Ok, I do quite a bit of buying AND selling online. Recently, I had a situation that came up, and I wanted to get some input as there are intelligent people here and a good international community.

I was selling a widget in an online forum (so it wasn't policed like an Ebay) situation and someone offered to purchase my item.

Keep in mind, that I always sell USA only to avoid Int'l shipping and customs issues.

The person that was going to buy my item, came to me next morning and said, "I was going to have you ship the item to a friend of mine in Columbus, OH, so he could bring it to me in Thailand, but he has postponed his trip. Would you be willing to just ship it to me here if I paid the additional costs?"

Should I be suspicious about this at all?

Be very suspicious of this. Especially if your job has ANY security implications, as this is a very common espionage technique. If you need the money, and still want to sell to the guy, run it past your company's security person first. That way you're covered if the milk sours.

Thanks Pokey. I actually told the guy that I needed to do more research first since it kind of started feeling like a "craigslist scam" and he complained that I offended him and basically said "I'm not buying it then".

I'd love to see the conversation thread if you don't mind. Call it a morbid curiosity if you like.

Wow, he really flew off the handle. I think you're better off not having done the deal.

It's really funny how sometimes total strangers are offended if you don't automatically trust them. Like, you owe them?

Thanks for corroboration folks. I really did start to think I was some kind of sphincter for my message after he went dark on me.

Truthfully, I believe he really just got cold feet (maybe he thought he found a better deal?) and used it as an excuse to hide behind rather than just manning up.

In the end, my item got sold to someone else and this guy missed out.

Yeah, did sound pretty dodgy. did the right thing (Y)