Suspcious Ebay buyer - Advice please!

CBo

Yes remember buying a 7" tv and tape thing in 1993 or something for £5 seemed a fantastic deal. they were selling it that cheap as they couldn't test it with power lead. It was just a standard 2pin phillips connection.

7db

To be honest, not a lot you can do about it now but hope it gets there and that he's honest.

In these cases you should always send recorded (at least), and you might even drop it round there if it is that valuable.

pinkshoes

The_Grouch wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - maybe I am losing my mind, as I was thinking along the lines of:

Unexpected buyer profile + living local + not replying to e-mails = car boot seller angry at my reselling is reclaiming their item and coming to get me.....not impossible is it?

I don't think people are that sad!! And if the car boot person was an ebay fan, then surely they would have just sold it on ebay themselves????

You should be more worried of sending it unrecorded, as they could easily claim it didn't arrive, and paypal will refund them, and you end up out of pocket.

POSSETTE

If you do lose out on this deal,technically you have only lost the small amount of money you paid for it,plus fvf's. You never had the 10x amount in your pocket to lose really!
best way to look at it!

The_Grouch

POSSETTE wrote: »

If you do lose out on this deal,technically you have only lost the small amount of money you paid for it,plus fvf's. You never had the 10x amount in your pocket to lose really!
best way to look at it!

I will be happy and relieved if that is all that does happen! I don't care if I lose out on the money. I might be over-reacting expecting a visit from the heavies about this but there is definately something fishy going on.

If nothing was afoot then surely they would have replied to one of my e-mails - especially the crazy one I sent telling them I'm suspicious and I don't want any trouble.

Thanks everyone for all your comments - I'll keep you updated!

soolin

janegal wrote: »

Hello The_Grouch
You have not to worry that much. The guy put a bid in, won, he paid for it, right? You have his money, so you sent the item. I hpe you have sent it recorded and signed for, so he has no chance to say he did not receive it. You should be fine.

In the future, if you are unsure, you can cancel the transaction or offer to the second highest bidder - called 2nd chance. Once I was bidding on an item and the seller cancelled the transaction. I complained to eBay and they told me that the seller has the rights to choose his buyer in the same way a buyer can choose from whom he is going to buy from.

No you can't cancel a transaction once auction is finished. All you can do is try to persuade a buyer to go through a mutual cancellation to recover your fees, but then the buyer can say no and you lose them. They also remain eligible to leave feedback.

rdp1980

Don't panic.

Just because somebody is from a dodgy estate on the other side of town, does not mean that they are related to the local M-a-f-i-a. I don't think you need to worry about finding a horse's head in your bed next to you in the morning.

It could well be that this person doesn't use eBay much, perhaps only uses eBay once in a blue moon to hunt for specific items, maybe as a gift for someone who is after something specific.

Alternatively it could be a regular eBay user who, for whatever reason, has a second account and they chose to use this rather than their main account to make his purchase from you. It could even be a computer dealer who doesn't want people easily tracking down what he has paid for items, or something he is buying out of personal interest rather than part of his business.

Paranoia aside, if anyone was going to try and mess you about on eBay in the sinister fashion you have suggested, they're not likely to be polite enough to pay you by PayPal first - especially if as you say it is for a fair amount of money.

Worst that will happen is you get an 'item not received' claim, and PayPal claw your money back and refund the buyer. Incidentally, now that the Post Office enter the Recorded details onto their computer and issue you a printed receipt rather than the old style red slip you used to fill in, they don't even seem to insist on a sender address being affixed to the package. Still a good idea to put it on, even if it's only your house number and postcode, but too late now of course.

Some people are just useless at communication, so I wouldn't read too much into not getting a reply to your emails. Especially if it is someone's second eBay account, it may be linked to an email address they don't check very often.

If he hasn't paid, I would be more suspicious as to his intentions. But as it is, all you have to do is sit back, don't flap, and hope he doesn't claim non receipt.

prowla

You've been paid (inc. P&P); maybe the buyer doesn't have a car, works long hours, doesn't want to meet, whatever.
But you've entered into an arrangement and the buyer is complying.
They might even have gone away for a few days...

soolin

rdp1980 wrote: »

Paranoia aside, if anyone was going to try and mess you about on eBay in the sinister fashion you have suggested, they're not likely to be polite enough to pay you by PayPal first - especially if as you say it is for a fair amount of money.

Worst that will happen is you get an 'item not received' claim, and PayPal claw your money back and refund the buyer. Incidentally, now that the Post Office enter the Recorded details onto their computer and issue you a printed receipt rather than the old style red slip you used to fill in, they don't even seem to insist on a sender address being affixed to the package. Still a good idea to put it on, even if it's only your house number and postcode, but too late now of course.
pt.

I htink if someone wanted to muck about then yes they definitely would use paypal Any other payment method would only favour the seller as nothing else can be reclaimed.

As for postage, OP did not send this tracked so has no way of knowing whether it does get delivered or not. If it doesn't and OP does have a COP (and I don't think that has been confirmed yet) then a claim for loss can be made via Royal mail assuming item was under £36.

rdp1980

soolin wrote: »

I htink if someone wanted to muck about then yes they definitely would use paypal Any other payment method would only favour the seller as nothing else can be reclaimed.

You misunderstood what I meant.

The OP was suggesting the buyer was going to come round and do his kneecaps in. He would not need to pay by PayPal, or any other method, prior to doing this. The fact that he has paid, to me, makes it less likely that the OP is getting a visit from the heavies.