The Surface Mail Scam

A gentle little scam and it works like this:

A buyer on the far side of the world bids on and wins a lowish value item from you. They politely ask if you'll ship surface as airmail will be several times the cost of the item. You explain the time this will take, possibly 12 - 16 weeks, and the risk, but they say they're happy to go that way and you give them a price which they quickly pay by PayPal, asking you to confirm the date you posted on. You ship the goods and email to say that their goods have been despatched.

They then email back asking if you've actually posted the item as they've just seen other items you're selling that they'd like to bid on. You confirm that the first item has gone so you can't combine a despatch if they win the other item(s).

You then find that they've bid on, and won, one or more other items, this time at much higher prices. Again they ask if you'll ship surface and, because they've appeared to be a good eBay buyer so far, you agree and they again pay promptly by PayPal. You give them more positive feedback and carry on with life.

An email then arrives thanking you for the first item which has apparently arrived with astonishing speed and they give you glowing positive feedback accordingly. This is not as outlandish as it seems as Royal Mail do sometimes put surface stuff in the airmail bag and it gets there in a couple of weeks, but the contact and feedback make you feel you're dealing with a good and honest buyer.

All goes quiet until you get a note saying that the second despatch has not come, and they need to open a dispute before the 90 days is up to protect themselves. You point out that 90 days is only just into the 12 - 16 week window for surface items, but they say sorry, they have to protect their payment. You offer to refund in full if the items don't turn up after 16 weeks, but they file the dispute anyway and you lose. You have no evidence as to whether or not the goods got there before or after the dispute, but either way you've lost them and are out of pocket.

Having suckered you with the low value buy, they've got you on the high value purchase(s). Earlier this year I was caught for over 20 (exc the post and packing costs) and my son for 35 by buyers in neighbouring towns down under which suggests to us that it may not be co-incidence, especially with the MO the same in both cases. Both buyers were into transport related books and memorabilia and, talking to a seller of these items at a collector's fair at the weekend, they told me they've had a similar experience.

Our eldest daughter lives down under and we regularly use surface mail to send stuff to each other. 15 or 16 weeks for delivery is not uncommon, but in 5 years we've never had anything go astray in either direction, so we're pretty sure that the eBay postings did get there.

We now refuse to post eBay items by surface mail. I don't like having to get into lots of heavy terms and conditions, but for all the decent people out there on eBay, there are still a few rogues who will manipulate the system to their own advantage.