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Craigslist / Scam or real deal, opinions?
« on: November 20, 2013, 02:17:22 PM »
I'm currently unemployed and looking for ways to earn extra cash on the side. Anyway I answered an ad on Craigslist about selling items for someone on commission. Here's the email I received:
Hi XXX,
I feel glad you are interested in my job.
Let me tell you more about it...
I own a pawn shop and I need someone who can post my items ( watches, electronics, etc. ) on eBay.
I will provide the photos and details of the items that need to be advertised. Your job is just to post the ads, I will talk with the peoples who are interested.
I will pay you when the auction ends. There are 2 possibilities:
1. If the item is sold:
YOU RECEIVE $100 + eBay POSTING FEES + 5% OF THE SELLING PRICE
2. If the item doesn't sell:
YOU RECEIVE $100 + eBay POSTING FEES (I'm sure that the item will sell )
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.
I can pay you via PayPal or Bank Transfer every 4-5 days. Let me know if you have an ebay id and when you can start listing.
I need you to post 2-3 auctions every week...
If you agree with everything I explained here, notify me, and I will send you the items so you can post them (item description + pictures + all details)!
Waiting for you
Regards !
I feel pretty confident this is a scam, but I replied back to him asking for his Pawnshops address just in case. Anyone have a clue how such a scam would work? If I were to sell a non-existence item on Ebay using his photo's and description, I would get paid, Not him. I don't think he understands how Ebay works. It's no longer possible to be paid directly with a check or money order, everything's via Paypal.
OK so I get paid, he would want the money from me minus commissions, but if no item exists, the buyer would never receive the item and I would be on the hook for the refund. But if I don't transfer the money to this guy until I received verification the buyer received the item they won in the auction, what's my down side here? At worse I'd have to issue a refund, get negative feedback and have to pay the listing fees.
The only way I could think of this would be to the advantage of a seller would be to avoid taxes. Say if you have 1 million dollars worth of stock to sell. If you sell in to Ebay, your on the hook for around 13% from Ebay transaction fees and then you have to pay taxes on top of that, say 20%. But if you where to have 50 or so people sell the stock for you, each could sell less then 20k of stock and be under Ebay's the threshold for reporting income to the IRS, you could them offer each seller 10% or so commission and pocket the other 10% you would have had to pay taxes on other wise.
Hi XXX,
I feel glad you are interested in my job.
Let me tell you more about it...
I own a pawn shop and I need someone who can post my items ( watches, electronics, etc. ) on eBay.
I will provide the photos and details of the items that need to be advertised. Your job is just to post the ads, I will talk with the peoples who are interested.
I will pay you when the auction ends. There are 2 possibilities:
1. If the item is sold:
YOU RECEIVE $100 + eBay POSTING FEES + 5% OF THE SELLING PRICE
2. If the item doesn't sell:
YOU RECEIVE $100 + eBay POSTING FEES (I'm sure that the item will sell )
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.
I can pay you via PayPal or Bank Transfer every 4-5 days. Let me know if you have an ebay id and when you can start listing.
I need you to post 2-3 auctions every week...
If you agree with everything I explained here, notify me, and I will send you the items so you can post them (item description + pictures + all details)!
Waiting for you
Regards !
I feel pretty confident this is a scam, but I replied back to him asking for his Pawnshops address just in case. Anyone have a clue how such a scam would work? If I were to sell a non-existence item on Ebay using his photo's and description, I would get paid, Not him. I don't think he understands how Ebay works. It's no longer possible to be paid directly with a check or money order, everything's via Paypal.
OK so I get paid, he would want the money from me minus commissions, but if no item exists, the buyer would never receive the item and I would be on the hook for the refund. But if I don't transfer the money to this guy until I received verification the buyer received the item they won in the auction, what's my down side here? At worse I'd have to issue a refund, get negative feedback and have to pay the listing fees.
The only way I could think of this would be to the advantage of a seller would be to avoid taxes. Say if you have 1 million dollars worth of stock to sell. If you sell in to Ebay, your on the hook for around 13% from Ebay transaction fees and then you have to pay taxes on top of that, say 20%. But if you where to have 50 or so people sell the stock for you, each could sell less then 20k of stock and be under Ebay's the threshold for reporting income to the IRS, you could them offer each seller 10% or so commission and pocket the other 10% you would have had to pay taxes on other wise.