someone bid with no feedback grrrr

Milky_Mocha

On one occasion I had someone bid on my mobile phone who had zero feedback and was registered in Poland. To make matters worse he emailed me asking for postage to be done asap to a POBox in North London and said he would pay via paypal. He won before I had the chance to see his bid. Straight away I dismissed him from my mind and offered the item as a 2nd chance offer to the next bidder.

I decided to then reply the original winner's email stating that I had a problem with paypal and would need to collect cash in person instead. He replied that it would be no problem but had to be on the following Tuesday as he was in the army and would only be able to return to London on that day etc etc. He even gave me his phone number. Apparently army personnel use POBoxes.

Its good to make the effort to check out the legitimacy of the bidder before cancelling their bid.

Hintza

More conditions + Less bids


From a buyers point of view I just get annoyed with reams of terms and conditions.

From a sellers point of view the best prices I get tend to be from new zero feedback bidders. I will agree there is a bit of a risk but as I am selling a fair bit in France just now most of the buyers are newbies. Ebay is less developed in France at the moment.

I have had one who has not quite grasped the EBay concept:- " I have bought another item elsewhere and don't want your item" They are now complaining about my NPB strike...lol

Long and the short of it is if you block these folk your prices will not be so high. Newbies are great at over bidding.

angelcake

I haven't got loadsa conditions! I know how boring they get!!! I have all you need!!

Please only bid if you are serious. Bidders with 0-20 feedback please email me before bidding.

I think that just about covers it!! and you can't miss it!!!

Thanks all the same but I don't wanna take the risk! I would rather have £200 rather then the bid be on £230 and I not get the money and a whole loada hassle!!

Steel_eye

I think that you are right to be careful, it never fails to amaze me how many people fail to read the auction conditions, no matter how short or bold they are.

My conditions always state no zero feedback bidders without contacting me first. I always e-mail any zero feedback bidders and give them an appropriate length of time to justify why I should not cancel their bids. This usually works, but is not infallible.

I usually sell guitars timing them to finish Saturday afternoon so that buyers can collect on Sunday. The guitar is worth about £450, it starts on Saturday at 99p, by Sunday it is up to £170, then on Monday a newbie bids bringing it up to £200, I email him and he seems ok, Tuesday another newbie and the price is now £570 resisting the urge to open a bottle I email him, again apologetic but seems ok. At £570 no-one else is interested, nobody even looks at the guitar. Friday night I check it out before going to bed everything looks ok. Saturday, just before lunch, it is back to £170, both may be newbies but have found out how to withdraw their bids. One claims to have not intended to bid so much, the other e-mailed me to proudly say that he had won another auction at only £420! By now it is too late to withdraw the auction. The guy who won it for £305 was most embarrassed when he came to collect. I now tend to finish items late Saturday evening so that I am around to check bids in the morning, it is not so convenient for arranging collection, but..

We were all newbies once, and I want as many potential buyers as possible, but the buyer with a couple of hundred good feedback is unlikely to be messing about for the hell of it or trying to scam you. I bought a handful of inexpensive items to build up my feedback, and in doing so got an understanding of what was expected of me, and to be able to bid on high value items with confidence. I would recommend anyone starting out on eBay to first set themselves up on PayPal, then buy a few small items before bidding on anything of value. That way we will all have a much more satisfactory experience.

Hintza

If I was a scammer I would have my feedvack over 20 within a week and I would then strike.

There are a number of checks you can do on any buyer which helps reduce the risk. The easiest being:-

1. Check www.192.com
2. Pull their details and give them a ring before posting.
3. If you are still not happy insist on another form of payment eg bank transfer or PO.

My point is that the feedback system is not a foolproof method of screening buyers.

[Deleted User]

It goes both ways. Newbie bidders can just as easily be scammed or treated badly by sellers.

If I saw a post restricting newbie bidders I wouldn't bother to bid at all.

Jellicle

Steel_eye wrote:

... At £570 no-one else is interested, nobody even looks at the guitar. Friday night I check it out before going to bed everything looks ok. Saturday, just before lunch, it is back to £170, both may be newbies but have found out how to withdraw their bids...

... If I were a scammer and wanted one of your guitars cheaply I would create a couple of newbie accounts, put my bid in and then use the newbie accounts to drive the price up so high that no-one else would bid (or even keep watch on it). Then as late as possible I would withdraw the newbie bids leaving my real bid as the highest and hope that no-one else would bid on it...

angelcake

Deleted_User wrote:

It goes both ways. Newbie bidders can just as easily be scammed or treated badly by sellers.

If I saw a post restricting newbie bidders I wouldn't bother to bid at all.

You obviously have never been scammed!!

That is true but in my case I am clearly stating I want a smooth transaction and that I am aware of "scammers"

Its funny really I retracted bids and blocked a newbie bidder and he didn't even contact me to ask why! then the next day I get a similar name no feedback and registered the same day!! not bidding on anythign else!! ...........no not dogdey at all!

Like I said before I usually sell things for 99p-£30 and newbies are all welcomed! it is only because this is for a lot of money! and I have only stated they contact me before bidding...not that they can't, so if they don't adhere to my auction conditions in the first place then how can I trust them????

Trow

angelcake wrote:

I have listed an item that is now on £200. I stated loads that I won't accept a bid from anyone with 0 feedback.

Like I said before I usually sell things for 99p-£30 and newbies are all welcomed! it is only because this is for a lot of money! and I have only stated they contact me before bidding...not that they can't, so if they don't adhere to my auction conditions in the first place then how can I trust them????

I am not saying you are lying, just pointing out that posts that have defended newbies have been based on the fact that you previously stated you won't accept a bid, not that you ask them to email first. The latter is, imo, a sensible precaution for a high value item.