Shady buyer – cancel purchase?
Summary: A participant named itec-systems reports the sale of an expensive item on eBay for €26,500 to a new buyer account with no feedback. The buyer sent a Hebrew transfer, which itec-systems assesses as a potential attempted scam. Several participants, including *sweet-melody*, perfect-sally, and eBay staff, recommend not making the delivery without confirmed payment and offer various tips for verification. Discussion participants advise skepticism, and eBay staff comment that the payment is currently not completed.
Hello everyone,
I sold my most expensive item on Ebay for €26,500.
The buyer is a new account from 22.06 with 0 ratings and location Berlin. The current status is "Sold - not yet paid" and I just received a photo of a Hebrew transfer with no comment
Either it’s fake or a transfer was made to Ebay and later today the "Paid" notification will come, which I don’t hope for, because I’m 100% assuming this is a scam.
If I were to ship it, something along the lines of item not received, no item in the package, return of a different item, or similar would surely follow.
The question now is to what extent an Ebay employee can check the buyer? Unfortunately, in the new forum I can no longer see which Ebay employees are currently online.
mia@ebay
·1 month agoHello @itec-systems ,
many thanks for your post. After reading the messages, I can understand that this sale is causing you "a headache." You did everything right and did not agree to ship before the money had been received through the eBay system.
I would not recommend canceling the purchase, as this could have a negative impact on the service status. The buyer has not yet paid through the eBay system and does not want to make a new payment. Therefore, I would first wait for the payment deadline to pass. If the payment is not made through the eBay system, the purchase will be automatically canceled.
If the buyer does initiate another payment through our system within the next few days, you are welcome to weigh up whether you want to cancel it and accept the defect. You have to make that decision on your own.
Buyers are not checked, since they have to pay for the item before shipping. So the buyer initially bears a greater risk. If the buyer fails to meet the payment obligation, the buyer receives a defect and can be restricted or excluded depending on how often this happens.
@perfect-sally - Thanks for the tag
Best regards
Mia
itec-systems
OP1 month agoI just noticed that in the buyer's picture it says 21.06.2026, but the sale took place on 22.06 :D Bad for him, good for me, so I can pretty safely assume it's fake
hasjana
·1 month ago@itec-systems
doesn't necessarily have anything to do with your problem ...
was that a normal Buy It Now without best offer? because for quite some time now people have been saying again and again that BIN is only available with immediate payment, regardless of whether the seller has activated that or not
apart from that: which country is it supposed to be delivered to?
As far as I can see, you only specified European shipping locations and explicitly excluded only the Russian Federation - however, there have recently been some reports that buyers from Israel, for example, also couldn't buy because they were basically blocked globally by eBay
itec-systems
OP1 month agoThat was a SK without PV exactly. What also surprises me is how the status here can still be "Sold-not paid".
Address is in Germany
vera@ebay
·1 month agoHello @itec-systems ,
many thanks for your post. I looked at the order and found that, at this point in time, the order has not yet been paid for. The buyer has not yet completed the payment process, so I recommend waiting with shipping until the payment via eBay has been completed. If this does not happen within the next 4 days, you can cancel the purchase as unpaid.
@perfect-sally thanks for the tag 😊
Best regards
Vera
itec-systems
OP1 month agoHello Verena,
even if he does pay (which I no longer believe), I would rather not ship. I think, given the amount, it is also in eBay's interest not to have to make a decision on a case. Can you see whether the payment to eBay is being processed?
perfect-sally
·1 month ago@itec-systems
Verena isn't here today, and even if the payment on ebay were still being processed, you should have been informed about that or been able to see it in the item.
Maybe @mia@ebay can tell you something about it. Thanks Mia
mmstore74
·1 month ago@itec-systems may be that they’re an honest person, but signing up today and then immediately buying an item for 26,500 €uronen and then getting a message like that — I’d definitely be more than skeptical and extremely cautious.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes to your satisfaction, whichever way it turns out.
Best wishes
*sweet-melody*
·1 month agoHello @itec-systems !
I'm asking @perfect-sally to mark an eBay employee for you.
Then they can take a look at the account.
I think your gut feeling is right.
If you have his address. Check whether it has already appeared anywhere online
turned up.
@perfect-sally , would you please have a look!
perfect-sally
·1 month ago · Edited@*sweet-melody* & @itec-systems
Sure, I’ll do it.
@vera@ebay could you take a look, please? Thanks
But really, you’d think it’s obvious that something can’t be right there.
If someone is already sending pictures of supposed transfers, something must be fishy.
*sweet-melody*
·1 month agoThanks @perfect-sally !
@itec-systems
I would also check the address with Street View,
whether there is a residential building there or maybe just a lawn.
itec-systems
OP1 month agoHi, the address is not transmitted as long as payment has not been made, which still hasn't happened so far. But I wrote to the buyer and already asked for his company address. The address is a building where several companies are located, but none with the buyer's name, which you also can't find like that on Google.
herrlasshirnregnen
·1 month agoI have a similar case and think it’s downright outrageous that accounts that clearly haven’t been fully verified yet can already place bids.
Ebay used to be great, today the "support" is just blah blah blah
*sweet-melody*
·1 month agoHello @itec-systems !
If you have the name of his company, you can check the company URL
here:
https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/fakeshopfinder-71560
Check his VAT ID number:
https://www.ust-id-prufen.de/
If there's a phone number, just give them a call.