I have a sort of quandry with one of my listings and wanted some advice..

[gator08041971]

I have this bidder on an item that just seems suspicious.

I say this, as they have 0 feedback, an account that is over 2 years old, they have two items listed for sale with different descriptions and price, yet both have just one and the same picture of this supposed item they are selling.

Something about it is making me want to cancel their bid.   I already had decided to block them, but apparently their original bid is still high enough that other bidders get out bid by their bid, despite the block.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this buyer is rubbing me the wrong way.  Any thoughts?  Or am I just crazy?  I work hard to keep a 100% satisfaction for my sales, and I would not like to see something sketch happen and they try to scam me out of an item after its shipped or something.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[allthings-collectible]

Unfortunately, there is no real way to control a bidder after a bid. You will need to wait to see if they pay, and where you will be shipping it. The bidder could be new at this, out of country, or it very well could be smoke & mirrors. The proliferation of unsavory buyer activity in recent years is the result of eBay purposely opening the door. If he wins but does not pay after several days, you can always send a 2nd chance offer to the next bidder.

[gator08041971]

Well, I was looking at the option where I could actually cancel their bid.  I mean the seller tools do have that option in the hub.

But not sure I want to go that far.  Its just the nearly 3 year old account, 0 feed back and them having 2 suspicious looking laptop listings for sale make me question it.

I have had other more obvious bad buyers, and I have a fair amount of some on my block list too from over the last few years.  And I have sold to members with no feedback before as well. That part doesn't bother me by itself.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Zero feedback buyers don’t have enough  information attached to their accounts to make a decent judgement call on. I would let the auction run and not interfere when there are multiple  bids/bidders. Good luck with your sale!

[gator08041971]

Again, with that aspect (0 feedback) alone, I agree. 

Its the 2 suspicious listings they have, using 1 picture of a laptop, for two listings of a laptop, with different specs and different pricing.  Keep in mind, they are using the same exact picture for both.  And its not a stock photo, its a personal one.

That smells funny to me.  And is why I'm questioning it.

[reallynicestamps]

This is the laptop that currently has a high bid of $13.50?

While most bids come in at the last second or so, I suspect this bidder has a "nuclear" maximum bid, which is discouraging any other bidders.

The lowballer tend to show up early.

They may then retract that nuclear bid when others start pushing their "real" buy price.

Laptops and cellphones are high value/high fraud items.

I'd cancel and probably block.

Check where the bidder is registered on their FB page.

Many overseas buyers (mostly honest and fast payers) use US-basedfreight forwarders. They can see your listings, and buy them, even though you do not ship internationally.

[iamalwaysright]

The buyer is bidding on your laptop and has two listings for a laptop? Is it the same laptop model as the one you’re selling?

[dbfolks166mt]

     The first rule as a seller is to never list anything on eBay that you are not prepared to take the financial loss on. As reallynicestamps noted cell phones and other electronics tend to be high scammer targets but you are talking about an item that currently has a $13.50 bid. I use the auction format almost exclusively but I never have the time or inclination to check out every bidder. This person could be legitimate they could be a scammer no way to really tell but canceling a bidders bid is not the best business practice. What if this had been a BIN item would you have canceled the sale because the buyer had no feedback and a 2 year old account?

     You currently have 3 bidders bidding on the laptop. One has 0 feedback, one has 1 and one has 3. Who's to say which bidder is the higher risk potential. Protecting yourself as a seller is always a good practice but there is only so much you can do. One thing is you don't accept returns which you need to understand does NOT translate to no refunds and some believe that is a check mark that scammers look for. 

[gator08041971]

"The buyer is bidding on your laptop and has two listings for a laptop? Is it the same laptop model as the one you’re selling?"

No, its some other brand of laptop, gateway I think.  A newer one to be honest, one as an auction, the other is not.  Both use the same exact taken-on-a-chair-in-their-kitchen picture, but they have different specs.

"One thing is you don't accept returns which you need to understand does NOT translate to no refunds and some believe that is a check mark that scammers look for."

Well, that I'm aware of.  I have used that for years, not really ever had an issue.  But I talk to my buyers throughout the sale too.  They get a personal message when the item is packed and shipped, (I even include photos of the package as packed and the outside with the label on it), if I see shipping delays, I let them know about them, etc.

  As for low feedback buyers, I have sold to many, never had an issue.  I have had some not pay, then their purchase got canceled, and I moved on.  This was the first one I had encountered that just threw me off a bit.  And I don't check every single bidder, but I occasionally check, as I tend to get out of country bids on my electronic items, and those I will block, every time.  But that is also noted in my listings.

What I suspect is, they had reset their feedback or something.  I mean, its a nearly 3 year old account. lol

I don't want to be an **bleep** and just cancel their bid, but at the same time its like... Ugh.  lol

[adkhighker]

I've had several buyers with 0 feedbacks who had been eBay members for anywhere from a couple of days to 5 years, and things worked out fine, knock on wood.  I figured that the ones who were only signed up for a couple of days only signed up to buy that one item that I just happened to have.  As far as the ones who had been signed up for several years with 0 or just a couple of feedbacks, I figured they were just someone who only looked at eBay in the rare instance when they were having trouble finding something elsewhere.  However, just because I didn't have trouble with 0 feedback buyers doesn't mean you won't.  I don't sell in the types of categories that are more attractive to scammers like electronics can be.

[gator08041971]

Well, that sort of resolved itself.  Funny though, it ended up being bought by a bidder from Jamaica.  And I only sell to the US.

I know that they are going to use a forwarder, as its shipping to Florida, but it still kinda irks me.  I do block bidders from out of country if I see them though.  And bidders are warned of this on my listings, though I would imagine most never read the main description, let alone that part.

My thing is, I want to sell to the US, primarily because I want to support our country first, ya know?  Even if it costs me a sale.  Secondly, while it has probably gotten easier to sell to multiple countries over the years, I just don't care to.

But can't stop them all I guess, and out of country bidders, especially from South American and that region seem to thrive on bidding on anything electronic, even if you don't ship there or support it.

lol

[reallynicestamps]

The real problem with overseas buyers is that you will be paying more in fees when the buyer uses a credit card that is not US based.

But that can happen with student, military,or diplomatic buyers as well, living in the USA for a period but unable or unwilling to change their banking arrangements.

Like my friend who has lived here in BC for over a decade but still uses his Alberta cell phone number.

With the forwarder your responsibility for delivery ends at the forwarder's doorstep.

And even with a No Returns policy, you can demand return before refund.

But with a forwarder, eBay will tell you to send the Return Shipping Label to the forwarder not the Jamaica address (which you don't know anyway). It's up to the buyer to get it back to Florida and persuade/pay  the forwarder to use the label within the deadline.

Also.

The forwarder normally deals with import fees (duty, sales taxes) for their clients, so you don't have to worry about the "customs delay" scam.

[gator08041971]

Yeah, I knew about the higher fees for payments, but good point.

Actually going forward, I plan to have less no returns listings.  I've already been changing that with the newest stuff up, especially on variation listings.  But no return listings, those will be limited to only a few types of items. (Mostly items that are parts only, non-functional already, stuff I don't really want back, that sort of thing)

Its too bad that blocking a bidder doesn't prevent the automatic bidding from continuing as long as their max bid is higher than the current bids though.  I really wish that part would change.  Because the only other option as a seller would be to cancel their bid altogether.  And its not like you can do that just because they seem suspect or from another country you don't want to ship to.  I mean you could, but I'm wiling to bet ebay slaps me for it.