Selling Mavic Pro and the buyer wants the serial before he pays - Sketchy?

[TruGreen]

If I were buying one from someone I don't know, I may want to run the serial numbers to verify it wasn't stolen. However, my response to him would be, "Why don't you just get the serial number off another drone at the store before you buy it? Oh, they don't do that, do they...? I wonder why."

actually the serial is on the sticker on the box. so you can see it before you buy

 

[zocalo]

If you think about it, there is no place to "register" a stolen drones serial number(s). No data base exists for that purpose.Period....

Not necessarily.

People who have had things like drones or other photo gear stolen will often post the serial on sites such as this, where it can easily be found via Google. I personally know of one case where not only was a stolen camera and lenses recovered using this approach, but the thief was prosecuted as well.

There is also the potential for this on the back of drone registration schemes. The CAA has kind of done this in the UK, for instance, but do so via the removable registration sticker rather than the actual serial which is rather half-baked to say the least. If they'd captured the drone serial numbers, even optionally, their "Find my Drone" service would cover theft as well as fly-aways that have been found by an honest citizen, but I guess that could still come later (I suggested it in their feedback form).

 

[Patrick T.]

Maybe he wants to see if it has an R in it! To see if a refurb.

If it’s refurbished it’ll have a S or a R on the 5th to last letter on the serial number

 

[Niemand]

One way would be to call the police department to give them the serial number so they can check the stolen property database for a match. I believe there's places that can be checked online if you have the serial number.

 

[Patrick T.]

One way would be to call the police department to give them the serial number so they can check the stolen property database for a match. I believe there's places that can be checked online if you have the serial number.

I bought a used dji drone on eBay and asked for serial number so I could get more information like if it’s refurbished and when it was activated and know exactly how old the drone is.

 

[paul050079]

PayPal only guarantees return of money in a fraud if the item is posted to the official address of the buyer, this is a well documented scam in recent weeks, if I were you I’d sell it collection only for cash

 

[Fyyzer]

I canceled the sale and relisted it. Sold in less than an hour to someone with a Puerto Rican address. Not exactly what I expected as it's not truly a US address but at least in this case they paid upfront. Yes, I realize PR is a US territory but I guess I kinda expected to be shipping to one of the 50 states. Now I know why I avoid Ebay.

 

[AMann]

If you read the Buyer/Seller protection policy, you would’ve gotten your answer very quickly. Also, you can set your seller preference to US continental areas only, that way nobody outside of the US continental area can bid on it.

 

[hiflyer201]

Typical scam..I guess you know that by now. The part about him simplifying the shipping with a U.S. address is a big giveaway.
Naturally you want to believe an offer. These lowlifes prey on that.
I'd be curious what the response would be if you sent him a phony serial #.

 

[Dabrain]

Is there a "Stolen serial Number" data base somewhere? Sounds fishy, Tell buyer to get serial number to send triple the asking price and you will send him the drone, with insurance on it for the regular asking price. LOL

 

[Pete in Oz]

I once was selling an Inspire 1 Pro and the buyer asked me for my PayPal info. I then get an email from a 3rd party stating that they were in possession of the funds and would release the funds to me once I had shipped said Inspire and reply to them with the tracking number. Total scam right there. there was no funds being held. I would have shipped and lost my unit

Common PalPal scam. This was even tried on me last month when I wanted to sell old furniture.....

 

[PureBlue]

So I'm selling my Mavic Pro on Ebay and the potential buyer is saying he needs the serial number before he'll pay for it which seems sketchy to me. He claims that he has to register it with the Saudi Arabian FAA equivalent. I had said in the post that I'd send to USA addresses and he apparently has some service out of Maryland that will accept the package and then reship it to him but that's somewhat beside the point. I've told him twice that once he's paid for it I'll give him the serial number. Obviously I still have the drone in my possession but I guess my thought was that if I give him the serial number he could register it as his own (I've already deregistered it) and mark it as stolen or something.

He's now offered to pay $10 to get the serial ahead of time.

Am I being too cautious or does this set off alarm bells for anyone else? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

He may possibly be worried that he'll be buying a stolen product and doesn't want to get involved in anything illegal. We all know that eBay is the worlds largest seller of stolen goods.

 

[hiflyer201]

So I'm selling my Mavic Pro on Ebay and the potential buyer is saying he needs the serial number before he'll pay for it which seems sketchy to me. He claims that he has to register it with the Saudi Arabian FAA equivalent. I had said in the post that I'd send to USA addresses and he apparently has some service out of Maryland that will accept the package and then reship it to him but that's somewhat beside the point. I've told him twice that once he's paid for it I'll give him the serial number. Obviously I still have the drone in my possession but I guess my thought was that if I give him the serial number he could register it as his own (I've already deregistered it) and mark it as stolen or something.

He's now offered to pay $10 to get the serial ahead of time.

Am I being too cautious or does this set off alarm bells for anyone else? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

He could have offered you a thousand for the serial..you wouldn't have gotten it anyway...but he was probably buying it with the money he expected from the lottery that he had just won in Nigeria. I've won that several times myself. I always have to decline the winning's because of the tax burden.

 

[offtheback]

So I'm selling my Mavic Pro on Ebay and the potential buyer is saying he needs the serial number before he'll pay for it which seems sketchy to me. He claims that he has to register it with the Saudi Arabian FAA equivalent. I had said in the post that I'd send to USA addresses and he apparently has some service out of Maryland that will accept the package and then reship it to him but that's somewhat beside the point. I've told him twice that once he's paid for it I'll give him the serial number. Obviously I still have the drone in my possession but I guess my thought was that if I give him the serial number he could register it as his own (I've already deregistered it) and mark it as stolen or something.

He's now offered to pay $10 to get the serial ahead of time.

Am I being too cautious or does this set off alarm bells for anyone else? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Good that you are not selling it to this crook.In the future sell only to former Nigerian government officials ?

 

[bimmer7]

Good that you are not selling it to this crook.In the future sell only to former Nigerian government officials ?

PUERTO Rico is also not guaranteed by ebay. If you use the shipping feature and it is a po box in PR, run away. It is the newest fraud. Don't modify the buyer address either. I experienced this a few days ago. Called ebay and they explained it to me.

 

[Ray the drone guy]

Fishy 100%

 

[ttman21]

SCAM!!!

dont even bother and cancel the sale. any time they say to ship to some other address that will forward is just a way for them to claim it got lost in the mail by it never being delivered to them. they you are out the drone as well as the money being refunded to said individual

Yes, it’s a scam. I shipped a $400 Apple Watch to a “shipping service”, and it’s still lost in the mail 18 months later.

 

[Thomas B]

I canceled the sale and relisted it. Sold in less than an hour to someone with a Puerto Rican address. Not exactly what I expected as it's not truly a US address but at least in this case they paid upfront. Yes, I realize PR is a US territory but I guess I kinda expected to be shipping to one of the 50 states. Now I know why I avoid Ebay.

Problem solved all around. Plenty of input.
What needs to be said has been posted.