eBay

inhawaii · ‎12-19-2017

I have a repeat customer. He's bought from me 6 or 7 times already. Always the same item. Fantastic! The strange thing is, each time he buys he has a new ebay username with a "0" feedback. The name and address is the same as the previous orders. Why would he be signing up with a new account/username every time he buys from me? Can anyone figure that out?

Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band

slippinjimmy · ‎12-19-2017

I used to have a similar buyer.......he bought from me for several years, probably used 20 - 30 different id's although they mostly had at least some other feedback since he bought from a lot of sellers besides me.

The address was always the same, the name would change a bit from id to id but all the payments came from the same PayPal account.

Google street view showed a "small" mansion on a nice chunk of property in SoCal.

I always wanted to ask him why but never had the nerve.

products_wsm · ‎12-19-2017

If he's checking out as a guest then ebay will assign him a username.

best_vintage_photos · ‎12-19-2017

@inhawaii wrote:
I have a repeat customer. He's bought from me 6 or 7 times already. Always the same item. Fantastic! The strange thing is, each time he buys he has a new ebay username with a "0" feedback. The name and address is the same as the previous orders. Why would he be signing up with a new account/username every time he buys from me? Can anyone figure that out?

That is strange, but i have seen that kind of thing before. I had a buyer who kept buying some of my items, and he either always had zero feedback or less. At one point, he was a negative 2 or 3. This was back in the days where sellers could leave negative FB to buyers. The result was some buyers would end up as a -3 FB before eBay would suspend their accounts.

So his account would get suspended by eBay, but then in a day or two, he would be right back at it with a new account - same name and address.

Back in the day, eBay used to suspend buying accounts if the buyers got three or more 'Unpaid Item Strikes'. I don't know if eBay still does that or not with the buyers.

My mystery buyer always paid me, but apparently, he didn't pay everyone.

best_vintage_photos · ‎12-19-2017

@products_wsm wrote:
If he's checking out as a guest then ebay will assign him a username.

This may be the correct answer since we are no longer in the 'good old days' of eBay.

mudshark61369 · ‎12-19-2017

@best_vintage_photos wrote:
@products_wsm wrote:
If he's checking out as a guest then ebay will assign him a username.
This may be the correct answer since we are no longer in the 'good old days' of eBay.

@best_vintage_photos, @products_wsm,

That answer, may be right, but ebay's bots use street addresses and bank info to keep track of banned sellers, and blocked buyers, so I wonder why returning guests wouldn't be given the same ID based on that? I never heard of guests being assigned new user IDs each time they buy before today.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

best_vintage_photos · ‎12-19-2017

@mudshark61369 wrote:

@best_vintage_photos wrote:
@products_wsm wrote:
If he's checking out as a guest then ebay will assign him a username.
This may be the correct answer since we are no longer in the 'good old days' of eBay.
@best_vintage_photos, @products_wsm,

That answer, may be right, but ebay's bots use street addresses and bank info to keep track of banned sellers, and blocked buyers, so I wonder why returning guests wouldn't be given the same ID based on that? I never heard of guests being assigned new user IDs each time they buy before today.

Right on. I don't know much about eBay's 'Guest Program' because i have never had the need to use it, and don't know anybody else who has either.

partial*eclipse · ‎12-19-2017

@mudshark61369 wrote:
... I wonder why returning guests wouldn't be given the same ID based on that? I never heard of guests being assigned new user IDs each time they buy before today.

Each guest purchase is a new random user ID; there is no attempt to re-use the same one. This is definitely what's happening to the OP.

hafoster · ‎12-19-2017

@inhawaii wrote:
Why would he be signing up with a new account/username every time he buys from me? Can anyone figure that out?

It's an affiliate program --

bonuses fizzle after first use --

so need a new eBay ID every time --

to keep right on dipping into the trough.

dhbookds · ‎12-19-2017

I agree it's a guest account (s).......... Some people don't want to register to avoid the email spams, others want to keep what they buy secret, especially this time of year.......

luckythewinner · ‎12-19-2017

@mudshark61369 wrote:
I wonder why returning guests wouldn't be given the same ID based on that?

Perhaps because the whole purpose of an anonymous buying account is so that your activity is NOT tracked 🙂

starroute-us · ‎12-19-2017

@inhawaii

This might help.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/buying-as-guest.html

retrose1 · ‎12-19-2017

OP, do a search on the net for your item. I'll bet that he is selling it on another site for a lot more than you are - but isn't dropshipping. Doesn't want to risk a lot of money in stock that might have short term interest, so just buys one or two as backup. Since you have already packed it, all they need to do is strip personal info out of the box and sit it on the shelf and wait for a buyer.

(*Bleep*)

arun7500 · ‎12-19-2017

@best_vintage_photos wrote:
@products_wsm wrote:
If he's checking out as a guest then ebay will assign him a username.
This may be the correct answer since we are no longer in the 'good old days' of eBay.

Guest check out or banking his ID's. Try to open your own and ebay will limit you, buy as a quest and they can start to add up. All legit and nothing wrong. Problems start when those ID's start dinging buyers with negs. A single buyer with over a dozen ID's can easily shut down a seller with fraudulent negatives. Good move for the competition, and very hard to defend against.