Zero feedback buyer made offer of $450 on a $600 item. should i risk accepting the offer?

[maxwellhouse954]

zero feedback buyer made offer of $450 on $600 item should i go through with the transaction? I made contact first to get an idea if it was a legitimate person. It seems to be someone who sounds good and says she just made an acct. what risks do i take by going through and shipping out the item. 

taking into account that she actually pays and i send out with signature required insured shipping. Its artwork rolled into a tube btw. 

What am i risking? 

[twnpopcards]

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@maxwellhouse954 wrote:

zero feedback buyer made offer of $450 on $600 item should i go through with the transaction? I made contact first to get an idea if it was a legitimate person. It seems to be someone who sounds good and says she just made an acct. what risks do i take by going through and shipping out the item. 

taking into account that she actually pays and i send out with signature required insured shipping. Its artwork rolled into a tube btw. 

What am i risking? 

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You are risking the same everything that you would be to an established seller.  There are always risks involved in selling online, but the best way to look at things is can you afford to lose this item without receiving any money for it, as that is your potential worst case scenario.

Personally,  I would not sell such a high priced item to a new buyer as I would like to see them get some history buying underneath them.  I would not have a problem selling to a person with zero feedback, but i have a certain limit that i will not go over for them.  I look at this as business and I am extending credit to that buyer because of ebays Money Back Guarantee. Without any previous history of making purchases on Ebay they would not come close to getting a $450 extension of credit right off the bat.  Even Ebay limits new sellers to how much they can sell initially as they also do not want to get stuck losing to much on  a seller not paying fees or delivering the goods.

Good luck with whichever way you choose to go.

[alturi_64]

The same as you'd be risking with a high feedback buyer. Just make sure the funds are actually in PayPal, and ship to the address on the transaction

[ittybitnot]

What am i risking? 

You are risking the same thing even if it sold for the full price.  The time to worry about this sort of thing is BEFORE you list it here at all.   Basically, if the buyer wants it for free, they will get it.   Acquaint yourself of the signs of a sale about to go bad.  

In many instances an offer ABOVE the asking or buy it now price would be one of those "signs".  You can accept or decline.  Just make sure if you accept, you really get the money (actually log into PayPal to see if it there), don't fall for any "send me your PayPal email address" or "I can't pay and ebay says you should click here" or "my father had a heart attack and you need to ship it to his address instead" sort of stuff. 

Good luck. 

[jeannicho22]

Are you willing to accept a 25% off offer?  BTW, I'm pretty sure you are only required to get signature confirmation on items over $750.00.

[mypostingid15]

Assuming they pay, I would ship. Zero feedback buyers are my best buyers.

[richard1rst]

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@maxwellhouse954 wrote:

What am i risking? 

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If it really is worth $600.00 then why are you selling it for $450.00?

What you are risking is that tomorrow (or soon) someone may be willing to pay $600.00 - if in fact that is what it is worth.

[tunicaslot]

You are selling some very expensive items for such low feedback - but what I would do is ask the buyer for her address to determine ship costs and add it to the listing that the item will be sent with signature confirmation. You can then google the address just to get a feel if it's legit and see what sort of neighborhood the buyer lives in - if they live by the train tracks - I don't see them spending $450 on a painting.

Although Ebay doesn't require signature confirmation for anything under $750 - I use it for more expensive items - but note it in the listing.

[duncanvr]

Counter offer with $580. $450 is quiet a discount your giving if you let it go, regardless if they have zero feedback or not you can lose the item and money. Your worrying is the reason I don't sell items that high priced. If you list items you have to be prepared to loose any of them at any point. Always research new buyers shipping address if you do go ahead with the sale. Be it known that any buyer can scam you if they are going to do that, feedback is irrelevant. . So I would counter for a higher price. If they pay make sure the funds are in your account before you ship. If they ask to send to another address don't do it. But if all goes well and you get the payment and ship your transaction may go through without hick up.

[disorderlieder]

I've sold expensive items to 0 feedback buyers without problems and been scammed by ones that have got hundreds of positives ... see, the buyer can't get negative feedback on ebay. Probably best to think about how you could protect yourself if they were a scammer then decide if it is worth it to send... like how you can be protected or catch them in a lie if they claim it was damaged, they didn't get it, it looks different... like if you forget to mention one thing in your listing they can claim not as described.

[city*satins]

If you'd accept the offer from a buyer with a longer history on eBay, you might as well accept it from this buyer.

Remember that if you get someone buying it at the full asking price, you don't control whether that buyer has 0 feedback or 5,000 and whether the buyer created his account this afternoon or 12 years ago.

A lot of new buyers create their accounts because they're looking for something and have discovered your item.  Previously, they might have shopped but not seen anything they wanted, and didn't create their account until they were ready to buy something.

Consider the real life parallel.  How many people do you think get a department store credit card just in case they might like to buy something from that department store some day?  I would say probably very very few.   Especially at department stores, where they typically offer a special discount on the first day of the person signing up for the card.   Most people sign up for something the day they want to buy something.

The parallel isn't exact, but it's not apples-to-oranges either.  It's very common to see brand new buyers making a purchase on their very first day as an eBay member.