Seeking advice - buyer just signed up with eBay today

[teamstandy]

Should I be suspicious of a buyer who signs up for eBay and purchases something on their very first day? That's the situation I have right now. When I click on their username, it shows they've been a member since July 31, 2020 (today). They bought a $40 item.

What do you recommend I do here? Should I proceed or refund their money? It looks a bit suspicious to me. Their mailing address in eBay and PayPal match up, and I confirmed it's a valid mailing address at the following link. But I don't like the fact they sign up and buy the same day and have 0 reviews of course.

What would you do????

https://www.edq.com/free-address-lookup-tool/

Thanks,

Andy

[frodobagginskennedy · Accepted solution]

Why is this suspicious?  Everyone starts at 0 and everyone has to have an initial sign up date.  If you ship to the address given to you by E Bay/Paypal and ship within your stated time you do have seller protection (one of the only protections that actually works on fee bay)

$40.00 does not sound like a high value scamming item.  What reason would you use for canceling?  

[mam98031]

Why would that be of concern?  When you signed up to be a seller, did you start selling right away?  If so, does that mean you are not a good seller or that buyers should exercise caution?

Your concern doesn't make any sense to me.  We invite new members to the site all the time.  It is the only way we can grow.  But because they are new you want to hold that against them?  What kind of sense does that make?  You'd feel better if there was a waiting period between sign up and when they can actually start purchasing?  Why?  What purpose does that serve?  Should this be a requirement for new sellers too?  If not, why?

My recommendation is process your sale.  Ship it and be very happy you got one of your first dozen sales on Ebay.  Congratulations and I hope your future is bright.

[inhawaii]

That usually means the buyer saw smething of yours they wanted to buy and signed up with ebay just to buy YOUR item.  Nothing suspicious here. 

[nkmipgolf]

Be concerned when they ask you to text me, ask for gift card for a neice. Otherwise if PayPal sees the payment your OK.

[teamstandy]

I'm being overly cautious I guess. I've only been selling on eBay a few months and have read too much about the dark side of selling on eBay. I know $40 isn't a big ticket item. I wasn't aware of the seller protection. Based on your and mam98031's feedback, I'll proceed with the sale. Thanks for your input!

Andy

[frodobagginskennedy]

You are doing everything right!  A little bit of caution is good but try not to stress yourself out over the little things.  I walked away from e bay for a couple years from 2008 to 2010 as I was trying to jump through all of the hoops e bay was forcing upon us.

E bay is a nice place to sell if you do not take things personally, do not fight a return( you will lose) and the number one rule is NEVER EVER NEVER list something you cannot afford to give away.  Just incase you DO run into a scammer.

[teamstandy]

That's good advice right there. I definitely wouldn't sell anything over a couple hundred dollars. But so far it's been good. Everything I've sold has been well below $100, so probably under the scammers radar.

I've heard eBay almost always sides with the buyer, which is quite disappointing. I'd love to know what criteria they use to determine who to side with, because they need to keep both parties happy.

[frodobagginskennedy]

They do NOT care about keeping sellers happy.  They will always side with the buyer on an Item not as described case.  The only seller protection you can 95% count on is if they file an item not received case and you have an online verifable DELIVERED scan.  

The other protection would be what I posted previously.  Always ship to the address provided.  Never change the address for anyone.  If you do you will lose seller protection.

[mtgraves7984]

For what it's worth... I sell to a brand newbie about once a month. As posted earlier... I just assume the buyer finally found exactly what they were looking for. 

[teamstandy]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. It puts my mind at ease.