Scam?

[leatherstocking]

I have been selling on ebay for 20 years [ don't let my low FB profile number fool you, this account belongs to my husband ]. I have never seen a scam like this one!

I posted auctions for 40 + items in July after a period of not posting anything for sale.   2 items in particular have been bid on 4 times total [ twice each].  Both items had an automatic acceptance of an offer of a certain amount. Please see details below!

This effectively takes my item off eBay so others cannot buy it. After the first "sale" I called the Help line,  because I sensed something was not right here, and I have called tech support, spoken to a supervisor, reported spoof emails and I have been told that eBay has done all they can???!!!  I feel that someone is using software to figure a larger scam here.

Here are the details

- the "buyer" always has a zero rating when the bid is placed. The buyer is always "removed" or is no longer an eBay member within a day or two.

- the buyer name is a 4 or 5 letter name followed by a hyphen and a 4 or 5 digit number.

- the buyer never pays and eBay ends up canceling the sale.

- the item is always a $29.99 starting bid.

- the offer price is always $40.00.

- on my All Orders page, the item always has a 3 digit Sales Record Number, never a 12 digit number like all other sales. How can this be? WHY would eBay give a short number like this??

- 3 out of 4 times the buyer has had a vague shipping address, such as no apartment number, or a warehouse district address or just no address other than a town.

- the purchase is always made on Monday morning, after my items have re listed .

- one time the buyer asked for my cell number, which is a well known scam used a lot on Facebook to gain personal information.

Does this ring a bell with anyone. I have taken a few measures to try to end this. But at this point I am just curious as to what the con is.

leatherstocking

[Anonymous]

Stop listing as auctions with best offer

[terrycece62]

As @Anonymous advised stop listing as auction list buy it now and be sure to 'require immediate'

that will at least stop those deadbeat buyers and your item will stay active and available until item is paid for 

[candd205]

List as "buy it now" with immediate payment required.

[leatherstocking]

I indicated that I have already taken the steps that I can, but the real point is that this is happening every week, and is a systematic harassment.  Its always a $29.99 item, always offering $40, always on Monday.

I re state - this is not a real "Buyer". Its a software program being used to scam or just troll people.

[a_c_green]

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@leatherstocking wrote:

I indicated that I have already taken the steps that I can, but the real point is that this is happening every week, and is a systematic harassment.  Its always a $29.99 item, always offering $40, always on Monday.

I re state - this is not a real "Buyer". Its a software program being used to scam or just troll people.

---

Not paying for an item is not the same as scamming the seller. I'm puzzled as to why you have offers enabled if you just want the auction to run (and are not listing Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required instead), which is your prerogative, but I especially wonder why you have set an automatic acceptance price if you don't want automatic acceptance (and it's so close to the auction's opening price as well).

If you want to run a straight auction, leave off the Make Offer. If you want to entertain offers, leave off the automatic acceptance price. If the item has a commonly known retail value, just list it as Fixed Price for whatever you want to get for it, with no Make Offer and with the Immediate Payment Required option checked, and then just wait for someone to buy it.

[pburn]

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@leatherstocking wrote:

I indicated that I have already taken the steps that I can . . .

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@leatherstocking 

No, you really haven't. As others have already advised, rather than do a deep-dive into all the facts of the scenario and speculate on some bot-related theory about what happens on Mondays, there are a number of ways a seller can reduce or avoid nonpaying customers. Here's a list of approaches you can utilize:

• List all items as fixed-price, immediate payment required. Do not list with the auction format.
• Remove the "best offer" option from your listings or decline each offer manually--no matter how tempting it appears.--for now.*
• Make sure to use the new cancellation process for members who don't pay within four full days (cancel on day five). A strike for nonpayment will be recorded on their account. The cancellation process can be done manually or you can set it to cancel for you automatically.
• Set your Buyer Requirements to block any member with two or more strikes in the last twelve months--the most restrictive setting.
• Add the member id to your Blocked Buyer List.

Utilizing these tools will help eliminate unpaid transactions.

*eBay is rolling out a process that requires immediate payment on offers, as announced in the 2022 Winter Seller Update and the 2022 Spring Seller Update, both of which can be accessed on the Seller News board when posted and on the Seller Update Archive after some time has passed. It's in your best interest as a seller to keep abreast of this Seller Updates. Perhaps they'll apply this same requirement to auction winners some day. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     It may be the buyer is creating/using guest accounts to simply cause you headaches and grief. I use both auction and BIN formats for posting but I never use OBO on either simply to avoid these types of games and to keep my sanity. I also have better things to do with my time than gong back and forth on offers or dealing with problems like the issues you have. 

     Both auctions and BIN formats have their pro's and con's. For a lot of the items you have listed BIN would probably be a better option setting the BIN price at what you want to get for the item, getting rid of the OBO and as others suggested require immediate payment. This will probably fix about 80% of your problems. 

     For things like the Antique Sandwich Glass Open Salt Cellar the auction format is probably better but I would still ditch the OBO. Set the starting auction price at the lowest value you are willing to sell the item for. You can also include a BIN price but that has to be 30% more than the starting price. 

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I have never understood the use of "auto-accept" offers.

I never "auto-accept" offers

How about all the scammers that target NEW sellers. List BIN w/ OBO, receive an offer for full BIN ask price. Those are clearly scams but would reasonably be accepted if "auto accept" offers was on. 

Someone wants that headache?

I never auto-accept offers so I can vet any suspicious offers before I accept their offers. You maintain SOME sense of control. 

Your first mistake was auto-accepting offers IMO. Or just offers on auction in the first place...both are mistakes!

[luckythewinner]

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@leatherstocking wrote:

I indicated that I have already taken the steps that I can, but the real point is that this is happening every week, and is a systematic harassment.  Its always a $29.99 item, always offering $40, always on Monday.

I re state - this is not a real "Buyer". Its a software program being used to scam or just troll people.

---

If you accept offers, you are susceptible to non-payment.

Period.

Whether that non-payment is the result of an offer from a bot, a troll, a competitor, a bargain hunter or a sentient concrete block does not matter. 

No one here will stop it. eBay will not stop it. The army will not stop it.

As several others have already said, if you want to stop non-payment, you must take steps to stop non-payment. And that means not accepting offers and not using the auction format.

[leatherstocking]

I do prefer auction format, simply because Good til Cancelled items tend to be buried in the listings and never seen.  I have used GTC format in the past with poor results. The type of items I have to sell need to be seen widely, because there is a large supply.

It's odd what others have said because I rarely get offers, just bids.  Tho' eBay points out that people like to have the option of making an offer....  I don't get many.  

I have or will be changing to have to personally view offers. I don't think my lower price items will be a target. Its only been $29.99. I have changed those prices, just in case....

Just wondered if anyone else has experienced this....

[leatherstocking]

Last word. Admittedly, auto accept offers are a thing of the past.  I have never seen anything like this mess.  However, I have had luck with auction item offers for people who are in a hurry. However I may rethink that. 

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

@leatherstocking 

My two cents about your needing to be seen widely, is that if you use a GTC listing, and promote it with PLS, it'll be seen widely and you'll only pay upon sale if ad was used.

I promote almost every single one of my listings, and for the past 2 months, I sold 80-84 items each month, and on average 33-38% of my items that are promoted are not even selling through promoted ads. So I pay ad fees on 2/3 of my listings, but benefit from broad visibility on all of them, and it's a percentage of sale price and it's customizable to what you're willing to pay.

Auctions require upfront payment of a flat fee regardless of sale/price. So not only do you risk paying ads without selling, but its often a high percentage relative to sale value, and you don't get to customize what you want to pay.

[a_c_green]

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@leatherstocking wrote:

Admittedly, auto accept offers are a thing of the past.  I have never seen anything like this mess.  However, I have had luck with auction item offers for people who are in a hurry. However I may rethink that. 

---

I wouldn't necessarily call auto-accept "a thing of the past." The problems as you described them did not seem to be with the offers themselves, but the fact that you had an oddly-low auto-accept price as well, and thus the offers were getting accepted when you apparently wanted to vet the prospective buyer first. (There's not a whole lot you can glean from buyers' feedback anyway, except perhaps for past disgruntled sellers leaving false-Positive complaints on their record.)

If you like haggling, leave the Make Offer in place and just remove the Automatic Acceptance price. (You can still have a minimum offer price, below which the system will automatically decline lowballs without bothering you.)

Otherwise, if you're running an auction, I would suggest letting it run full-term with no offers at all. People offering you money to end the auction early are generally those who are worried that if they do not persuade you to end the auction early and sell to them, the final price will go higher than they want to pay. The most action you will see is in the final minutes (and especially the final seconds). Things can get really lively at that point.

[dbfolks166mt]

I do prefer auction format, simply because Good til Cancelled items tend to be buried in the listings and never seen.  I have used GTC format in the past with poor results. The type of items I have to sell need to be seen widely, because there is a large supply.

The two main benefits I like about auctions are:

     I can have them all end on the same day since I do not use OBO. This leaves me free most of the week and when things do sell most are paid for quickly and only one trip to the PO is required. 

     An auction always has the potential to result in a sale that exceeds the starting price I put on the auction. With BIN items you are never going to get more than your asking price unless somebody is trying to scam you. I had a vintage Lego set that, based on market research, had an average selling price of $100 which is where I started the auction. The item sold for $363.70 had I listed it as BIN at $100 that would have been the price I got. That sale was completed in 2021 and the buyer was thrilled. 

It's odd what others have said because I rarely get offers, just bids.  Tho' eBay points out that people like to have the option of making an offer....  I don't get many.  

I have or will be changing to have to personally view offers. I don't think my lower price items will be a target. Its only been $29.99. I have changed those prices, just in case....

Just wondered if anyone else has experienced this....