Accidentally accepted a scam offer!

[mkeve96-3]

Hi! I'm new to using ebay and this was my first time trying to sell something-- I listed a pair of boots for $49 and an offer was made for $100. I accepted it right away, without realizing that it was a little suspicious. After viewing threads of similar situations, I determined that it was likely a scam. So I sent a cancellation request to the buyer, but I did not realize that even if the order is cancelled, I'll still be charged $10 from ebay.

Any suggestions for what to do at this point?

[johnrj1226]

@siayan 

1.  Seems  like post # 22  is a story that mkeve96-3 provided.    I was  inquiring about the details of your story(ies) & asking you to share them for the  benefit of  others in  Community.  Of course, you may be posting under two diff. eBay IDs - no way to tell from here.

2.  No  need to memorize your sales totals from day one.  Just  click on the link of your Seller  Dash Board scroll down to the  bottom of the page and voila your eBay  total $ amt. & qty. are shown.  Been that way since at least Jan. 10 2010 and strongly suspect prior to then.

[a_c_green]

---

@ste-9405 wrote:

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

---

@trustedbasset wrote:

I had a bowl listed as an auction with the offer option. I received about 5 offers and one was for $25 over the listing price. 

In some cases it’s cool to take a higher offer but if it’s an item that isn’t that rare  and you get a really high offer then it’s a scammer.

---

Offers on AUCTIONS are supposed to be over the starting price. Offers on fixed price with best offer should never be over the asking price.

---

Sorry @gew6463 @a_c_green @mkeve96-3 @itsjustasprain to rain on your parade again, but eBay has specific language "Savings off starting bid" for offers on AUCTIONS:

[...]

eBay policy says that an offer on an AUCTION must be below the starting bid, that if a buyer wishes to offer over the starting bid, the seller must tell the buyer to bid instead. There has been discussion that the starting bid is not a price, but the language above shows that eBay does adhere to its offer-on-auction policy.

---

I'm not sure what part of my parade is supposed to be getting rained on here...? You can certainly make a higher offer on an auction with no bids yet, but only in the context of a BuyItNow price, which the seller would have to add, assuming that one is not already shown and the two of you have reached an agreement. Certainly any offer higher than a posted Fixed Price or BuyItNow is a scam, period.

I might make a lower offer (i.e. below opening price) on an auction with a poorly-chosen opening price that's been stagnating with zero bids (and have done so in the past), but generally speaking, the auctions I'm interested in have such low opening prices (to bring in bidders) that it never occurs to me to try to drag it lower. I expect bids to occur, so my routine is simply to mark it for Watching and then snipe it at the end. 

[siayan]

---

@johnrj1226 wrote:

@siayan 

1.  Seems  like post # 22  is a story that mkeve96-3 provided.    I was  inquiring about the details of your story(ies) & asking you to share them for the  benefit of  others in  Community.  Of course, you may be posting under two diff. eBay IDs - no way to tell from here.

2.  No  need to memorize your sales totals from day one.  Just  click on the link of your Seller  Dash Board scroll down to the  bottom of the page and voila your eBay  total $ amt. & qty. are shown.  Been that way since at least Jan. 10 2010 and strongly suspect prior to then.

---

 @johnrj1226  don't know what your point is but I will play along. Post 22 is the OP (original poster for the unenlightened). So Post 1 to post 3 where I tell them to call CS to post 22 where the OP tells the outcome. Now your saying I started the thread just to make myself look good.

Here is a copy paste of my dashboard on this account.  

Your totals to date

Transactions7928

Sales$213,683.17

I do have another account that goes back to AUG 97. I am a small seller and have always been but I don't get the point of this???????

[montana_echoes]

---

@atikovi wrote:

---

@mikeystoyz wrote:

Offering 100 dollars for a 49 dollar pair of shoes is a scam.

---

Not if the buyer thinks it will be bid to over $100.

---

I'm not understanding why a higher offer is automatically a scam? I've been selling for over 15 years but haven't heard this. I know if a person (oh, Nigeria) says they want to pay me $2000 and I'll need to refund them back $1950.00 after I ship that that's a scam, but just offering more for boots? Maybe it was an actual buyer who thought the auction would go high? Maybe he's on his way to a survival retreat and doesn't want to miss the auction end... heck, maybe he needed the boots for the survival retreat!??  

Can someone explain pretty please.... ! 

[montana_echoes]

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

---

@trustedbasset wrote:

I had a bowl listed as an auction with the offer option. I received about 5 offers and one was for $25 over the listing price. 

In some cases it’s cool to take a higher offer but if it’s an item that isn’t that rare  and you get a really high offer then it’s a scammer.

---

Offers on AUCTIONS are supposed to be over the starting price. Offers on fixed price with best offer should never be over the asking price.

---

actually... not true. Post just a few days ago in Selling on this... I assume a "make offer " is always for less (myself...) and I've offered less than the auction starting amount and its been accepted... so....? 

But I also sold a original Beatles record, listed at $10.00... got an immediate offer for $70.00. Said no thanks... I want to wait. Item went for $130.00. So on auctions Best offer could be lower or higher... depending on the buyers opinion of how it will end. 

[johnrj1226]

@siayan 

Here is what you said in POST 11

@siayan wrote:

I have had them cancel sales that were from scammers.

Just asked you to  state (aka enlighten) how you did this.   So far no reply.

[a_c_green]

---

@montana_echoes wrote:

---

@atikovi wrote:

---

@mikeystoyz wrote:

Offering 100 dollars for a 49 dollar pair of shoes is a scam.

---

Not if the buyer thinks it will be bid to over $100.

---

I'm not understanding why a higher offer is automatically a scam?

---

That's referring to a higher offer on a Fixed Price (or BuyItNow) listing. It makes no sense to offer $100 on a pair of shoes with a Fixed Price/BuyItNow of $49; the interested party should just whack the button and buy for $49.

The reason for a higher offer in that situation is that it will then be followed by a request for a PayPal invoice, which will reveal the seller's off-eBay email address, and the scammer can then follow up with a fake PayPal payment notice, directing the seller to ship before funds can be deposited in his account. Needless to say, no actual payment ever appears.

On the other hand, if it's an auction opening at $49 and there is a Make Offer button, an interested party can offer $100, and if the seller accepts, the auction ends early at $100. (If a bid is made, the Make Offer button will go away and all pending offers are automatically declined.)

If there is no Make Offer button and no bids have occurred yet, an interested bidder can still message the seller with a higher offer to see if he'll take it, but the seller would be expected to add the agreed amount as a BuyItNow price on the listing, so that the buyer can hit the BIN button and purchase it that way. Again, this cannot be done if bids have already been received. If bids are already in play, the auction should just run to the end. 

[femmefan1946]

@johnrj1226 

@siayan 

Is this perhaps a grammatical problem?

I have had them cancel sales that were from scammers.

Could be read as I asked eBay to cancel sales (and eBay did) OR as eBay has cancelled sales (without my input).

EBay does end fraudulent listings both while they are underway and also after they have ended. With the latter, eBay is very poor at explaining to the defrauded buyer just what is really happening and how to get his money back.

[jnmcnally]

you can

[Anonymous]

---

@ste-9405 wrote:

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

---

@trustedbasset wrote:

I had a bowl listed as an auction with the offer option. I received about 5 offers and one was for $25 over the listing price. 

In some cases it’s cool to take a higher offer but if it’s an item that isn’t that rare  and you get a really high offer then it’s a scammer.

---

Offers on AUCTIONS are supposed to be over the starting price. Offers on fixed price with best offer should never be over the asking price.

---

Sorry @gew6463 @a_c_green @mkeve96-3 @itsjustasprain to rain on your parade again, but eBay has specific language "Savings off starting bid" for offers on AUCTIONS:

eBay policy says that an offer on an AUCTION must be below the starting bid, that if a buyer wishes to offer over the starting bid, the seller must tell the buyer to bid instead. There has been discussion that the starting bid is not a price, but the language above shows that eBay does adhere to its offer-on-auction policy.

---

Hi @ste-9405, I just wanted to clarify that the offer does not have to be below the starting bid. The buyer can make an offer above the starting bid if they would like and the seller can decline, accept, or counter offer as they see fit. Keep in mind, once a bid is placed on the auction, any open offers are automatically declined. The Best Offer option is meant to serve as a supplement to the auction process, not a replacement. Offers can only be submitted on the auction while there are no bids. If a buyer's open offer is declined when a bid is placed, they would need to submit their offer as a bid for potential purchase.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@bktime wrote:
I just did the same dang thing. My very first sale too. This is why I didn’t want eBay forcing the make offer option on my account! We should be able to choose so this stuff doesn’t happen!

---

You seem to mean you should be able to choose to not have Make an Offer on the listing.  But you know you don't have to accept an Offer.  You can decline.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@mkeve96-3 wrote:

Yes exactly! I've never sold anything here before either so I was a little confused and went through it all too quickly. But I just called CS and they were SO helpful-- they cancelled the order for me, refunded the fees and relisted my item without any  problems.

---

Always nice to hear that CS helped someone.  I'm glad you had a good experience, and thank you for sharing it here.

[prettyinplaid]

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

---

@bktime wrote:
I just did the same dang thing. My very first sale too. This is why I didn’t want eBay forcing the make offer option on my account! We should be able to choose so this stuff doesn’t happen!

---

You seem to mean you should be able to choose to not have Make an Offer on the listing.  But you know you don't have to accept an Offer.  You can decline.

---

I am sure he knows that. However his issue is that he accidentally accepted a scam offer, when he did not want BO placed on his listings though. 

[siayan]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

@johnrj1226 

@siayan 

Is this perhaps a grammatical problem?

I have had them cancel sales that were from scammers.

Could be read as I asked eBay to cancel sales (and eBay did) OR as eBay has cancelled sales (without my input).

EBay does end fraudulent listings both while they are underway and also after they have ended. With the latter, eBay is very poor at explaining to the defrauded buyer just what is really happening and how to get his money back.

---

@femmefan1946  Me, grammatical error? I had to take bonehead English in college and I barely made it through. It's Greek to me. 

[reallynicestamps]

I spent much of my career as a writer and editor with the Canadian government.
Deciphering bureaucratese for humans.
Fortunately, Canada is bilingual, so we could go to the French version to find out what was actually meant. (And vice versa.)

And then there were those who thought they spoke English and /or French.

English is a very difficult language.