Buyer with Zero feedback

carolinabirichina

Hi all

Just looking for a bit of advice - I sold an expensive item today (approx £200) on a BIN and the buyer has zero feedback and only joined ebay today presumably to buy my item.

He has paid by Paypal and has emailed me wanting to know when I will post it to him.

I'm going to send it by trackable courier service and also send insured - is there anything else I can do to try to safeguard the transaction?

I have obtained his contact details from ebay and have got his mobile number.

Obviously worried that something may go badly wrong and I end up losing the item and the payment!

Thanks in advance for any help

SEE UPDATE BELOW Chargeback now claimed & PS3 scam

FURTHER UPDATE - Paypal have found in my favour - see post below

Crowqueen

You need to send by Special Delivery (properly insured) but otherwise this is just like dealing with a buyer with any other number of feedback. They would still have the same rights to what they paid for as someone with 100 or 1,000 FB; this is why eBay should do away with buyer feedback IMO, it just confuses things. If the buyer has paid (and you have checked your Paypal account and My eBay to see that it actually has reached your account) then you need to treat it as you would any other sale.

montymud

Have you checked paypal by typing the address in the browser bar rather then any links you may have been sent? Is the buyer from the UK. It may be perfectly genuine, everyone has to start somewhere but do send SD

techspec

I'm more worried about the email asking "when will you post it".

I don't know why - but scammers seem to always do that. Maybe they stand outside the address they have given and pretend to be coming out when the postman calls - who knows.

As Crowqueen said - Special delivery. Check you account just before you post - sometimes ebay or paypal email telling you not to while they check the buyer out.

RFW

techspec wrote: »

As Crowqueen said - Special delivery. Check you account just before you post - sometimes ebay or paypal email telling you not to while they check the buyer out.

OP says they're going to use a trackable courier, unless it costs less I can't see a reason for using special delivery over a courier.

pinkshoes

Have you googled the address and can you find a matching name on 192.com?

Why don't you phone them?

carolinabirichina

pinkshoes wrote: »

Have you googled the address and can you find a matching name on 192.com?

Why don't you phone them?

Thanks for this - just off to do this now( Google and 192.com). Did not know about 192.com so thanks for telling me! The phone number is a mobile so they could be anywhere.

I also thought that I would "delay" postage for a couple of days as well - actually quite genuinely as I did not expect it to sell so quickly and I am out all day Monday and Tuesday so the earliest I could book a courier collection would be Wednesday anyway. I will see how he responds to that

carolinabirichina

OK - well, just googled the address and it seems to be quite a nice neighbourhood but when I tried searching on 192.com there are no matches for his name at the address he has given, so a bit worrying. But he could have just recently moved there so not be showing on any searches yet.

Going to email him now about courier collection on Wednesday and see what happens.

Mara69

If the item is a phone make sure you take lots of photos, including the IMEI number

Crowqueen

There's no point in treating someone differently based on an arbitrary number on a computer screen. If someone is delaying sending something out, then there's a right on the buyer's part to ask (politely) when they are sending it. It's not the hallmark of a scammer to be eager to receive something paid for, surely?

The important things are payment and seller protection (check what your courier insures) - and that doesn't change depending on said number.

Nor does address matter - there's nothing you can really do about it once a buyer pays.

Just send it properly tracked and have done. If you don't like the fact that anyone can buy your precious phone, don't sell it on eBay in the first place - sell it to a dealer like CEX or to a friend - that way you can vet everyone who will be receiving it.

shaun_from_Africa

It would also be worth checking their ebay buying/bidding history since they signed up.
If yours is the only phone they have won then there may not be too much to worry about, but if they have bought a few expensive "scammable" items, then I would definately be a bit wary.