Am I being scammed? (Best offer by account with only 9 positive reputation, PRIVATE reputation setti

[bakedupgood]

Im selling an electronic at 1100, and got an offer for 1300 and 1100 both within 5 minutes.

The 1100 offer (Right at my price point) was made by someone who was a member since Jan 2019 with 9 feedback, all positive in the past 12 months. But their settings are private so i cant see any feedback information.

ALSO they are following 5 other people that some of which are new accounts. Is this a scam?

[gracieallen01]

The chances are good that you at least 2-3 of those might try to scam you.  Right cat. and right price and you appear to be a 'newbie' at selling.

Just remember:

Don't take it off ebay - all payment through checkout

No gift cards, no sob stories.

No e-mail addy to pay with.

Any time you get an e-mail saying you've been paid, ALWAYS to into your PayPal account and check to see if the money is there - don't use a link to do it!

That may help to keep you safer from the first stage scammers.

[vintage-car-magazines]

Am I being scammed?

Yes.

Nobody would ever OFFER the asking price.

Nobody would EVER offer more than the asking price.

This is an area that I wish eBay could do a better job at. If we can easily spot the pattern (new seller, offer more than asked, mention of gift cards, ask to text them, etc) then eBay can as well.

[wesk_36]

In this case it is hard to tell...

If you had a "buy it now" price and they offered the same or higher price, I would say it's a scam.

But you don't have a buy it now price, just a starting bid.

The $1100 offer is your starting bid and they may not want it to bid because they feel it is worth more, thus the offer to end the auction and prevent a higher bid up price.

[mtgraves7984]

To add to what the other posters have advised... please know that you need to ship expensive items with a signature on delivery to receive the most protection possible. Good luck!

[soh.maryl]

" . . . and they may not want it to bid because they feel it is worth more,thus the offer".

I don't understand your logic.  

[wesk_36]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

" . . . and they may not want it to bid because they feel it is worth more,thus the offer".

I don't understand your logic.  

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The starting bid is $1100.

There isn't a buy it now price, only bid or best offer.

The potential buyer may feel that the computer will be bid higher so rather than place a bid, they offered the seller $1100 (the starting bid). If the seller accepted, the auction ends, thus preventing it to be bid higher.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Just to clarify, when facing a zero or low feedback buyer, it is impossible to know if they are a scammer based solely on just the feedback score. New accounts are opened all the time and now more people are shopping online because of the pandemic.

So when evaluating the trustworthiness of a buyer, sellers must look at other factors than a low feedback score to inform them. This is necessary so the baby doesn’t get thrown out with the bath water.

I usually urge my friends and family who want to get into selling to wait to list high dollar items until they have more experience on the platform. Scammers target newer sellers with expensive items, hoping that inexperience will aid their scam attempts.  Sadly, all too often, it does. 

Have you considered selling it as fixed price with Immediate Payment Required? This is a safer option. It doesn’t eliminate your risk, but mitigates it. Selling it as a Buy It Now with IPR thwarts some of the more popular scams.

Good luck to you and hope all turns out well. Keep us posted.