How to handle buyers with names like "Text me i have questions 247 xxx 3689"

[dvgoldsales]

Thought we had a great week of selling but then the buyers turn out to be scammers and don't pay and put a name up that shows them as someone who wants me to text them and they put the message and number in their buyer info.  I'm not about to text anyone.  This is not fun.  All the effort that goes into selling and you have lost your time and effort for absolutely nothing.  This just happened to a friend of min, so it's not a new thing.  How come eBay computers can't stop these people from bidding, their name tells you they are up to no good.   I got to rethink this whole eBay thing. 

[ckimodog]

@dvgoldsales 

Be thankful you noticed they were scammers. So many do not. Good for you.

Happy Selling. 

[ittybitnot · Accepted solution]

I'm not about to text anyone

@dvgoldsales 

Very good plan not to do so.  The "text me" scammers don't pay anyway.  The just want your personal contact information to send you a fake notice of payment, and if you fall for that they will ask you to add a gift card or two as a present for their niece (grandmother, uncle, cousin etc.)  for their birthday (first communion, wedding, graduation etc.)  

Be glad you didn't do it.  Many newbie sellers fall for it. 

You can report the user directly on the eBay message they sent you.  It is on the menu bar at the top under the ACTION tab.   They will be dispensed with shortly. 

[inhawaii]

Cancel the sale. Reason: Problem with address.

It takes 2 seconds.

IMO Hardly a reason to consiser quitting ebay.

[coastaltechsolution]

Ignore them and add them to your block list

Good for you in spotting scammers 

[dvgoldsales]

I guess you wouldn't understand.. but I loose over $100 in sales to people that signed up on eBay for the exoress purpose of doing wrong and even when I complain and file against them I'm told nothing by ebay.   Not one word of warning, not one word of encouragement, not one word of explanation of how they deal with such people. Then I read about people having to give people their merchandise and being forced to also refund the money from the sale without even getting their merchandise back or worse, eBay taking  $ from the seller to give back to the buyer while giving your merchandise to the buyer as well.  From here it looks an awful like the buyers on ebay can be thieves and I have to go along with it or eBay forces me to give them money and my merchandise.   What I thought sounded like fun is turning into a possible nightmare.  IMHO it would not be prudent if I didn't consider the options about putting myself in harms way.  Frankly I'm just not seeing much upside right now.

[ittybitnot]

 Frankly I'm just not seeing much upside right now.

@dvgoldsales 

You are a new seller.  Looking at your sold items, you have great photos and good descriptions of your products.  Unfortunately,  you are going to be a scam magnet until you get some more feedback. The text me scammers are not particularly interested in your product, but rather the gift card codes they are going to try and get you to fork over for their "grandmother's wedding" etc. as outlined above.  Though annoying, they are harmless once you KNOW how to recognize them. 

You now know what they look like, and they are the easiest scammers to avoid.  Same for their cousins the "change of address scammers" who will message you post sale, and not even be your buyer, or ARE your buyer and want you to ship someplace else post sale.  They are easy to avoid as well.  

Not all eBay sales go bad, but just about anything for sale on eBay can be had for free at the seller's expense with the right kind of phony claim.  Only you can decide your tolerance for risk.  Reading here will teach you how the different ploys play out, and how to recognize certain patterns.  What products you have sold so far, are not generally the types of things that are of interest to the diehard crooks.  The 'text me scammers' don't count, because they don't pay anyway.  

Get some experience, ask questions if you are not certain.  Knowledge is power, and don't post anything for sale here you can't afford to lose, simply because you don't know how to deal with bad actors. 

Learn about and how to recognize:  

text me scammers
the two kinds of change of address scammers

phony claims by buyers that use freight forwarders (what you need to do)

phony tracking return scams (what you need to do)
how to handle returns
etc. 

Get some confidence in yourself, and go fix your TOS regarding terms that are incorrect or unenforceable, and you will be good to go, and on your way to be a pro at this! 

Wishing you the best!  Good luck! 

[soh.maryl]

You've not offered enough details about buyers ripping sellers off for us to offer advice.

Am not saying it's impossible for this to happen, but would like to be reassured that you know how to handle some of the different kinds of scam attempts.  

For instance, if a buyer opens an item not as described claim with eBay, and the seller decides to just ignore it or contest it, the odds are pretty good that eBay will refund that buyer from the seller's funds.  You've not specified exactly what's happened to you, however, in terms of being ripped off by buyers.

And am even more confused when I look at your listings and see that, on this ID, you sold six items yesterday, the 5th of February.  Seems a little early for any ripping off to have occurred.  Care to return and give details? 

PS:  And, unless you had items listed for fixed price, immediate payment required, every one of those buyers had 96 hours to pay.  So that information makes your post even more puzzling, to me at least.  

[soh.maryl]

Yet another PS:   You probably should be careful about saying "likely Limoges".  That could be considered key word spamming by eBay.  If you don't know for sure that it is, then perhaps best to leave out that particular speculation.  

[inhawaii]

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@dvgoldsales wrote:

I guess you wouldn't understand.. but I loose over $100 in sales to people that signed up on eBay for the exoress purpose of doing wrong and even when I complain and file against them I'm told nothing by ebay.   Not one word of warning, not one word of encouragement, not one word of explanation of how they deal with such people. Then I read about people having to give people their merchandise and being forced to also refund the money from the sale without even getting their merchandise back or worse, eBay taking  $ from the seller to give back to the buyer while giving your merchandise to the buyer as well.  From here it looks an awful like the buyers on ebay can be thieves and I have to go along with it or eBay forces me to give them money and my merchandise.   What I thought sounded like fun is turning into a possible nightmare.  IMHO it would not be prudent if I didn't consider the options about putting myself in harms way.  Frankly I'm just not seeing much upside right now.

---

I guess I wouldn't understand.

I don't have such problems, ever.

FYI The only time you would ever have to give a refund AND not get the item back is if you don't follow proper protocol.

[soh.maryl]

Was I the only person who noticed that all of the OP's sales took place one day ago?

Does that not seem a bit early for the OP to be complaining about nonpaying buyers?  

What am I missing here?  

[soh.maryl]

Do you have another selling ID?  

[ittybitnot]

That could be considered key word spamming by eBay. 

@soh.maryl 

Nippon blank.   Google right click, and found in a book reference. 

That said, 'china painting' was an accepted hobby of 'ladies of means' at the turn of the last century.  One can find plenty of Limoges brands, Austrian, Nippon, RS, etc  backstamps on various items from that time that were decorated by talented or not so talented hobbyists.  Many of the porcelain blanks were unmarked and sold to other factories that decorated them as well.  It is not uncommon the find known limoges and other blanks with decorator backstamps from other countries.  But you are right...know your blanks or keep your mouth shut.  LOL, though I doubt eBay runs bots for this.  The OP seems quite knowledgeable, and I would hate to see them give up altogether here or revert to the "nice pitcher, see pics" ignorant seller genre. 

[soh.maryl]

Thank you.  However, you've mentioned facts that eBay does not apparently take into consideration if someone should report the OP for keyword spamming.  

And, as an experienced eBayer, would you care to comment on the fact that all of his current sales took place only one day ago? Doesn't it seem a bit early to complain about buyers ripping sellers off? 

[luckythewinner]

All the effort that goes into selling and you have lost your time and effort for absolutely nothing

I think this is a bit dramatic.

Yes, it's a pain to have to cancel for non-payment and relist the item.

But all the effort you put into acquiring the item, doing price research, photographing it, and creating the listing is not "lost". After you cancel for non-payment, you can relist it in a matter of seconds.

And if you choose to list at fixed price with immediate payment required and turn off "Best Offer", you can greatly cut down on the time-wasters because they cannot tie up your item without paying for it.