Petty Drop-ship scam

[pop-u-lous]

Hello, fellow sellers!

Just thought I would share this little loophole in the eBay policy that I noticed a drop shipper taking advantage of today.  I had an Austrian buyer with a US address who sent me a low-ball offer on an item.  They sent me a $9 offer on a $30 item. I checked their location to calculate the shipping to justify the low-ball offer.  The shipping was $38, so I accepted the offer. Then he waited a few days to pay, but before he did, he switched his address to a local Canadian address with a shipping rate of $13, quite a bit different.  So I sent them this message and canceled their order....

Hi there, I'm sorry, but the shipping cost drastically changed when you updated your address from US to Canada at checkout. I need to cancel this order as your low-ball offer is not justified by the shipping anymore. I will refund you now, and you are welcome to repurchase the item with the Canadian address.

I used "Problem with Buyer's address" as a reason for the cancellation, so I don't get penalized. It's hard enough to make a living on here without the scams!

Hope someone else finds this useful! 

[pop-u-lous]

Does no one here print labels through eBay? You get a huge discount!

When I receive a low offer,  and the shipping is high, I usually accept because the profit loss is minimal. When the address changed, my profit after fees was nil.

[pop-u-lous]

Cool story, dude!  But they should have contacted me before the address was changed from the original one when the offer was accepted. Not hard, common courtesy even.

[flipistics]

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@pop-u-lous wrote:

Does no one here print labels through eBay? You get a huge discount!

When I receive a low offer,  and the shipping is high, I usually accept because the profit loss is minimal. When the address changed, my profit after fees was nil.

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eBay Labels are nice (and a very needed addition), but if you shop around you can often find cheaper, especially if you have a GST/HST number since eBay Labels doesn't break the tax out. Expedited Lite (when it isn't upcharging everyone), Tracked Packet USA (when it was enabled), and sometimes UPS for light items going short distances seem to be cheaper with eBay Labels.

[marnotom!]

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@pop-u-lous wrote:

Does no one here print labels through eBay? You get a huge discount!

Some sellers even pass that discount on to their buyers.  Crazy, huh?

Some sellers even still use postage stamps when they're able because unused stamps can often be purchased considerably below face value from reputable sellers on eBay and elsewhere.

Anyway, back to your original point, thanks for trying to have our back, but the consensus seems to be that your buyer wasn’t trying to pull a petty scam. Several of the sellers posting here have been selling on eBay even before there was a Canadian eBay site. They’ve seen a lot, and generally find it’s preferable not to assume the worst of their buyers unless there’s compelling evidence to the contrary. A lack of a heads-up message on the address change, for example, could be put down to the fact that— intentionally or not—eBay seems to discourage unnecessary communication between buyers and sellers.

[pop-u-lous]

❗ UPDATE ❗

I think I made an error in my overthinking of this situation. I believe this shipment was possibly my first EIS (eBay International Shipping Program) shipment that I didn't realize at the time. I see now, after watching the EIS webinar on YouTube, that the EIS hub is located in Mississauga, and that is where the shipment was redirected to. I've noticed lately that when I create a new listing, below the dimensions and weight of the item, it states this...

International shipping

Sell globally with eBay International Shipping

Your listing will show up for buyers worldwide. Just ship to our domestic hub, and we'll take care of customs and delivery. If the item's returned, we handle everything at no cost to you—and you keep the sale.

My apologies for any stress or confusion. I tend to overthink things😅