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eBay scam? user us-sal-011 aka Shop Airlines America in Redondo Beach CA
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24 posts in this topic

I just had a piece of art sell to eBay user us-sal-011 and before receiving payment I got a really odd message that led me to google them where I found forums of people complaining of being scammed so I’m going to cancel the sale. The feedback is perfect but with ebays current feedback system it doesn’t mean much.  Anyone have any experiece with them? Message reads:

 

 

Thank you for accepting our bid, and we hope this message finds you well. 
Our payment will be completed shortly.

Going forward, kindly provide us with a tracking number when available (if you are using a trackable method.)
If not, simply notify us when you ship so we know it is on its way.

We also ask that you write the 12-digit eBay item number on the package for faster identification upon receipt. Please keep from including anything extra that is not part of the listing.

Thank you for your cooperation,

 

 

Edited by diva_tsarina
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14 minutes ago, diva_tsarina said:

I just had a piece of art sell to eBay user us-sal-011 and before receiving payment I got a really odd message that led me to google them where I found forums of people complaining of being scammed so I’m going to cancel the sale. The feedback is perfect but with ebays current feedback system it doesn’t mean much.  Anyone have any experiece with them? Message reads:

 

 

Thank you for accepting our bid, and we hope this message finds you well. 
Our payment will be completed shortly.

Going forward, kindly provide us with a tracking number when available (if you are using a trackable method.)
If not, simply notify us when you ship so we know it is on its way.

We also ask that you write the 12-digit eBay item number on the package for faster identification upon receipt. Please keep from including anything extra that is not part of the listing.

Thank you for your cooperation,

 

 

Interesting. This jogged a memory. In October of 2017 I sold a signed Bruce Timm Modern Masters book to a seller in Redondo Beach (just looked it up) who also messaged me with wacky instructions. If memory serves me right, he bought my item for a customer in Japan. My first thought was that he flipped it on me, likely via drop shipping. There’s nothing I could do about it (or complain about) because he paid my price. My buyer has (or had) a different user name from yours though. At any rate, there was no trouble thereafter. 

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update, the buyer has paid and the shipping info is a company:

Shop Airlines America, Inc,

2501 Santa Fe Ave

Suite B

Redondo Beach, CA 90278

As noted by Jay this is a company that ships ebay purchases to Japan (https://www.sekaimon.com/). Seems for many people the transactions go ok but a google search finds too many horror stories for me to be comfortable going through with the sale.  Has anyone sent art to Shop Airlines America?

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3 hours ago, diva_tsarina said:

update, the buyer has paid and the shipping info is a company:

Shop Airlines America, Inc,

2501 Santa Fe Ave

Suite B

Redondo Beach, CA 90278

As noted by Jay this is a company that ships ebay purchases to Japan (https://www.sekaimon.com/). Seems for many people the transactions go ok but a google search finds too many horror stories for me to be comfortable going through with the sale.  Has anyone sent art to Shop Airlines America?

What is the scam part? 

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3 hours ago, diva_tsarina said:

update, the buyer has paid and the shipping info is a company:

Shop Airlines America, Inc,

2501 Santa Fe Ave

Suite B

Redondo Beach, CA 90278

As noted by Jay this is a company that ships ebay purchases to Japan (https://www.sekaimon.com/). Seems for many people the transactions go ok but a google search finds too many horror stories for me to be comfortable going through with the sale.  Has anyone sent art to Shop Airlines America?

Yup, that’s the same address I shipped to. No issue ever arose from this buyer. 

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16 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

What is the scam part? 

I'm not sure 'scam' is entirely correct since they seem to do a huge volume of transactions and most seem to be ok and only a small number of sellers have had a problem (i.e. they send back a counterfeit item or better yet an empty box and get issued a refund from paypal, there's a thread on Reddit about it and on other forums). The problem is that they act as a third party shipper overseas but assume zero liability and if there is any problem with the international leg of the delivery they make a claim against you even though you shipped to the US address and fulfilled your obligation. With ebays revamped neutered feedback system sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers so their perfect feedback record is pretty meaningless since all the sellers they wronged are unable to leave appropriate feedback.  I'd rather forfeit the sale than get screwed so I'm cancelling the transaction and issuing a refund. Also, besides all the personal stories people have posted the thing that bothers me is if they were totally legit why would have they use numerous ebay accounts and constantly create new ones?

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45 minutes ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

Yup, that’s the same address I shipped to. No issue ever arose from this buyer. 

Jay, you sent them original art or comics/collectibles? My piece is worth a couple hundred bucks, not huge bucks but not insignificant. 

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4 minutes ago, diva_tsarina said:

I'm not sure 'scam' is entirely correct since they seem to do a huge volume of transactions and most seem to be ok and only a small number of sellers have had a problem (i.e. they send back a counterfeit item or better yet an empty box and get issued a refund from paypal, there's a thread on Reddit about it and on other forums). The problem is that they act as a third party shipper overseas but assume zero liability and if there is any problem with the international leg of the delivery they make a claim against you even though you shipped to the US address and fulfilled your obligation. With ebays revamped neutered feedback system sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers so their perfect feedback record is pretty meaningless since all the sellers they wronged are unable to leave appropriate feedback.  I'd rather forfeit the sale than get screwed so I'm cancelling the transaction and issuing a refund. Also, besides all the personal stories people have posted the thing that bothers me is if they were totally legit why would have they use numerous ebay accounts and constantly create new ones?

Got it. That makes sense. 

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Sadly, there are plenty of ways to get a bad transaction result just within the US.  Expanding the customer base to the rest of the world just makes it even harder, especially with ebay often not siding with the sellers, as has been mentioned.  I had a "winner" who claimed my comic book shipment was poorly packed, and wanted some money to compensate.  I offered a full refund, including shipping.  Crickets.  In that case, ebay sided with me to the extent that his negative feedback was removed.  But, just a nightmare of managing a scam on an otherwise simple transaction.  Some people seem to thrive on this behavior, I suppose, because it pays off for them.  David

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37 minutes ago, diva_tsarina said:

Also, besides all the personal stories people have posted the thing that bothers me is if they were totally legit why would have they use numerous ebay accounts and constantly create new ones?

 313360288_lao3.jpg.15c87e62d75aaccc7ee9a07cd12c2ea5.jpg

"Get the money, that's what matters..."

Edited by The Lions Den
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1 hour ago, diva_tsarina said:

Jay, you sent them original art or comics/collectibles? My piece is worth a couple hundred bucks, not huge bucks but not insignificant. 

I certainly understand your reservation here. My item was only worth $25. If what people say about this seller is true, then I imagine a scenario where his buyers in Japan rip him off and then he passes the buck to the original eBay seller. 

Although I’ve never been burned, I’ve made a conscious decision not to sell high priced art on eBay anymore. I will say though, if you can’t trust this Redondo Beach guy, then you can’t/shouldn’t trust anyone on eBay either and you should sell in other venues like here, CAF, or Comic Link. That’s what I’ll be doing. 

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1 hour ago, aokartman said:

Sadly, there are plenty of ways to get a bad transaction result just within the US.  Expanding the customer base to the rest of the world just makes it even harder, especially with ebay often not siding with the sellers, as has been mentioned.  I had a "winner" who claimed my comic book shipment was poorly packed, and wanted some money to compensate.  I offered a full refund, including shipping.  Crickets.  In that case, ebay sided with me to the extent that his negative feedback was removed.  But, just a nightmare of managing a scam on an otherwise simple transaction.  Some people seem to thrive on this behavior, I suppose, because it pays off for them.  David

I know you didn’t solicit my advice so this is more of a public service announcement. 

Do consider insuring your packages. If you or the buyer file a claim, you or he must show proof of damage to the item and packaging. You don’t lose money and he keeps the item, albeit damaged. 

And of course make sure your packages are bulletproof. 

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18 minutes ago, malvin said:

Isn't there a risk that you will get a negative? You can't just cancel a sale on eBay arbitrarily can you? If you can, eBay would fall apart as every seller not happy with the result would cancel a sale. 

Malvin 

Yes, that’s right. The buyer can leave the seller negative feedback for canceling the transaction unwarranted. The seller would then have to call eBay and explain his reason for the cancellation and hope that the person on the other line thinks it was warranted and removes the negative feedback. 

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7 hours ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

I know you didn’t solicit my advice so this is more of a public service announcement. 

Do consider insuring your packages. If you or the buyer file a claim, you or he must show proof of damage to the item and packaging. You don’t lose money and he keeps the item, albeit damaged. 

And of course make sure your packages are bulletproof. 

I know, and for high priced items certainly all possible care should be taken.  The scammers seem to be working the margins, which is discouraging.  David

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Update: I ended up sending the piece (a couple hundred dollar modern art panel page) after all, I made sure the packaging was bulletproof and crossed my fingers. It arrived eleven days ago and today the buyer left positive feedback so everything worked out.

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5 hours ago, diva_tsarina said:

Update: I ended up sending the piece (a couple hundred dollar modern art panel page) after all, I made sure the packaging was bulletproof and crossed my fingers. It arrived eleven days ago and today the buyer left positive feedback so everything worked out.

I’m really happy that it worked out. I appreciate the update. 

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20 hours ago, diva_tsarina said:

Update: I ended up sending the piece (a couple hundred dollar modern art panel page) after all, I made sure the packaging was bulletproof and crossed my fingers. It arrived eleven days ago and today the buyer left positive feedback so everything worked out.

I sold them a Adam West bust with all the same odd instructions. Never had a problem. Also sold some sports cards to them as well. No issues whatsoever. I wouldn't worry about it.

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