Should I refuse this buyer?

[korerat]

My auction just ended with the winning bidder having 0 feedback, and their account was created yesterday, the same day they made thier first bid. This seems like a red flag to me.

I'm not a major seller, and am selling a bunch of old toys for an older friend, and trying not to get scamed. 

Can I decline their bid?

And offer it to the next highest bidder?

[loveyourimagination49]

What was your feedback score when you started?

[hidy-hoo]

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@korerat wrote:

My auction just ended with the winning bidder having 0 feedback, and their account was created yesterday, the same day they made thier first bid. This seems like a red flag to me.

I'm not a major seller, and am selling a bunch of old toys for an older friend, and trying not to get scamed. 

Can I decline their bid?

And offer it to the next highest bidder?

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Hello @korerat ~ it's too late to cancel a bid as your buyer has already won the auction  ~ cancelling the transaction for an out of stock reason will reward you with a big fat defect ~ not good for a small seller.  As Love said, we all started with a zero feedback score.  If your buyer doesn't pay within your pre set number of days, open up an unpaid item dispute ~ when and if they do pay, check your actual PayPal account to make sure the money is actually there ~ do not rely on an email notification as it may be a fake.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is there is really no 100% foolproof way you can protect yourself against scammers on eBay ~ If you have more questions, please come back and ask.

[e1bay1junkie]

It's good to be wary of scammers.  My understanding is if you cancel the transaction, you will receive a transaction defect, which will carry a long lasting negative impact on your selling abilities on eBay.  This can range from things like lowering the number of items you may sell, the type of items, the placement in search results, and complete banishment from eBay.  So, avoid those at all cost (within reason).  You can view your current "Transaction defect rate" by accessing your Seller Dashboard located under the Account tab.  I would say if you were selling some high priced item, say $1,000 or maybe just a few hundred, that you may actually want to cancel because of the high risk involved in losing a large amount of money.  If what you sold is a few dollars, then take your chances.  Most of my buyers are 1st day users with no feedback, but it's always been on low priced items.  I figure I'm just attracting new customers for whatever reason, and I have not had any disputes thus far with these people.