Theatre in London wants my furniture: Scam?

[lljkk]

I listed a small wooden vintage furniture item on eBay a few months ago, I might get £30 for it. I recently had below 2 messages about it. The item isn't chairs and I have no sort of packaging to post it safely. I had a look online & actually can't find the same item but... I can't believe it's that special and a big threatre company can't source what they want. How does this scam work, is the theatre mention supposed to make me happy excited? Who would go to so much trouble for a £30 item?

"I work with a theatre in London and am interested in buying these chairs for a show, is it possible to get a full address and send a courier to pick these up from you? I need to find some quotes on couriers but would be looking to pick it up sometime next week if that's okay with you?"

&

"Hello, I'd love to buy this for a theatre production at [real theatre name] in London. If i bought it would we be able to send a courier to collect and if so what dates/times might work for you?

Many Thanks
Louisa"

Scam, yes.

Anything involving a courier request on market place is a scam. It is relentless, it's ruined marketplace.

So how does scam work? Do they insist I pay them money for the courier, or what? How do they profit.

They can't possibly want the item itself.

Hmmmmm - I did a stint sourcing props for theatres and I could see myself doing this! Some designers are VERY precise about the exact look they want and, if your random item happens to look exactly as their sketch / model then this is what I'd be doing!!

Can you just start engaging with her and see where it goes? Insist on payment in advance and maybe try to have a call with her first?? You could also check out the theatre website / LinkedIn to see if there's a Louisa in the stage management / scenic / props team?

Louisa yes, I thought was legit but then the followup msg about London theatre & "chairs" just was too much coincidence. I did find a Louisa at the theatre actually, but still very odd coincidence.

They could get an item custom built exactly how they like it for less than the purchase price + courier. And I still don't have any packaging that would keep item protected for the journey. Only way a real purchase could work is if the courier paid cash on collection and brings own packaging. Shall I suggest that?

I might play with them & suggest cash on collection to both Chairs & Louisa.

I don't understand the problem. You'll get paid for the item via eBay so no risk there and the buyer is just paying a courier to collect from you.

What are you worried about?

Can you see their buying history and feedback etc ? That should help you know if they are scam buyers.

They'll get the items and request a refund from ebay-who won't quibble so you're out of pocket.
Or the courier will arrive and request money as they haven't been paid.
Only ever accept cash or bank transfer for eBay/marketplace.
Shame I can't list anything without at least one scammer messaging me!

No, this is exactly falling in to the scam by suggesting. No idea why trying to scam a small item, almost worthless for £30. Only accept payments via eBay.
If you Google 'courier scam' if it's a common thing. I used to get it all the time on gumtree

Don’t do it! Definitely a scam if there is a courier involved … it’s a classic!

I volunteer for a charity and don't drive. I've often come across lovely things on marketplace that I think would be perfect for the many projects the charity runs and would be happy to pay courier costs to be transported over. There are scammers out there though and I can understand why people are hesitant accepting courier collections.

I sell a lot on eBay & I've had Warner Brothers buy 2 pieces of antique furniture in the past year for House of the Dragon & Gladiator 2. The communication was quite succinct compared to a personal buyer & they sent their courier guy who had great stories about stuff he's collected...some of the dragon stuff gets sent out to Malta. I also had a small theatre in Richmond come & collect quite an ordinary red Keeler chair. They were desperately trying to source old rolls of floral wallpaper too. I realised after that chat that props sourcing would be my dream job!
Sometimes you are selling exactly what a prop department wants...not a scam.

The single item that is most used in theatres is chairs by the way so not really a coincidence. As long as you are paid there is no problem. The buyer is sent a QR code which they can ask the courier to show you on collection and you scan it to confirm the item has been collected. I never bother with it & just manually mark as collected but it's there as an extra measure of security. Once I took a photo of a wood burning stove being loaded onto a courier van as the buyer had been slightly flaky in her communication with me
I really don't understand all this fear about collection being a scam - as long as you've been paid before or at the time of collection.

Ebay now have special collection codes so you don't release item until they give collection code so they can't claim not collected or mis described as if you collect you are deemed to have checked it. Facebook doesn't have this.

My old wardrobes are in Mama Mia 2. Had them listed on gumtree for ages, then got a call from the set design team. Two young lads turned up with a lorry and took them away (having paid the asking price)

Call the theatre and check

There is a similar scam on FB marketplace. The way it works is that they will message you often, mentioning a courier. When it's all set up they will say you need to pay insurance. They say the courier will refund this money. Don't fall for it!

What theatre / show is it? Could you ask them directly?

Whilst this is a well-known scam, I did send a
courier to collect a table I bought on eBay from the other end of the country because it would’ve been way too big to fit in my car, and the courier actually cost around what I would’ve spent on petrol! I’d wanted that exact table for months and months but it was out of stock everywhere so had a search set up on every selling platform I could think of

Check their feedback as unlikely to be a scam if they’ve got lots of positive feedback. Luckily I have strong positive eBay feedback to support me, and sent the courier receipt to the seller to prove I was legit.

Anyone offering to send a courier ISN'T necessarily a scam. I do this all the time. I live miles away from most sellers and I arrange my own couriers using Shipley. I've never had anyone say no to this.

I'd say that they are two props people working for the same production, who've not coordinated over who was going to contact you. If they're organising the courier and eBay has secure payment and a pick up code, I don't see the issue.

My daughter and I bought the other way round. An item which had been used as a prop, and that the props guy was selling when the production had finished.

Check the scam method to ensure that you're covered. But otherwise it seems likely to be legit to me.

This doesn't sound like a scam to me
I've worked on productions that require a specific item etc often sourced second hand

I've also booked couriers for large eBay items and they need a postcode or address before they will give a quote

Exactly. My friend got his first home and needed to use market place or eBay to furnish it. I helped him out and we used Shipley to get things picked up

But she's not selling chairs though, which is why I think it's scammy

I used to work in theatre, we always source props on eBay, Gumtree etc. You find nice vintage stuff that way. The idea that theatre productions have so much money that they’d just custom-build what they need made me chuckle. Theatre has so much less money than everyone that doesn’t work in this industry would assume (the main reason why I left this career).