Bizarre Buyer Messages

[betus-uh20c4]

Hey all, 

I'm selling something on my store right now and got two very odd messages and was hoping to see if anyone else had experienced something like this before. 

I received this one first from the potential buyer:

"I would like to purchase your new item of "Officially Licensed Nintendo Gamecube Controller 4 port Adapter for WiiU Switch". However, the date of the item states that it ends on July 13. The current date is July 14th, 2019. Can you change the date if the item is still yet to be sold and guarantee that the item will be sold to me because I have provided you with this information? Please send me the time of which you will change the date to this ebay account so that I may purchase this product. Thank you."

I thought it was a simple mix up, thanked them for contacting me and politely told them that it was June 14th, not July. They then respond with this message, 

"The thing is that I tried to input my credit card information to buy the product. However, it would not work and it said to contact the buyer. Can you please help me out? Thank you."

My gut reaction is that this is an attempt to try and circumvent paying through ebay and trying to scam me, but thought it'd be worth it to make sure no one else had had a buyer tell them something like this before. This is a buyer with no seller history, and 8 positive buyer feedback and has been a member for 2 years as of right now.

Unless I hear otherwise I'm going to go with my gut reaction and cut communication with the buyer and block them just to be on the safe side. 

[gracieallen01]

There is a good chance it is a scam.  Suggest they call ebay CS for assistance.   Otherwise, you can always suggest that there is something wrong with their credit card account and that they should contact their card provider.

[betus-uh20c4]

Right after posting this it appears as though their payment went through successfully, so perhaps I was a bit too quick to judge. Once confirmation goes through to paypal I'll ship out to them and update here if anything else happens. Thank you for your advice, though! 

[gracieallen01]

I have to admit, it did sound somewhat hinky.  Hope it works out.  Just make sure it shows up in your PayPal account as paid - and login to PayPal to check.

[equid0x]

I would have BBL'd immediately. If they can't understand how to read dates or enter credit card numbers who knows what else is going to "come up" later.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, this sounds to me as if the buyer is a little confused, not a scam attempt. It always pays to be cautious, but i feel like some sellers rush too quickly to block buyers with questions.

[turquoisetulips]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Hi, this sounds to me as if the buyer is a little confused, not a scam attempt. It always pays to be cautious, but i feel like some sellers rush too quickly to block buyers with questions.

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I think you're right . Not everyone is e bay buying savvy .  Tulips 

[gamersbaystore]

Sounds like your buyer is just blowing smoke. All BIN items are now GTC, dates are irrelevant. Your buyer obviously has no money and nothing better to do with their time but waste yours, I would block and move on.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Hi, this sounds to me as if the buyer is a little confused, not a scam attempt. It always pays to be cautious, but i feel like some sellers rush too quickly to block buyers with questions.

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But that's the type of environment ebay creates for sellers now unfortunately. Sellers who are scared to death of any little unorthodox event during their transaction. It has created a huge seller paranoia because of the clear imbalance of power between buyers and sellers combined with the highly increasing sense of buyer entitlement.

I try to not behave this way, because being afraid is no way to run a business... and honestly my items are relatively low dollar. But I don't blame any sellers who get scared when they make certain sales.

[equid0x]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Hi, this sounds to me as if the buyer is a little confused, not a scam attempt. It always pays to be cautious, but i feel like some sellers rush too quickly to block buyers with questions.

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Its too easy for sellers to get burned. If there were actually any real protections for the sellers, they might be a little less squeamish on the blocking. 

The questions asked are weird. I'm not sure why a buyer would think that a listing ended a day before it should have (definitely confusion) or why they would contact a seller for a credit card issue. The excuse provided on the credit card issue doesn't make any sense. Why would eBay tell the buyer to contact the seller for a credit card processing problem? Then, the odd request "I want you to guarantee you will sell the item to me" ... what is that?

I tell you what I will guarantee... I will guarantee that I will sell the item to the first person who can read a listing and enter their credit card number correctly to buy it. 

[equid0x]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Hi, this sounds to me as if the buyer is a little confused, not a scam attempt. It always pays to be cautious, but i feel like some sellers rush too quickly to block buyers with questions.

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But that's the type of environment ebay creates for sellers now unfortunately. Sellers who are scared to death of any little unorthodox event during their transaction. It has created a huge seller paranoia because of the clear imbalance of power between buyers and sellers combined with the highly increasing sense of buyer entitlement.

I try to not behave this way, because being afraid is no way to run a business... and honestly my items are relatively low dollar. But I don't blame any sellers who get scared when they make certain sales.

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IMHO its not running scared its just good business sense. 

If you are selling a lot of stuff on here it becomes pretty obvious when something about a transaction is "off."

[paramiti]

Think i can top your experience

I had a buyer give me an offer on American Girl boxes

She said she needed them for a birthday party

I told her the boxes do not have best offer on them and i cannot accept offers for them

I suggested that kids dont really care about Official American Girl boxes anyways

And that the birthday party would be a success regardless

She wrote me back and said it was NOT for a birthday party

and insisted she never said it was

Which i have the ebay message to Prove it!! where she states it WAS for a Bday party

Not only that ..she was going on and on in the message about the birthday party

and how much she had put into the American Girl  gifts

and how she really wanted those boxes

That was in the first email where she tried to offer me less for them

So when she wrote me back that it was NOT for a birthday gift

She told me that she is opening a Used American Girl store on ebay

And just wanted the boxes for that

The whole thing confused me so much i just did not write her back

[trustedbasset]

They nurture this. They wAnt buyers and sellers to have no contact and they create a antagonistic arena to prevent fee evasion.

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

Sounds like your buyer is just blowing smoke. All BIN items are now GTC, dates are irrelevant. Your buyer obviously has no money and nothing better to do with their time but waste yours, I would block and move on.

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But it will still show an end date