Something fishy with this buyer

Midmac

Its took me 2 weeks to sell my 2 brand new mobiles. eventually sold them both for next to nothing profit

Bernie

Two LG8120 phones that were exactly 1 year old. Each went for about £35 with an additional £9.00 to cover costs.

One went to an established eBay member from whom I accepted immediate payment via Paypal and posted off the kit for next-day delivery. This deal was literally done and dusted in hours.

The second went to a newbie (6 months membership but no feedback whatsoever) - so I refused to be paid via PP before I was asked and asked for payment via electronic transfer or cheque. This did mean that things dragged on for best part of two weeks because the cheque took an age to snail it's way to me and another aeon to clear - but at least the deal was guaranteed to end successfully for both the buyer and seller.

Some may consider this policy for dealing with newbie to be a bit harsh but it has resulted in 100% success for me as a seller and has enabled the newbies to establish positive feedback.

...and I have no idea how many scammers I have fended off with my precautionary "No-Paypal" email to newbies.

:beer:

black-saturn

Whatever you do dont send it to someone in Nigeria. You will never get your money.

notagain_3

The scam can be one of money, hijacked paypal account, stolen credit card, stolen or forged money order etc. Either way you'll never get your money.
Scammers actually push the price of phones up on ebay, cos they try to outbid each other. The more winning bids, the higher the percentage of theft they can try to commit.
Theres a guy on there now (alledgedly from China) who has been appearing since early december only selling Prior race snowboards ex 8752623276 . Its a scam, but he keeps just changing his username, putting up 1 day actions selling £500 plus boards for 600RMB (about £47).
I won one once (just to annoy him) and asked for him to send first then I would send him the money, he declined. Turned up a couple of days later selling under a different name. Ebays a farce sometimes.

Kimberley

People learn the hard way, i never sell to those with 0 feedback or Overseas, it's not worth the risk. So far i've had 4 or so 0 feedback members bidding on my old phone, i've had to cancel and block them all.

Bernie

I've never had a problem with a newbie!

I do, however, take the precaution of emailing them as they appear in my auctions to politely inform them that I will not accept payment by Paypal (PP) if they win. This is entirely down to the infamous "Chargeback" facility in PP that can be used to withdraw funds after goods are despatched!

I diplomatically explain that because of these sorts of actions by unscrupulous persons who set up ebay and PP accounts simply to steal from sellers, new members have to be treated with a certain amount of caution. I insist on payment by bank transfer or cheque. Once the funds are cleared, I send the goods.

Thus, my relatively few sales to newbies have all gone smoothly (if slowly). I get the money, they get the goods and their first positive feedback.

:beer:

mr_fishbulb

I've only got 1 Feedback becuase I've only bought 1 thing off ebay. How many things am I supposed to buy before people trust me?

bikertim

Got 2 emails today first one from paypal telling me the money had been paid .It must have been a bad day at the paypal office because they seem to have forgotten my name and it was full of spelling mistakes Second email came telling me that the money will be in my account when I have posted the phone and sent a tracking number. :rotfl: I made something up and sent it to see what response I get.Phone has gone to the second bidder but may as well play with him for a bit

starlight_xx

Kimberley wrote:

People learn the hard way, i never sell to those with 0 feedback or Overseas, it's not worth the risk. So far i've had 4 or so 0 feedback members bidding on my old phone, i've had to cancel and block them all.

If everyone did that NOONE would have any feedback though! At one time someone trusted you enough to sell to you despite your 0 rating.

Personally im more suspicious of 0 rated sellers

zeke

I've had great fun with the scammers in the past and try to wind them up. A typical exchange will involve a response from me in the nearly unintelligible broken English that they use. If Nigeria is mentioned I will state that I am coming to Lagos in the near future and will bring the item along with lots of similar stuff as I am looking to set up export opportunities etc etc. In some cases I have exchanged dozens of emails with individuals each time using just the right blend of apparent naivety, potential opportunity and general confusion to keep it going. There have been times when I've been in tears of laughter when a fresh reply has come in.

I figure the time they spend dealing with me is taking them away from bugging someone else