Craigslist-- do you think this could be for real?

[erincon23]

I've sold quite a few things on CL, but always as a face-to-face transaction. I've had my share of spam replies, never gotten suckered into a scam, but there's always a first time. Last night, I listed two small pieces of diamond jewelry, very careful to say exactly what they were, what size they were, etc., and I was asking a fair (but negotiable, which I didn't say) price for them.

Today, I had a reply - "Are these still for sale?" I responded "yes, are you interested." This is what I got back:
OKAY,
I'm making this purchase due to the fact that i find this Item great and moreover much enviable to what I'd need urgently as surprise present gift, while my mode of payment will be via (PayPal) to facilitate the transaction..You can go ahead and Read more about PAYPAL via (www.paypal.com) i just check with www.usps.com said it is cost $35 to cover the shipping cost via (EMS EXPRESS MAIL SERVICE OF USPS POST OFFICE AND INSURE)..kindly get back to me with your PAYPAL E-mail Address and Full Name so that i can make the payment as soon as possible ...

The fact that he researched the USPS shipping price gives some reassurance, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this. I told him that the paypal email was the same one I responded to him with. If he sends me amount I asked plus the shipping cost he suggested, I'll go through with it -- is there any way I can safeguard myself here? Of course, if he sends me a greater amount and asks for any of it back in cash, no deal. What do you think? Does this look legit?

 

[barbarabini]

Nope, just tell your sorry but its sold. I think that is odd.

 

[meg8017]

Honestly, due to the elaborate wording I think it sounds sketchy. I have only shipped 2 items, both were designer so I was asking decent money. Only after lengthy email exchanges was I willing to ship, I was so paranoid about being scammed. I had both send me money orders and then waited a few days to make sure there were no problems and both buyers were fine with this. If you have any internal bells going off, I'd pass on the offer. Better safe than sorry!
(and as a side note, paypal payment makes me nervous after reading many ebay seller horror stories about scams and paypal almost always sides with the buyer.) that's just my .02 though.

 

[mjkacmom]

That definitely sounds like a scam - do you mean you never even asked for a certain amount, and this person wants to pay? The wordage sounds like the typical scam.

 

[erincon23]

No, I asked for a specific amount, which I certainly expected would be negotiated. This doesn't sound like a native English speaker,which doesn't have to be a problem, but if the item is going out of the US (I asked him to send his shipping address), I'll probably let him know the item was already sold. (The postage amount he's quoting sounds awfully high for the size of the item, leading me to believe he's wanting shipment outside the US.)

 

[pirategirl34]

NO WAY would I agree to this. I am assuming form the language in their response that you will be shipping to somewhere in Aisa. This a classic scam. They will either claim they never recieved the item or they will say the pieces are fake and demand a refund through paypal, and paypal will likely side with them, even if you have delivery confirmation.

 

[MasonDuo]

I would be leary myself. My DH would have better advice if I wasn't at work and perhaps someone may have better advice down the line. Playing on the cautious side I would be concerned that he could put a dispute in with Paypal saying he never received the item or that the item wasn't as described and ask for his money back therefore leaving you without the money nor the item. Plus the way he addressed the listing makes me think that it is generic answer that he may shoot out to many miscellanous listings at once waiting for replies.

If legit - maybe you could come up with a way to safeguard yourself. Do you use eBay? I think you could set up a private auction for him and have him purchase the item through their site so the paypal transaction and usps shipping could all be linked together to try to safeguard you.

I hope this helps a little. IMHO I would probably only deal with someone locally as you can meet at a public place and complete the transaction so you have cash in your hand and they agreed to purchase the item. I don't want you to get taken for a ride.

 

[erincon23]

Thanks all. I was just very uncomfortable with this, and sent him an email saying that I was sorry, but I just sold them to a cash buyer.

 

[DMOMof3]

I get those all the time. I respond saying cash sale in person only, and then report the activity to craigslist.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Scam.

One weird one I got was someone who found my e-mail address & wanted to know if I was familiar with a particular person (I was, friend of mine). My friend had a racecar that this person wanted to buy & have shipped to United Arab Emirates. My friend did not want me to forward his info to this guy, but they found my friend anyway, and eventually brought a BIG stack of $100 bills (like 600 of 'em) to a race to try to buy his car from him. So, turned out to be legit after all

 

[erincon23]

Of course, as suspected, it was a scam. I got a look-alike email supposedly from paypal saying that this guy from Nigeria had sent me the amount, but themoney wouldn't be available to me until I submitted a tracking number. The "PayPal" email had a number of grammar and spelling errors. I've forwarded it on to the real PayPal.

 

[Peace Mickey Lovers]

I think its a scam. Go with you gut and listen to it

 

[pixiewings71]

Scam for sure, we don't even respond to emails like that at all. What we see a lot of is the scammer copies the first sentence of our listing and just sends it to us with a ? at the end. So to counter that we will shorten the first sentence and be sure to put a period or comma so we can tell it's simply being copied. This is what it looks like when it happens to us ~
"coral for sale, price. ?"

Our listing will be something along the lines of ~
"coral for sale, price
varies based on coral, here is the list of what we have available~
x
x
x"

You get the picture.

 

[Suz D]

Totally off the topic you started with, but if the jewelry is gold, have you considered removing the stones and sending the jewelry to US Goldbuyers? There is a great thread on here about people who have gotten quite a bit for their old (and sometimes broken) jewelry since gold is still fairly high.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I sometimes list a vacation home for rent on behalf of my parents. I've learned to ignore any messages that simply say, "Is it still available?" The person has likely sent the same exact message to several people, and will try to scam the ones who reply. Also, when placing the ad, I always choose to make my email address anonymous. The person who replies to the ad has no idea what my real address is. However, as soon as I reply to their initial message, my actual email address appears to them. I only reply to inquiries where the person lists the dates they're interested in renting, since the ad clearly states to send an email with desired dates. If I just get, "Is it still available," I assume it's a scammer.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I sometimes list a vacation home for rent on behalf of my parents. I've learned to ignore any messages that simply say, "Is it still available?" The person has likely sent the same exact message to several people, and will try to scam the ones who reply. Also, when placing the ad, I always choose to make my email address anonymous. The person who replies to the ad has no idea what my real address is. However, as soon as I reply to their initial message, my actual email address appears to them. I only reply to inquiries where the person lists the dates they're interested in renting, since the ad clearly states to send an email with desired dates. If I just get, "Is it still available," I assume it's a scammer.

Oh I hate those spammers. I'm starting to learn. I was curious if when i respond if they can see my email even though i also shose the anonymous. Is there anyway to hide it on the reply? I set up my acount using only my 1st and middle inital as my first name and only 4 letter of my lastname. I'm so glad i did it now. I never have people come to my home but with giving out cell number i always wonder if they could look up my name and addy by my cell #. Dh said out cell # is under private

 

[erincon23]

Totally off the topic you started with, but if the jewelry is gold, have you considered removing the stones and sending the jewelry to US Goldbuyers? There is a great thread on here about people who have gotten quite a bit for their old (and sometimes broken) jewelry since gold is still fairly high.

Thanks -- I've sold gold before (and posted on that thread!), but there's so little in these pieces that it might not even show up on the scale . It's one little solitaire diamond earring (the other got lost), and a small diamond pendant in a plain setting. That reminds me, though, that I did have some other pieces I wanted to sell.

 

[starwood]

I get these replies all the time and they are a scam. They never mention what item is being sold. I have started putting in my listings that if you inquire about the item you must mention what it is in the body of the message or I will ignore it. When I respond to these e-mails I just get a lot of spam back in response over and over again. I'm still getting spam about a bed I sold over 3 years ago.

 

[bpesch]

.

 

[bpesch]

I vote for scam. The reason Craig's List is preferable, is that you can get cash or a money order in hand and that's the end of it. If you accept PayPal, the buyer can come back a week or month later and contest the transaction under PayPal's buyer protection rules and likely get their money back. There are little to no protections for the seller with a Craig's List transaction because you will not be able to prove the person ever got the item, especially if it's a foreign transaction. I would never, ever accept PayPal on a Craig's List transaction.

And the fact that it's pretty obvious that English is not the prospective buyers first language, would make me suspicious. It reads like a Nigerian scam.