Real offer or Scam

[brucdobbe0]

Hi all.  New to the selling end if eBay and I'm wondering how you all deal with legitimate and scam offers.  

I recently posted a gaming laptop for sale,12:15 am this morning actually.  I have received a good many offers and use their profile to gauge the legitimacy of the offers.  Am I really getting that many fake offers?  Based on feedback ratings it seems I am.  How does one weed through all the phishing, or "here's my number, tetext me back, I have questions".  Already regretting their are few safeties to the offer process.  

[dhbookds]

Ignore any and all, "text, email me whatever, I'll pay $1000, $100 $1 over your asking price if you will include a gift card", etc.

They are all scams, and new sellers are widely targeted.

Best thing to do is list it as fixed price with immediate payment required........

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@brucdobbe0 wrote: ....  Am I really getting that many fake offers?  ....  

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Yes. As a brand-new seller of a $3000 computer, probably you will get no valid offers at all. Remember, scamming works in both directions and people who are ready to spend $3K can easily find a seller whose feedback history shows that they know what they're doing.

Anybody who asks for your contact information or who otherwise tries to take the transaction off-eBay is definitely a scammer.

[csbbct]

Unfortunately, new seller + high-priced electronics + best offer on listing = dozens, if not hundreds, of predators circling to steal this from you.

1.  Never give out your personal phone number or email address to a "potential" buyer.  There's no reason for it and only bad things will come from it.

2.  If they get your email address it's to send you a very real looking email showing a Paypal payment that may even include wording that you will not see the transaction in Paypal until the item is shipped.  Reality - you will never see the payment in Paypal.  Do not click on any links in the email.  Always log in separately to your Paypal account to verify payment.

3.  You may also get a request to include a gift card because they are currently out of the country and need to buy a gift for their brother or daughter or dog.  Again, money you will never see.

4.  If you do sell it to someone legitimate you may get an email after the sale asking you to ship it to a different address with a myriad of excuses why it wasn't that way on the payment.  It may even come from an eBay id that was not the original buyer hoping you won't notice.  Only ship to the address on the payment or you lose your seller protection.

Good luck and be careful.  If you're unsure, ask for advice on these boards like you've already done.  You're already one step ahead of them by doing that.

[long-gone]

You also have it listed as "Open Box" but further down in your description you state "USED Condition: Used Condition Details: Previously used, but very briefly." 

You might want to change one of those to avoid future possible problems.

Also as a new seller don't list what you can't afford to lose. JMO

[cashvaluerecovery2011]

There is almost no shot of this transaction going well. Even if you avoid the obvious scams your inexperience will likely lead to a swithcharoo or a junk return. Ebay wouldnt help you if you had 10000 feedback. The combination of highly scammed item for sale and new seller with very expensive item on ebay is like fire and gasoline. It almost always can end up only one way.

[luckythewinner]

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How does one weed through all the phishing, or "here's my number, tetext me back, I have questions". 

You weed through them by declining those offers.

Already regretting their are few safeties to the offer process.  

What safeties would you suggest?

[earlyant-77]

The OP is kinda stuck also - with all of those offers by messages, and requests for email address, phone #, etc., if they end the listing now to relist as BIN/IPR, ebay will send them a nastygram or 2 or 10.

[femmefan1946]

@brucdobbe0 

...gaming laptop...

Don't have to read any further.

SCAM.

Some demographics have more scammers than others.

Your best bet to sell this safely is to use Fixed Price /Immediate Payment Required.

If you are willing to consider offers, (OPTION-put the Price higher than you would expect), add Best Offer and limit offers* to a few pennies below the asking price and as low as you would be content to let it sell for.

Note that if you accept a Best Offer,  you can review the customer's Feedback Left for Others (which is the only useful one) and that is a Good Thing, you can't insist on Immediate Payment and that is a Bad Thing.

And when a customer buys, he is immediately invoiced by eBay, and that invoice includes your Paypal address. A real buyer needs nothing more.

A request for your PP addy is a SCAM.

*For example, if you want $100 but would settle for $90, put the parameters at $90 and $99.99.

[femmefan1946]

And Shipping is not a part of a Best Offer.

I find it useful to accept BOs with.  "I can accept your offer of $50 plus the $10 shipping as advertised for a US address."

If the buyer wants to pay only the $50 and I find that acceptable, I will counter -offer with $40 plus $10 shipping, and explain why to the customer.

Most of my customers are buying books, dress patterns or stamps and not only read but actually enjoy following instructions. YMMV.

[femmefan1946]

You did a couple of things right.

You listed only the USA as a shipping destination.  (My fellow Canadians may feel hurt by that, but we will try to understand.)

You used Fixed Price instead of the default Auctions that most newbies get stuck with through the horrible Simplified Sell Your Item form.

You can Revise any existing listing, without Defect, to remove the Best Offer, which might cut down on the number of sketchey emails. 

[brucdobbe0]

I have been reading many online articles and watching videos and have a better understanding. How does one block the eBay "customers" and rate and comment on their profile screen?

[gracieallen01]

Selling that gaming laptop, consider that you have a very large, neon glow, multi-color target on your back, that can be seen for 10,000 miles and someone just posted 'Open Season', with an arrow pointing to YOU.

[alcoforever]

If you are in a large urban area, you might consider using Craigslist.  That way you get cash on the spot and you don't have to worry about fake payments or the return switcheroo scam.

[chapeau-noir]

I agree - I wouldn't try to sell that here, and I've sold just about everything here (including computers).  Craigslist, gaming sites, etc. I think would be better.

ETA: Also the fees and money handling on a $3000 item would be so high that offering it as a local purchase/alternate site, etc., that you could offer a better deal or have some room to dicker with a prospective buyer.