Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

HELP! Job offer to post items on ebay. Legit and Legal?

Here is a copy of the email:

Hello,

I feel glad you are interested in my job. I have some very popular items, and I thought that eBay would be the best place to sell them and earn some profit. These items are in stock now:

I own a small company that tries to grow and sell on other markets. For the beginning I will send to you 2 items (Apple Macbook Pro and Apple iMac). If everything will be okay we will continue with more products.

If you are interested in this collaboration, for start, you will receive £150 from the final price for each item sold plus your ebay/paypal selling fees(if you have £12 selling fees, you will receive £162) but if everything goes well, I will give you a bigger share. I will handle the shipping and handling personally so after the auction ends you must send me the shipping address of the winning bidder and within few hours from that point on, I will provide you the tracking number for the item, so you can send it to the winning bidder. After you receive the positive feedback for the transaction, and you will be able to access the funds, you will take £150 for each item + selling fees and send the remaining amount to my paypal account or any other payment method you prefer. Don't forget!! You will send me the money after you will see if everything is okay.

Maybe you wonder, why not sell my products myself? I wanted to start an eBay account but I read on one of ebay's community pages that sellers with 0 feedback have not the same success as the others sellers with feedback.

Because I'm new, I inspected the ebay site very much, to see where I can sell my products for best prices on more market places. I think in Australia I will increase my sells and my profit. So, let me know if can you list on http://www.ebay.com.au/ and can you start listing right now?

If you agree with everything I explained to you here, notify me, and I will send you the items so you can post them (item description + pictures + all details)!

Reply me ASAP.
Thank you.

Does this seem legit? Im not sure why its risky but it doesnt seem right. The items could be stolen..... Anyway, what do you think? Should I accept?

Reply 1

OMGWTFBBQ

Sounds dodgy, you'll want to avoid handling stolen or counterfeit goods.

Reply 2

Ham22

You should post your query on the ebay community boards.

It's almost certainly a scam.

Reply 3

Lozzo

If this is just a random email you have received then it's a scam.

Reply 4

PhoenixFortune

A job like this was featured on one of those consumer programmes recently, it was either Rip Off Britain or Don't Get Done, Get Dom. The woman had wanted to make some quick cash too, but the 'business' she worked for soon went into liquidation without telling her, causing her to be listing stock which she (and therefore the buyers) would never receive, and losing her lots of money in the process (I can't remember how much she lost, but I think it was in the thousands).

Steer clear of jobs like this.

EDIT: A quick google search came up with this: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9336

(edited 11 years ago)

Fraud.

"For the beginning I will send to you 2 items (Apple Macbook Pro and Apple iMac)"

"I will handle the shipping and handling personally"

what does this mean?

not one part of that email sounds realistic

either its stolen or fake goods and at some point you will get in trouble either with the law or from claim backs with loss of items and money

or some money scam where you take money from the buyer then you send money to your "boss" who will NEVER send items to the buyer. buyer then claims back via paypal and you lose £1500 from that claim because you cant claim back from "boss"

he only needs to do this scam once a month and he is rich

either way carry on with interest so you can get his details to help others avoid plenty of people fall for this stuff.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

kpwxx

I've seen this scam on one of those BBC1 scam shows.

The woman saw it on Direct Gov so thought it would be legit.

Basically, she sold the items, payed the money to her 'employer' but they never posted the items to the buyer. Because she'd sent the money on, she couldn't refund the buyers, so she is now in hundreds of pounds of debt to ebay, which she is liable for because she used her account to sell it.

The only difference between this scam and the one I saw was that they told the woman she only needed to use her account for a trial period. But either way, DON'T DO IT! If there really was such a job (selling stuff for someone on ebay) it would be done through their legitimate account.

xxx