Selling to a nonexistent buyer with 0 feedback?

[mark520fay353]

On my seller account, I had a quick sale that went through; I required the buyer to pay upfront with the "buy it now" feature.

I made a message as follows (Names/location) will be blurred out to fit Ebays ToS):
"Hello, fr*****
Since you are a buyer with 0 feedbacks, we would like to check up before continuing.
What is your reason for purchasing?
Will you be using this item yourself?
Your answers will be manually reviewed.
Thanks for your cooperation."
He replied that he's buying for his son's 14th birthday.

Using the information provided by Paypal, I looked up the buyer name and addresses; according to that info, there is only one S***** W***** that exists in California at the age of 22, which is far from his address in Georgia.
I looked up the county he lives in according to his address, in the county property appraiser (public records), it shows that a senior home owns the property. The county tax collectors site finds no record of the person either.

Would a 22 years old live in a senior home and want to buy his 14-year-old son an expensive birthday gift?

Will you continue withe the sale?

[dhbookds]

If he paid..........you have no reason not to ship.........

[18704d]

"I made a message as follows (Names/location) will be blurred out to fit Ebays ToS):
"Hello, fr*****
Since you are a buyer with 0 feedbacks, we would like to check up before continuing.
What is your reason for purchasing?
Will you be using this item yourself?
Your answers will be manually reviewed.
Thanks for your cooperation.""

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I would strongly advise you discontinue to send such messages.

It will not serve you well on eBay, and may actually open you up to scammers.

eBay buyers are only required to pay for the item(s) they win and purchase here.

jmtcw,

Lynn

[uncseniorsportsfan]

If I were a legitimate buyer and had paid for the item - I would find your email offensive.

I have had many 0 feedback buyers through the years and never had a problem.  On the other hand, I have had buyers with hundreds of feedback turn out to be a pain in the rear.  

If I wanted to verify someone I would use the white pages or call the post office for that address.  Property records aren't always up to date and a lot of people are renters not property owners.  

That being said - I would never sell anything related to computers on eBay.  

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@mark520fay353 wrote:

On my seller account, I had a quick sale that went through; I required the buyer to pay upfront with the "buy it now" feature.

I made a message as follows (Names/location) will be blurred out to fit Ebays ToS):
"Hello, fr*****
Since you are a buyer with 0 feedbacks, we would like to check up before continuing.
What is your reason for purchasing?
Will you be using this item yourself?
Your answers will be manually reviewed.
Thanks for your cooperation."
He replied that he's buying for his son's 14th birthday.

Using the information provided by Paypal, I looked up the buyer name and addresses; according to that info, there is only one S***** W***** that exists in California at the age of 22, which is far from his address in Georgia.
I looked up the county he lives in according to his address, in the county property appraiser (public records), it shows that a senior home owns the property. The county tax collectors site finds no record of the person either.

Would a 22 years old live in a senior home and want to buy his 14-year-old son an expensive birthday gift?

Will you continue withe the sale?

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If I were a new buyer and received an email like that, I would immediately tell the seller to go pound sand. I would then leave a big fat nasty negative.  I would then diss Ebay and its sellers at every chance I got.

How DARE you go stalking a buyer like that! That is totally unacceptable. Sellers wonder why they can't sell anything anymore...this is part of the problem.

You have NO IDEA if that is a brand new buyer, or an experienced buyer with a new ID. We can have more than one ID, it's perfectly acceptable to Ebay.

This makes me not want to buy anything here ever again.

[bonjourami]

Wow//if I ever received such an email from a seller, I would respond with"Who in the h--- do you think you are"? Then I would request to cancel the item and neg you.

[reallynicestamps]

Where did you get the idea that the buyer , who says he is buying it for his 14 yo, is 22 years old?

Not many eight year olds become parents.

If you cancel the sale, you will get a Defect on your account, and the paying buyer can also leave FB.

It's not unusual for buyers to have high value purchases delivered to their place of work rather than have them dropped on the porch or have to retrieve them from the Post Office at some difficult time. 

DD works as a physiotherapist in senior's residence. Her youngest patient is a 30 year old quadriplegic. There are also a couple of cerebral palsy and Parkinson's patients who are under 60.

[biggymoe]

I would echo the above responses.  But to try to understand your logic, why would you even think of doing such an exhaustive investigation of any buyer?  Do you investigate all of your buyers, to this extent?

[iboughtit · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you are afraid of being scammed.  Call paypal, tell them you are concerned about the buyer because they have 0 feedback. (leave out the rest)   Ask them if they have any safeguards or advice regarding funds, or scams.  

Check paypal and make sure the funds are good.  Get a reference number on the call to paypal.

Ship the item a little late, check paypal that day.

Send the item.  Hope for the best.  

If something goes wrong, blame paypal, use the reference number.  They will probably tell you to take a flying leap, but hey, they might give you the money.

Good luck, anyway.

[richard1rst]

Where do you get the idea that he is a non-existent buyer?

As for the zero feedback - although eBay does not do enough advertising to satisfy many of us, they do SOME advertising. People who respond to those ads are, by definition, new buyers with zero feedback.

Worst of all, you have just told the rest of the world (including eBay monitors) your poor judgment.

Don't be surprised if eBay cracks your knuckles for unprofessional

conduct

Finally - if you are that paranoid then maybe you don't belong here leaving buyers with a negative impression they may carry forward to the rest of us.

[onlinecentral]

Here are the lowest feedback scores for my last 50 sales.
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
4
5
9
I just shipped the packages to the Confirmed Address.
I have had 3 Unauthorized Use of Buyer Account disputes filed against me since enrolling in Managed Payments in September of 2018.
eBay cancelled the transactions which maybe affected the card holders but not me or my Sold Items page.
The message also said to not contact the buyers.
All 3 were apparently ruled in my favor since I received no further messages from eBay.
eBay never put a hold on my funds.
Paypal always ruled in my favor.
Paypal always put an annoying 21 day hold on the funds.
You over stepped your bounds to investigate the buyer.

[gwenscupboard]

Correct me if I'm wrong but ….

Guest checkouts appear to be "new" buyers with 0 feedback.

Yes!?!? (do you see that I'm confused?)

[fashunu4eeuh]

Would i go thru with the sale?

Yes. I would be obligated to complete the transaction or face a defect from eBay, negative feedback from the buyer, and finally, no sale/profits for my efforts.

The time to assess one’s risk tolerance is prior to listing the item, not after the sale.

The questionnaire to the buyer was ill advised and potentially damaging to both the platform, and yourself, should the buyer complain to eBay and then leave, never to return. A lack of feedback does not indicate the person is untrustworthy or criminal. One cannot tell a scammer from so little information.

The situation could be looked at differently. If the tables were turned, one could surmise from your feedback history that you are an inexperienced seller with a very low transaction count and possessing only 27 feedback over several years. Should buyers hold you in suspicion based solely on your low feedback? Should buyers avoid purchasing from you because of it?

There are a few ways to mitigate one’s level of risk when selling online. I’m afraid the method you employed here, as described, does nothing to protect your interests.

[yuzuha]

Wow.  That is UNBELIEVABLY rude and invasive.  Why is it any of your business who the buyer is or what they plan to do with the item they purchased?  If someone wants to buy something from me and set it on fire, they're more than welcome to do so and I don't care because it isn't any of my business.  They paid, I ship.

How would YOU like to be interrogated like that whenever you made your first purchase on a website?  After all, how are they supposed to know that you really are who you say you are?

[luckythewinner]

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I required the buyer to pay upfront with the "buy it now" feature.

If the buyer paid you, clearly he is not "nonexistent". 

I made a message as follows

If I received that wildly inappropriate message from a seller, after I got my item I would probably neg him.