Help me decide if this is a scam....

[Corruption]

Hi all,

I advertised some hi-fi on hififorsale.com recently, within a day I had a response from a gentleman in broken English asking for some photos of the item for sale, as well as asking how low I would drop my asking price.

I replied saying that I would send on some pictures and asking him to make me an offer.

I have now received an e-mail from the prospective buyer telling me that he is out of the country, that he is willing to pay full price for the item, but he will pay by either bank transfer or cheque and that he will overpay by the amount he has already agreed for a 3rd party to collect it for him, the idea being that I refund the excess to the courier who comes to collect after the funds have cleared. He also promises to pay me an extra £50 to secure the item and remove the advertisement from the hififorsale website (!?)....

To my slightly naive mind this does reek of potential scam, but I'm not quite sure how to proceed - do I just tell him it's been sold already and leave the advert in place, or take a risk and earn an extra £50 above my sale price?

Has anyone had an offer of this kind before...?

All comments gratefully received.

Neil

 

[Czechchris]

Absolute 100%, gold-plated, cast-iron SCAM!

 

[Dev]

Sounds fishy to me.

 

[Czechchris]

See this

 

[Corruption]

Thanks all,

Czechchris I checked (czecked? lol) out your link and the e-mail is identical except for the name of the item for sale, same sender e-mail address too.

I think I'll give this one a swerve.

Nice one!

Neil

 

[Czechchris]

For what it is worth:

I was selling something myself on hififorsale and had a similar response. I told him that as he was arranging a courier to collect the item, it would be easier for him to arrange for them to pay me cash on collection.
I never heard from him again.

I hope you get a genuine buyer soon.
Chris

 

[SMEagol]

A know scamming technique, don't touch him with someone elses bargepole mate.


scumbags.

 

[Bob McC]

When I got one of these he got a 2 word reply. The second was was off.
Cheeky bugger replied complaining!

 

[lbr]

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Please your bank details provide to receipt your award soon.