eBay

villa-ridge · ‎07-10-2023

Recently had an item get bidded multiple times by 2 or 3 different accounts. No pay. Now wait 4 days.

mam98031 · ‎07-10-2023

It happens on auctions. To avoid them list fixed price listing with IPR [immediate payment required]. It is the only way to completely avoid them.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

fashunu4eeuh · ‎07-11-2023

Hi! Are you talking about the Nike tech hoodie sweatshirt? If that is the auction you are concerned about, it just sold on Sunday July 9. Since buyers are allowed four days to remit, it would be premature to worry that it has gone unpaid.

(Fyi: no need for sellers to send invoices or reminders to bidders soon after an auction closes. eBay sends plenty, and when a seller sends an invoice, it resets the payment clock back to day one.)

Also, i would not worry about 0 feedback customers. It is not unusual for new buyers to sign up just to bid on a special item.

If it is any comfort, in the 15 years i have been selling on eBay, i have never been defrauded by, or had trouble with, a new buyer. Keep in mind that they are valuable to the selling community’s financial health. We need to replace those lost. The more buyers, the better for all of us.

I noticed that, aside from the hoodie auction, all your other auctions sold with a single bid. That is a strong indication that your items could do well at fixed price, especially for the pre-owned clothing category. People want their items right away these days, leaving fewer buyers for auctions and the patience those require, waiting for each sale to end. And with fixed price, one can add Immediate Payment Required and never have to wait for payment again.

losum_7075 · ‎07-11-2023

Just over a year ago I had attempted to sell a Lenovo ThinkPad on eBay, as an amateur seller who has only successfully sold one item in the past(sep. 2021, got no feedback because I was too inexperienced to know that feedback actually mattered and therefore didn't ask for it). I had gotten the laptop from a friend who was moving and found it in an old closet. It still worked and was in great shape, so I decided I would try to sell it on eBay.

Because of my lack of experience as a seller, I had no idea what it would be like to sell a laptop. I took pictures and put up an auction. Almost immediately I started getting crazy high offers on the product, but no actual bids. For some perspective- I had listed the computer for a starting bid at $150, and the offers I was getting were all over $300, some as high as $700. As naive as I was at the time, I was very excited to think that they were all legitimate, and that the product was actually going to sell for 5x what I had expected it to. Boy, was I wrong lol.

I looked through the offers and accepted the one that seemed the most legitimate. My highest offers were from accounts that had just been made(I later found out these accounts had been deleted the same day as they had been created by scammers). The offer I accepted was for $300 and had been made by an account over 10 years old with loads of positive feedback.

The auction ended(with 0 bids) and I got a message from the "buyer" in spotty English with multiple red flags packed inside.

Hello to you auctioneer , promptly mssg me on [REDACTED](phone #) immediately, i have some few questions regarding the purchased item...Thank you!!

Of course, NOBODY is allowed to take communication outside eBay. I reported the message and told the buyer they had to message me inside eBay's systems. Never heard back. The details of the next part are a little fuzzy in my head, but here goes.

I selected another offer, again from a "trustworthy" account, and got a similar(and also kind of funny) message

This is the buyer fromebay, just a question about this item kindly get in touch with me through this contact info [REDACTED] or write to my email [REDACTED], because i will be off from here for a while kindly get back to me so that we can conclude our transaction , thanks and have a great day ahead

After a little digging, I found out that scammers are able to hijack and use accounts that have a good reputation, hence why the offer appeared real.

Frustrated, I opened up a new listing for the exact same product, same pictures and description, except this time with offers disabled, so buy it now and auction were the only two ways the laptop could be bought.

I got no action on the new listing, and it never sold.

Recently I have started selling some car/truck parts and have not dealt with this. I'm expecting the problem is only rampant in certain departments such as electronics.

That's my experience with new/scam bidders, for whatever it may be worth to you.