Is this a bot?

[qwertyuiop69]

this person put in an offer on something i'm selling and i accepted it because it looked real but then i looked at their profile and i thought it was probably a bot. i've also gotten offers on other things i've sold from very similar accounts and usually they just never pay me. if these are all bots then what's even the point of them? all they're doing is just never paying the money so they're not scamming anyone out of any money, and if they don't pay within a few days i'll just relist the product.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi @qwertyuiop69  No, this is a real person. Bots on eBay cannot place bids or offers, nor buy items. I would be wary of this person, however.  If this buyer has not paid, then it is a violation of eBay policy to share contact info before the sale. Plus,  if they had questions about the item, that comes before the offer, not after. Plus, all correspondence needs to remain on eBay. I don’t like what i am seeing here. Fishy.

Did they make the offer thru the auction portal? Or did they just send you a message? Your auction is still up and running. I don’t use Best Offer on my listings, so i am not certain, but once accepted, i thought the listing would be moved to Completed sales, awaiting payment? Another poster will know and chime in.

[gb58]

It' a scam, never reply to such a request and never take any part of your transaction off the ebay site.

That includes by email, text, phone, letter, etc...

Never provide your paypal account info if they ask to make a direct payment to your paypal account.

The only payment you should accept is through ebay.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi again, i looked up the Best Offer policy. Once a seller accepts the offer, the listing is ended as a sale. That has not happened here, unless you have another ID.

It is possible this buyer is trying to set up a scam. He gets you to text him snd then sends a bogus “you’ve been paid” notice. Inexperienced sellers can get taken in. 

Below is the link to the Best Offer policy:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now/adding-best-offer-listing?id=4144

[reallynicestamps]

Not a 'bot' but very likely a scammer.

Any  Message with a request for a text is a set up for the "faked payment" scam.

Delete the Message. Do not reply.

Delete the auction bid. Block the member.

Report the attempt - there is a button/link on the Messages page.

If the scammer has won this Auction ignore the Message for 96 hours, then Cancel it as Unpaid as soon as possible afterwards.

The scammer gets a Strike.

You can block any future bids from deadbeats with Strikes on your Seller Protections/Buyer Requirements page.

[ittybitnot]

@qwertyuiop69 

Looks like the classic "text me" scammer message.  You can report it directly on the eBay message itself under the ACTION tab.