Is it possible to avoid the scammers and sell a phone on ebay?

Avoriaz

We all know that phones on ebay attract scammers like doggie doo doos attract flies. Is it actually possible to successfully list and sell a phone or other valuable high tech item on ebay today without scammers ruining the auction?

I had already bought a number of items from a seller who also had a phone to sell. I sniped the auction when the price had reached £32 yesterday (Monday) morning with 7 seconds to go at £42. I was outbid at £43 by a bid placed 4 seconds after my bid with only 3 seconds to go. Fair enough, £42 was my maximum so I was not too bothered.

Out of interest I checked out the bidder to find that he had only registered yesterday and had zero feedback. Registered for barely 9 hours and his first bid is a snipe at 4 seconds to go. Clearly a scammer I thought so I emailed the seller to warn her.

I collected my purchases from her last night and she told me the buyer was already NARU and she had relisted the phone. I felt a bit sorry for her being messed around by that idiot scammer/spoiler. Without him/her she would have got between £32 and £42 cash from me for the phone with no p&p hassle and risk. I was a bit surprised she had not waited to see if I wanted a second chance offer. Maybe she was concerned that I had already bought 10 items very cheaply from her or maybe she thought she might get more than £42 by relisting it.

Is every phone listing targeted and ruined by scammers or do most people manage to successfully list and sell phones and other high tech stuff? If so, how can you best deter or avoid scammers? Specify UK buyers. State you will only ship to confirmed UK addresses etc I suppose. Anything else useful to add?

ormus

cash on collection? postal orders only? from anyone who has less than 50 FB?

pennylane99

ormus wrote:

cash on collection? postal orders only? from anyone who has less than 50 FB?

there have been fake postal orders too.....

sharon_currie

Maybe she didn't offer you the phone as a second chance offer as someone she knew(the highest bidder) was bidding it up for her!!!!!. If you do sell a phone on ebay - stay away from Nigerians who always say they are buying for their son,daughter, neice or nephew etc then they claim to have paid you by paypal (they e-mail you a dodgy receipt to say they have paid) and want you to send the phone to them. They are not worth the hassle as they will argue that they have paid even though you have not received the funds. Just avoid them at all costs, state on your advert in huge writing "no Nigerian business men". If they do bid, you are then able to cancel their bids - just keep an eye on where your bidders are from. I've sold a phone on ebay and these Nigerians still place a bid even when you clearly state UK bidders only. Hope this helps.

soolin

I have successfully sold many phones, and have one listed at the moment and so far have never had any dodgy bidders. I have never been asked to ship to Nigeria, nor have I been asked to end my phone auction early for any reason. I have received some spam emails offering me a wholesale deal from the far east , but that's about it.

Soo

Moglex

Well, I bought my phone on ebay and I don't think I'm a dodgy scammer.

neilwoods

Sold a cpl of phone no problem (luckly)

As to avoid them there is very little you can do. You can put anything you want in listing to deter scammer / nigerian. Only have UK postage and all the other safeguards. It wont stop them. So may make you feel better, but is worthless.

Its not like they are going to say "hey i am a nigerian scammer will you sell to me". Most of them use a UK registered account and bid on item and when won, only then do they say will you post to nigeria or somethere else, and then you get fake email.

Will only stop if & when ebay pull there finger out and put better safguards in place

colin79666

Use the ebay blocks to prevent many of the fishy bids.
i.e. block all non UK bidders, block those with -1 or less feedback etc

Avoriaz

sharon_currie wrote:

Maybe she didn't offer you the phone as a second chance offer as someone she knew(the highest bidder) was bidding it up for her!!!!!. .

Sharon, I really don’t think that was the case.

If it was a shill bid then the bid would have been placed much earlier and not with 4 seconds to go and she would have wanted to offer me the second chance at £42 as the high bidder raised the price from £32 to £43.

I actually feel sorry for her. Some of the stuff she sold to me was brand new in sealed packaging and most of it sold for far less than it is worth. I initially bought a guitar with a strap and a padded gig bag from her for only £38. It is a Fender Squier Stratocaster. These are well over £100 new and often sell for £50-£60 or more on ebay without a strap or gig bag so I got a real bargain. It is the usual story of wanting to be a rock star, buying all the brand new kit and then giving up after three weeks. The guitar etc was all in virtually new condition.

Because I needed to go and collect the guitar, I also bid on most of her other stuff as I knew I would not have to pay p&p. Most of it went for starting prices of 99p or £1.49 for items worth over £10 or more new. I also bought a Fender amp for £12.99. I will resell the guitar and amp and some of the other stuff. I will be surprised if I don’t make a reasonable profit plus I get to keep the items I actually wanted..

She was a pleasant though slightly timid girl in her late 20s or 30s. A man appeared briefly but said nothing more than hello. From her recent ebay selling activity I got the impression of a need to raise money so perhaps there is a sad story behind all this. Maybe money problems or the end of a relationship.

Of course maybe she is a professional thief who has just unloaded lots of hot property on me. Sorry, I have to go now, there is a police car pulling up outside.

Avoriaz

She has now sold the phone for £44.02. the buyer only has 2 feedbacks but I think he looks OK.

She has also left me 10 nice feedbacks. What a pity they only count as 1 to my score.

blockleys

sold my old phone with no probs was paid by paypal and received good feedback