Selling a valuable item. Any way to prevent newbies from bidding at the last second?

[theofficefan4life]

If I want to sell an item that I am fairly confident could fetch over $1,000 is there a way to somehow keep people with less than 50 or so fb -OR- noobs from bidding at the last second? From what I understand you can block bidders with -1 or less and block bidders with return histories, but what if I want to limit bidders with more discretion as listed above. Is there a loophole? Sigh. Even then, there's scam artists with good fb history. No guarantees that's for sure. I'm reading so many horror stories of buyers scamming the system so that it almost seems like too big of a gamble to sell something worth of considerable value. Does anyone else hesitate selling high valued items, now more than ever, due to eBay's lack of seller protections? 

[18704d]

Fraudulent buyers who have the knowledge.. can abuse buyer protection here and get your item "free"... as you fear.

You're asking about eBay "blocks".

Okay.

Just understand that after eBay's 30 day, money back guarantee timeline,

Paypal Also gives the buyer Not As Described protections..

for a full 180 days,

So a "perfect" eBay. .is no 100% guarantee of protection.

Hope everything turns out well for you.

Lynn

[kensgiftshop]

---

@theofficefan4life wrote:

Does anyone else hesitate selling high valued items, now more than ever, due to eBay's lack of seller protections? 

---

I won't list anything over $50 -$60.

[clu3]

---

@theofficefan4life wrote:

If I want to sell an item that I am fairly confident could fetch over $1,000 is there a way to somehow keep people with less than 50 or so fb -OR- noobs from bidding at the last second? From what I understand you can block bidders with -1 or less and block bidders with return histories, but what if I want to limit bidders with more discretion as listed above. Is there a loophole? Sigh. Even then, there's scam artists with good fb history. No guarantees that's for sure. I'm reading so many horror stories of buyers scamming the system so that it almost seems like too big of a gamble to sell something worth of considerable value. Does anyone else hesitate selling high valued items, now more than ever, due to eBay's lack of seller protections

---

There's always some risk.  I've had people who never used Ebay before create an account so they could buy items (I do a lot of social media sharing).  Everyone has to start somewhere. 

I generally avoid auctions entirely unless it's something I don't really care about.  Maybe offer it as buy it now with best offer, that way you can decline offers if you're suspicious of the buyer - gives you a bit more control.

[18704d]

"Interesting theory but it would mean if they're that experienced they also have taken the steps to mask or hide their IP address since eBay can easily use that to see that no matter how many accounts you have they're all originating from the same IP/home."

----------

@futuretomorrow

In my (likely?) scenario....

all the above won't matter.

If they say you sent a piece of junk to them...

Why wouldn't their Not As Described dispute look totally normal to eBay?

(and this only happens a very small percentage of the time)

They'll say you sent them an incorrect piece of junk

and eBay will refund them after receiving proof they returned your "junk" back to them.

.. which is what I thought your original post was about?  The exact thing you were fearing?

It's the feedback on that throwaway account they'd receive from you

not carrying over to other accounts they normally use.

Lynn

[robertdziuk]

I've been selling motorcycle parts for two weeks and am really getting weary of this bias against the sellers. I sold a sweet fork brace today for 99 cents. It was my stupid error in listing, but this stuff happens all the time, I'm sure

[missjen831]

---

@futuretomorrow wrote:

@18704d

Interesting theory but it would mean if they're that experienced they also have taken the steps to mask or hide their IP address since eBay can easily use that to see that no matter how many accounts you have they're all originating from the same IP/home.

---

Just because ebay can see it, it doesn’t mean they look into it. It doesn’t mean they take action. The information might be there....but that doesn’t mean eBay uses it. 

[missjen831]

---

@theofficefan4life wrote:

Maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Perhaps the question I should be asking is, are there any ways to leverage against getting scammed by selling a high valued item? Anyway to up the odds that you WON'T get a scam artist bidding? Or has eBay completely neutered the sellers and I just don't want to face the reality of that fact? Lol.

---

No not really. Listing for local pickup/cash payment is about as safe as it gets when selling ON eBay. The point I was trying to make earlier is, if someone wants to scam you, they will do it regardless of their feedback score. There are some scams that are

 more common with 0feedback/brand new IDs and some that are more common amongst experienced members. There’s really no way to reduce the risk when selling here. Best you can do is educate yourself, learn the commons scams, read the money back guarantee & understand how it affects you as a seller, and so on. 

[futuretomorrow]

@18704d

You know what's sad? I wanted to debate why this wouldn't exactly happen like that but I'm afraid you may actually be 100% correct. I didn't think through my comment in hindsight. eBay has no way of knowing that the fake account is from an experienced seller (if this does indeed happen) who knows how to game the system. To your point, all eBay will see is a buyer saying I received a flute instead of a harmonica and we know how these fakes claims usually end. 

Even if they discover a pattern of abuse by the buyer (fake account) and shuts them down, there's no evidence I've seen to suggest they'd look for IP address information or matching addresses etc. that could tip them off to what's happening. Then the scammer just goes and creates another account or uses many of the others they already have. 

[theofficefan4life]

My main concern is a buyer claiming item not as described then extortion to get a refund without having to send it back. This would be the first time I've ever sold something valued over $300. I have a screen worn, screen matched tie worn by Steve Carell with official COA from NBC studios plus a PSA DNA certifiend autographed photo of Steve wearing the same exact tie. I'm willing to bet the combination could go for well over $1K should I decide to sell. I don't some scam artist trying to use trickery and loopholes to try to somehow get ebay to refund him/her and they end up getting to keep it. Kind of like the guy who had a $1200 guitar refunded to a scam artist plus the scammer got to keep it. As a seller I'm VERY leary of selling an item of high value and if I was an eBay employee reading this now, please take some heed, because this is NOT a good sign when you have customers fearing selling because now you have a major reputation of protecting buyers and to hell with sellers.

[theofficefan4life]

Believe me I'm not worried about the 99.9% honest sellers when selling stuff that's under $100 which I normally sell. But when you want to sell an item you know it's worth over $1,000 potentially, and its the first time you ever tried to sell something that valuable, then you HAVE to be worried about the other .01% of people who scam the system. 

[theofficefan4life]

Hey, I never thought of doing best offer only! GREAT SOLUTION! While not 100% foolproof, it certainly takes the risks out of snipers. Thanks friend!

[robot-hands]

The best way to avoid zero feedback last second bidders is to not run auctions at all.

If you put Best Offer on your items you can do a bit of vetting your buyers before accepting.

[thatsallfolks]

---

@robertdziuk wrote:

I've been selling motorcycle parts for two weeks and am really getting weary of this bias against the sellers. I sold a sweet fork brace today for 99 cents. It was my stupid error in listing, but this stuff happens all the time, I'm sure

---

How is it "bias against the sellers" when you failed to price your item properly?

[csbbct]

---

@theofficefan4life wrote:

If I want to sell an item that I am fairly confident could fetch over $1,000 is there a way to somehow keep people with less than 50 or so fb -OR- noobs from bidding at the last second? From what I understand you can block bidders with -1 or less and block bidders with return histories, but what if I want to limit bidders with more discretion as listed above. 

---

I have never used this particular buyer requirement (in site preferences), but maybe you could try setting it only during the time your auction is running, then remove it afterward.  It allows you to select "1" of my items and it allows you to select a feedback score of "1"or lower.  It's not clear to me if the "currently winning" means the one item they are trying to bid on or if it means another auction you are running in addition to the one you're concerned about.  Maybe another seller here would know.  I don't think I'd trust Customer Support to answer correctly as I feel 95% of the time when I call they're just guessing their answers.  

"Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought "10" of my items in the last 10 days.   Only apply this block to buyers who have a feedback score of "5" or lower."

I don't know where you're seeing that you can block buyers with "return histories".  The only really useful block I think eBay offers is blocking buyers with Unpaid Item Strikes.  The block for "buyers with negative feedback scores" is TOTALLY useless since sellers are unable to leave negatives for buyers. 

[dolldesigns4u]

After me losing several hundred dollars on rare, valuable items, I'll tell you what other sellers told me 12 years ago.  "don't sell anything on Ebay that you cannot afford to lose".