I am new to selling, and I wonder what is the "scammers" & tricks to watch for from buyers?

[michele2045]

I am new to selling on ebay, and am curious what kind of tricks and scams buyers try to pull? I realize i am an easy target, but i dont know what to watch for? I have had a couple sells that they immediately requested to cancel, as soon as they clicked buy it now and paid. I have also had two different ones purchase to item and then not pay and stop communicating, causing me to loose the listing as viewable to others for a little while. Is this just normal? Everything was going along fine, and when I got to about 30 sold, these things started happening. Also there is one person who keeps requesing to cancel oreder, like 5 or 6 times now, but I don't know who he is or what he is talking about. He just keeps sending messages to cancel, and I can not see any other info? I'm guessing there may be someone who requests a refund, but never pays, trying to catch you off guard, but that has not happened yet. I'm curious is the requesting to cancel after paying, and the buying but not paying some kind of scam they are up to? And what else to watch out for. I appreciate your time and any help you veteran ebayers can give.  Also one more question: is there a way to see bids that were auto turned down for being too low? i cant figure it out?

[sin-n-dex]

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@michele2045 wrote:

I am new to selling on ebay, and am curious what kind of tricks and scams buyers try to pull? I realize i am an easy target, but i dont know what to watch for? I have had a couple sells that they immediately requested to cancel, as soon as they clicked buy it now and paid. I have also had two different ones purchase to item and then not pay and stop communicating, causing me to loose the listing as viewable to others for a little while. Is this just normal? Everything was going along fine, and when I got to about 30 sold, these things started happening. Also there is one person who keeps requesing to cancel oreder, like 5 or 6 times now, but I don't know who he is or what he is talking about. He just keeps sending messages to cancel, and I can not see any other info? I'm guessing there may be someone who requests a refund, but never pays, trying to catch you off guard, but that has not happened yet. I'm curious is the requesting to cancel after paying, and the buying but not paying some kind of scam they are up to? And what else to watch out for. I appreciate your time and any help you veteran ebayers can give. 

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When they cancel once, put them on your block bidders list (you can search for that in the Help). You have annoying customers, I don't think what you're talking about is scammers.

If you want to read about scammers, read my thread from last week:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-to-spot-a-scammer/m-p/31003855

C.

[michele2045]

THANK YOU!

[coolections]

First thing is you block those that cause problems. Secondly you set your preferences to not allow bidders with more than 2 retractions. Then the obvious, you do not give out codes to gift cards, you do not accept text messages or phone calls, and you always make sure paypal says it is OK to ship. The best way to avoid returns is to make sure you write descriptions as if the person was blind and you where telling them all about what you are selling. 90% of all returns is because of lack of descriptions. To end my post, I can say there are very few scammers. Reading these boards is over-rated. Most sellers have sold for years without ever seeing a scam.

[michele2045]

oh thanks! That's great news.  Why I was curious about the cancelling, is they didnt give me time to ship, they just immediately cancel after paying as soon as they end the listing. Like they made a mistake or something? Was just making sure it's not a way for somebody to get your pictures or anything crazy like that. Like I said, I'm real new! Thanks for your help. Do you know if there is a way to see the offers that were auto turned down without me knowing? Like incase I want to consider that lower price? I accidentally saw it one day somehow, but could never figure out how to get back to that screen.

[klhmdg]

Once an offer is declined there is not a way to go back and accept.

If you are open to lower offers do not add a automatic decline amount. Just leave that box blank and you will see all offers

[kennys-kollectibles]

Correction: 90% of all returns are because they are pulling a scam.
You can write a book in the descriptions but very few people even read
the descriptions. They just expect mint after winning it, and when
they get it, and it's below mint, they want to return.

[mtgraves7984]

Don't list anything that is so expensive you can't afford to lose it. Good luck!

[michele2045]

Oh, ok, I thought I had to put a number there. Thank you. Do you know why people may purchase something and send emails promising to pay the next day and then not talking to me anymore?

[michele2045]

Rite1 Tnakx! USPS lost my first one last week. I paid $35 for s/h and dropped it off as usual, and tracking shows it was never sent!

[klhmdg]

I have all my “good till canceled “ set as immediate payment. 
That will cut down on a lot of nonpayments.

”offers” and “auctions” don’t have an immediate payment so it still can happen on those,  I also have the “unpaid” assistant set up to automatically file a case for payment at 48 hours.

[lex-talon]

Anytime you receive an offer that's higher than your BIN price, it's a scam. Sometimes a buyer will ask you to text them, don't do it. Place these people on your BBL. 

[sin-n-dex]

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@coolections wrote:

First thing is you block those that cause problems. Secondly you set your preferences to not allow bidders with more than 2 retractions. Then the obvious, you do not give out codes to gift cards, you do not accept text messages or phone calls, and you always make sure paypal says it is OK to ship. The best way to avoid returns is to make sure you write descriptions as if the person was blind and you where telling them all about what you are selling. 90% of all returns is because of lack of descriptions. To end my post, I can say there are very few scammers. Reading these boards is over-rated. Most sellers have sold for years without ever seeing a scam.

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I did projections on my numbers for a few years for the B&M store (to show them whether or not my selling for them would be profitable for everyone), and I calculated that 2% of my sales resulted in some kind of problem (returns, INRs, scams, etc). That's 2% in dollar value. It amounted to about $500 in problems the first year I sold here.

I've noticed the longer I'm here, the lower that number is (by percent).

C.

[voguevintage]

You're going to get a lot of bogus returns. Lots of "not as described" when it was. Lots of "didn't work" when it does. You may even get a totally different item returned and, if you do, prepare to still lose because eBay doesn't care.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give it learn to smell a problem buyer a mile away. If a buyer is asking too many questions and being too picky, than it's a return waiting to happen. If they make weird requests, than it's a problem waiting to happen. It's not worth the sell in either case. Block them and sell it to someone else.

[coolections]

@kennys-kollectibles 

Correction: Sellers always think their items are mint. They get more cash that way. Try describing better and you will not have those problems.