $250, and the buyer has a confirmed address but where it says "Payment from" it indicates to me "The sender of this payment is Non-U.S. - Unverified)"

The payment is still pending, but I just do not like the way any of this looks. The ebay account is also less than a week old with no feedback.

I think I understand what this means, but my question is whether or not I should be worried even if the payment clears? I will obviously send it with tracking and signature confirmation, but what else can I do or should I do to protect myself?

I have read too many horror stories of people being scammed on ebay as sellers and I do not want to end up on the receiving end of that. To complicate matters further, the address is in Florida, with all the hurricane stuff going on it just makes me even me more weary right now.

[Quandary]

Why accept a buyer from a non-US account - if you're OK with shipping outside the US and willing to take the chance as you have to deal with Customs Forms, VAT Taxes, and who's knows what - then that's OK too.

To be somewhat safe when starting out, consider selling to only US verified accounts - don't go international unless you have the confidence in your selling experience.

[JKirkland]

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@Quandary wrote:

Why accept a buyer from a non-US account - if you're OK with shipping outside the US and willing to take the chance as you have to deal with Customs Forms, VAT Taxes, and who's knows what - then that's OK too.

To be somewhat safe when starting out, consider selling to only US verified accounts - don't go international unless you have the confidence in your selling experience.

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Please re-read what I wrote...... "the address is in Florida". Only the PayPal account is Non-US, Unverified, not the confirmed address.

Alos, how do I decline selling items to unverified accounts or non US accounts? I could not find out how to do this when I searched online....

[Whac-A-Mole]

there is no way to block non verified non US account,

on Ebay,you can block by region or country,many foreign buyers use a US forwarding service.

On Paypal ,you can refuse to accept foreign currency payment,but no way to block a foreign sender if he is sending US $

[Whac-A-Mole]

CONFIRMED means he has a confirmed address as confirmed by his credit card,verified means verified with his bank account,

neither is needed for seller protection.

what you want to pay attention is his eBAY/Paypal address,pay attention to Paypal payment notice where it said OKay to ship,ship to the addres in that email and note if item is partial or whole eleigible for protection.

you only need signature if payment is $750 or more.

why dont you pull contact information and call him,is it ok to ship to Florida ,is it a mail forwarding place,if so,where is he?

you can google his address in Florida and find out how bad is it?  

[kai_1422]

Could you please let me know what you did about this? Did you cancel the transaction? I am also in the same situation, the name in the ebay account (and shipping address) is different from the "Payment From" field. Shipping address is also in Florida. The account is new -- created on the same day of purchase. I do not sell outside the US, and Paypal also indicates that "The sender of this payment is Non-U.S. - Unverified". How come it is Non-US when I am only selling within the US? And why are the names different? This makes me think the Paypal account was compromised, but why does paypal say the shipping address is "confirmed"? I am unsure what to do as I am new to selling on ebay... Thanks for your help.

[JKirkland]

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@kai_1422 wrote:

Could you please let me know what you did about this? Did you cancel the transaction? I am also in the same situation, the name in the ebay account (and shipping address) is different from the "Payment From" field. Shipping address is also in Florida. The account is new -- created on the same day of purchase. I do not sell outside the US, and Paypal also indicates that "The sender of this payment is Non-U.S. - Unverified". How come it is Non-US when I am only selling within the US? And why are the names different? This makes me think the Paypal account was compromised, but why does paypal say the shipping address is "confirmed"? I am unsure what to do as I am new to selling on ebay... Thanks for your help.

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Well since nobody would really offer any help on this matter (thanks a lot PayPal community, NOT), I just went with my gut.

I decided to go ahead and request to cancel the transaction.

It was very obvious to me through communication with the buyer that they are not from the US. Horribly broken English. The language barrier alone is enough to make me cancel the sale. I am not going to risk dealing with any nonsense that could come with this kind of Mickey Mouse buyer.

The buyer finally said "ok" after I sent the same message about 4-5 times in reply to their non-sense, non-English saying "please cancel the sale". They still have not agreed, but their money will be held up until they do agree or until a week passes or whatever.

I wish ebay would fix this crap and make it impossible for international buyers to try and circumvent the protections we as sellers who only want to sell to people in the US have put in place for ourselves.

[kai_1422]

Thank you. Even in the buyer's short response, I also thought the English was odd. But I'll wait to get a reply from my last message to really confirm if this is someone from outside the US. And I would probably call Paypal too. My instinct also tells me this transaction is suspicious, and hearing your story makes me think this is the same person / group... Thanks again for yor help, and good luck on your ebay business!

[itisibecky]

I'm having the exact same issue now and my buyer specifically asked me to ship first thing this morning. Payment is still pending however so I voided the shipping label and am waiting payment to come in. However now hearing your stories I think it may be a scam. Did anyone end up with a real sale?

[JKirkland]

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@itisibecky wrote:

I'm having the exact same issue now and my buyer specifically asked me to ship first thing this morning. Payment is still pending however so I voided the shipping label and am waiting payment to come in. However now hearing your stories I think it may be a scam. Did anyone end up with a real sale?

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Yes it's absolutely a scam. DO NOT SHIP.

These international buyers are paying with e-checks, trying to get people to hurry and ship while payment is still pending, then cancel the e-check.

The best way to solve this is to use ONLY fixed price listings with immediate payment required.

Haven't had a single one of these buggers since I started using that feature.