Zero Feedback Buyers

[j2774]

eBay is a far more sophisticated site today than it was at its birth, but I also think it is a far more dangerous site today in some ways, too.

I am concerned about selling to zero feedback buyers who signed up on the same day they made a purchase.  Last year I had a brand new zero feedback buyer purchase an item.  I think s/he purchased as a guest.   I am not sure.  Anyway, the transaction was cancelled.  More recently, I had the same thing happen again with the same item, so I messaged the buyer and advised that because of the type of item s/he is purchasing, I have some concern that s/he is a zero feedback buyer who signed up today.  I asked the buyer if s/he would like to tell me anything more about herself/himself.  So far, no reply to my message.

I did an on-line search for the buyer's name and address, and I found the name and address.  This made me feel slightly better until I saw that the buyer is supposed to be 97 years old.  Sorry, but I cannot imagine any 97 year old would be on eBay buying a cosmetic item either for use or as a collectible.  

I am ready to cancel the transaction if there is no reply to my message.  As a seller, I am not eager to post an expensive item to someone who might be a scammer using someone else's name and address.  Suppose the buyer claims the item is a fake or the package was empty or some other lie?  I do not trust eBay and PayPal to protect me as the seller.  I have heard about too many scams and seen too many videos on YouTube.  I shall never forget one poor young man who was actually the legit buyer of some mobile phones who once he received his purchases opened empty boxes in one case and broken items in another.  He opened his packages on-line to do an "unboxing" video.  I do not know if he ever recovered his money or not.

Please no one tell me that we were all zero feedback buyers at one point in time.  I know this, but things have changed a lot on eBay in the last 20 years, and I think it is prudent to ask these these questions these days, especially if the buyer does not reply to messages.

[vintagecraze50]

Been selling here for over a decade and never had a problem with someone new here. The fact that they are new is by no means a way to determine if they will be bad customers.

[vintagecraze50]

Also someone here can have a lot of record of transactions and could have scammed hundreds of sellers one way or the other. 

[j2774]

It does not mean the buyer is not a scammer, either.  If the conclusion was so clear cut, I would not be asking the question.  A 97 year old buyer?  Sorry, but that seems a bit of a stretch to me, especially if there is no reply to my message.  

There are plenty of scammers out there.  

[j2774]

Yes, this is true, vintagecraze50.  

I tell you what, too, I also think the scammers are reading these boards.  

[lamber9347]

@j2774 With respect to your worries I write the following in response. Nothing in life is fully guaranteed not to go wrong, nothing. When I read posts such as yours where a seller seems overly concerned with a zero FB buyer, it reminds me of another scenario. I have a friend who 15 years ago finally decided to purchase her first house. She became overly concerned with what could happen. 

What if the house burns in a fire? What if they come back from a vacation and the house is flooded from pipes breaking while they were away for two weeks? What if she loses her job and the house gets foreclosed on? What if it's not the right house for her and she can't then move again due to the high cost of houses? So many scenarios she came up with that she backed out. Now 15 years later she is still living in the same apartment, and no longer has the money for a deposit on a house because she spent that on rent increases over the years....

You can drive yourself batty worrying about a zero FB buyer and who loses in the end, you do because you didn't sell your item. I've posted many times that I've never, ever, had an issue with a zero buyer- not once. Last month I sold a very expensive item to a zero buyer, who signed up that same day. Item was delivered now five weeks ago and not a word from them. 

If I was that zero buyer and a seller sent me a message asking me to " tell me anything more about herself/himself" I also would not reply as I would think they are crazy. This is an online portal for selling items. There is no requirement that a buyer have to prove who they are in advance. 

So it's not that I'm trying to change your mind, you will do as you feel you need to do, but I'm just saying that worrying about the possibility of something going wrong gets you nowhere. FYI- a lot of those sites that claim to "identify" the occupant get a lot of info wrong. I can Google my own address and I get the name of the person who used to live at my house, 13 years before me. On another site my name comes up correctly but not my age, email, or phone number. So you cannot rely on just checking out a strangers address to think you are receiving the correct info. Best of luck to you....

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@j2774 wrote:

It does not mean the buyer is not a scammer, either.  If the conclusion was so clear cut, I would not be asking the question.  A 97 year old buyer?  Sorry, but that seems a bit of a stretch to me, especially if there is no reply to my message.  

There are plenty of scammers out there.  

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The time to evaluate one’s risk tolerance is not after the item has sold. That is because eBay will level a defect on one’s account for a seller-initiated cancellation.  And trying to work around the defect with a “problem with address” reason is not honest. All a customer has to do is complain to eBay that not only was their transaction cancelled, it was done so fraudulently. And then there are two black marks on the seller’s account.

Being fearful of low feedback buyers is bad for business. They should be welcomed to eBay, not held in suspicion. A lack of sales history is not enough information to determine a bad buyer. But if you frequent the boards, where it seems scammers are around every bend, one can get a false impression of their prevalence. 

In over 10 years of selling, i have never encountered a fraudulent buyer. They exist, but not in great number or none of us would be here. The bottom line is that a feedback score does not define who the scammers are. So i sell with confidence knowing that my transactions will go smoothly, and they always do. If i encounter a difficulty, i will deal with it when it happens, rather than try to pre-empt something that has not happened, and is not likely to happen based on my experience.

You have a high feedback number. That makes you an unattractive target for scammers. They are going to look for easier prey, not a seasoned seller. As for the lack of response, your buyer may well not check in to his eBay account on a daily basis. It is entirely possible that he is unaware of your concern.  And the buyer’s advanced age would not give me pause. Older folks want to smell nice too. Or perhaps it is a gift. Either way, they paid, your obligation is to ship. 

When all is said and done, no one can force a seller to follow thru with a transaction, any more than force a buyer to pay. But there are consequences to either of those scenarios. Good luck with your decision.

[j2774]

Your points are taken, lamber9347, but I no plans to worry myself sick about this buyer.  Either I feel confident the buyer is legit, or I will not sell to him/her.  That is the long and the short of it.  As I said in my first post, we were all zero feedback buyers at one time or another, and perhaps if I were selling a $2 potato peeler I would not think twice about it, but it is is foolhardy not to question larger purchases.

Thank you all for your replies.  

[katzrul15]

If your Buyer checks out as a "guest",  they show as created today and a Zero FB buyer, etc.  Happens to us all the time with our sales and have never had an issue.

No offense - I have no idea why you are googling your buyers?  If you google our address, it is not even the correct picture of our house and we BUILT this house in 2001.  Google can be your friend, but it is not always accurate.

Is this some really expensive item?  if yes, ship it with signature confirmation.  If no, Ship it.

I really do think you are over thinking this.  We have sold here since 2004.  Zero FB buyers do not concern me at all.

(You can certainly cancel the order, that is your right - but your Buyer can still leave you FB and you still get a hit on your metrics potentially for cancelling the order.  )

[lamber9347 · Accepted solution]

@j2774 I'm certain you will be very successful in your future sales and I wish you all the best....

[perfumenmore]

We all were new buyers once. Realize that. Everything is a risk today. Walking out the door is a risk. If we thought that way we'd never leave our homes. If you get scammed, you deal with it.  Aren't you being a little presumptuous about the intent of a new buyer and their knowledge of this site, or any selling platform for that matter.  They might have no idea that you are trying to reach them, or are too busy, or don't give a #^$($*.  It could be someone using someone else's ebay account to purchase something and that isn't so unusual either. It could be his/her father, or grandfather, for all you know.  But you don't know. You did a search and it gave you information that you have no idea how old or accurate that info is, just as lamber9347 said.  You are lucky the seller didn't reply and tell you to take a flying leap and report you to ebay. 

[j2774]

This board is supposed to be a place for intelligent discussion, anamandy, so I suggest you take a flying leap.

End of discussion folks.  Thank everyone who responded in a thoughtful, polite manner.

[june_elizabeth1971]

I've had that problem.  Since I sell machinery and industrial components, some of my items are quite expensive.  I've probably had 6 people this past year commit to buy something and then never pay or hear from them again.  Probably either a bunch of kids out there with nothing better to do or people that are just bored with life.  I immediately add them to my block list as soon as I can.  Don't cancel an order without first getting the buyer to send in writing a request to cancel.  You'll get a defect on your selling performance and that can really affect your FVF.  Take it from me, I've had experience with that.  Takes a few months to get that off your record.  I also get people wanting a refund for an item they say is defective but don't realize they have to ship it back first.  Once they find that out, I rarely hear from them again.  There's a whole bunch of scammers out there just looking for people to prey on.

[sold_broken_fixed_used_or_new]

Seems now that 50% of my auctions are always zero feedback bidders and they never pay.. Not 1 ! I've been on Ebay over 20 years buying & selling. Lately (last 2 years) I keep getting zero (0) bidders running my auctions up and never paying. So sick of it. From now on I'm deleting bids from (0) history bidders and blocking them. Ebays payment structure is rediculous now and take almost 10 days between payment received & processed to my wallet. 

[tishtop60]

I have also just experienced the same issue a few days ago. I noticed a zero feedback buyer, and wondered if that was a legit buyer. They outbid what seemed to be a very eager buyer, by $1. The zero feedback buyer did not pay or respond to me after follow up and I had to re-list. Grrrr! I plan to contact these type of buyers ahead of time from now on. Very frustrating to both sellers and buyers!

Thank you for posting.