Am I running a risk

[Gormenflo]

I am a returning eBay and PayPal user from the UK.

I have jut put an item for sale, a Pixel 4XL phone - brand new that I expect to be sold for somewhere in the region of £500.

I've noticed that all of the bidders are overseas bidders.

I am paying for UK postage so any winning bidder from overseas will be paying their postage.

Are there any risks associated with selling a valuable item to an overseas buyer that I'm not aware of.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Gormenflo 

Don't know where to start there are so many of them.

However personally i would NEVER sell a high cost item and send internationally.

Most of those buyers will be scams from Africa and this is the most common scam.......

SCAM.

They may buy on Ebay but they use an anonymous or hijacked Ebay account and DO NOT have a Paypal account so they can't use Ebay checkout.

They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails 'may' go into your junk/spam folders.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't actually have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.