Help please! Another potentially dodgy ebayer...

helenstuff

Sorry for the loooong missive:

Last night I sold an iPod shuffle (bought on the MSE advice with 999 Tesco points – thank you very much!) to taff_26 who has one - legit but for a ‘low value’ item - feedback. They paid by paypal almost immediately.

Their paypal account is unverified, and their address unconfirmed, so if they are a scammer, I’ll have no seller protection if I go ahead and post the item. I sent them a (very polite!) email asking if there was a reason for this – hoping that as they’re new to ebay they’re also new to paypal and just haven’t got round to doing it yet. I haven’t heard anything back as yet.

So I looked at other stuff they’ve been bidding on. What really raised the alarm bells was another iPod, from this person: ejebppe – who seems to have a lot of meaningless feedback on non-items built up from the last couple of days only – and since last night is no longer a registered member.

It could be that my poor buyer is new to this and is being scammed themselves – but being of a naturally suspicious nature (since I started using ebay, anyway!) I can’t help thinking that there’s more to it than that.

So that’s the background. My question is: what do you think I should do – particularly if I don’t get a satisfactory / response to my email as I’m then just hanging on to this man’s money and not posting? What would anybody else do if it was them?

Thanks in advance for your excellent advice (sorted me out last time I had a scammer!).

milliejon

I would just wait until you hear from him/her with a response to your email. If they're genuine, they won't mind being asked the question, or replying.

You'll get a feeling about the person from their reply.

They may be trying their luck at buying to sell on, and so bidding on several of the same items. I do understand your concern though.

I used to be very trusting, but over the past couple of months dealing with buyers on ebay, I've become very warey (sp) of people.

Let us know how you get on.

smartie1976

If everything *Seems* ok and you do go ahead and send it, send it special delivery. Even if they've not paid for SD. This will cover you value wise, and the buyer will have to sign to receive it, which will prove delivery.
Really then you only have to worry about potential chargebacks through fraud (paypal)


you can also check sites like 192.com to verify if they live at the given address, and BT dir enq to check their phone number.

highguyuk

Sorry to say this, but because it is eBay buyers/sellers do rather tend to look on the negative side of things when it is potentially ok.

I'd just wait for a reply to your email, and take it from there.

helenstuff

Thanks all for your comments so far. I'll let you know when/if I hear back from him. Thing is, there were a number of brand new 0 and 1 feedback-ers bidding on it so that probably makes it look more dodgy - even if this guy turns out not to be!

MyUserNamesTaken

Hmm...I'd take a look at the other items the buyer has bid on. Seems he/she has also bought 3 ab belts from three different sellers. I think I would check the address out on 192.com. I'd be very wary about accepting a paypal payment from this buyer. Also, contact the other sellers to see if they've had any problems. This buyer has bought from 5 sellers.

Use the "Get buyers details" thing on ebay to check whether the buyer's registered ebay address is the same as the paypal address. Then check on 192.com to see if that person is registered at that address. If you really are that worried, ask them to pay by cheque. If you really are that worried, tell them your paypal account has been hijacked, as such, you can only accept cheque payments for now (and that means waiting for the cheque to clear before sending the item out).

Hintza

This person is brand new they will not yet have a verified account and UK paypal accounts can't always be confirmed.

What your selling is not exactly the crown jewells. Check them out by all means but I would have had this item in the post already sent by at least recorded but I imagine SD would be better for you.

helenstuff

Thanks for your comment. I plan to send by SD anyway, but it's paypal fraud that I'm concerned about. It may not be a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it would be a considerable percentage of my ebay profits if I lost it and I am using ebay to try and help pay off the mortgage :eek: so I'd like it to be worthwhile!

The address appears to check out, but I guess if he's legit, he's most likely to respond to my email and we'll get it sorted. If not, then I'll be back for more advice on what happens next...

helenstuff

So I had an email back from him saying he's new and sorry. He's also now bidding on a few other things, so I'm going to take the risk and post to him today. Fingers crossed...

milliejon

Helen - you're obviously happy with his response. That's how I would have dealt with it. Best of luck, and keep us updated if there are any other problems.

missile

Can one get their listing removed from 192.com?