Another Ebay Scam Avoidance Thread...

~Divine~Wind~ said:
This unfortunatley

eBay are of zero help when things go wrong as a seller
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I wouldn't take that as concrete evidence. As I have mentioned above, I sold a £200+ brand new phone, the postage label was purchased by ebay delivery method and user wanted to raise a dispute with me to say it had not arrived. Ebay took its sweet time to make a decision but several weeks (maybe 2 months) it concluded I was right and buyer was wrong.
 
Schizophonic said:
I wouldn't take that as concrete evidence. As I have mentioned above, I sold a £200+ brand new phone, the postage label was purchased by ebay delivery method and user wanted to raise a dispute with me to say it had not arrived. Ebay took its sweet time to make a decision but several weeks (maybe 2 months) it concluded I was right and buyer was wrong.
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Its high risk. If the buyer (yours was a useless scammer) had just claimed it arrived broken, sent something back (anything) you would have lost the case.

Unfortunately if you get a scammer buyer I genuinely don't think there's anything you can do for certain claims.
 
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May I just interject with my own query regards (potential) eBay scams - at the risk of starting yet another thread on the topic.

I have recently had 2 BIN listings each sold to users who registered on the purchase day (so obviously zero feedback) both with foreign names and both giving an address as Student Accommodation (in the UK). However it’s worth noting that it was neither the same university nor city. In both cases both items were paid for without issue.
The first one I got just before Christmas and I just cancelled it straight away. I was going through some stuff at home at the time and I just couldn’t handle the potential fallout if it had gone belly up.
Fast forward to this week and the second one appeared. I have had a little more time to do a bit of homework and even messaged the buyer who did reply - eventually.

I’m unsure as to what to do with this one? I had made my mind up to cancel if I hadn’t got a reply back from the buyer but as I say, this came earlier today.

I totally understand that people often register with eBay to purchase single items and are likely to never use it again and I of course understand that students buy stuff - I was one myself!
However it just seems odd this has happened twice.

Both items were high value cameras by the way.
I buy and sell a lot of camera gear on eBay and have had no issues as I’ve usually had a savvy eye for weeding out the potential scammers and time wasters. But this one has me stumped.
 
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GMac11 said:
May I just interject with my own query regards (potential) eBay scams - at the risk of starting yet another thread on the topic.

I have recently had 2 BIN listings each sold to users who registered on the purchase day (so obviously zero feedback) both with foreign names and both giving an address as Student Accommodation (in the UK). However it’s worth noting that it was neither the same university nor city. In both cases both items were paid for without issue.
The first one I got just before Christmas and I just cancelled it straight away. I was going through some stuff at home at the time and I just couldn’t handle the potential fallout if it had gone belly up.
Fast forward to this week and the second one appeared. I have had a little more time to do a bit of homework and even messaged the buyer who did reply - eventually.

I’m unsure as to what to do with this one? I had made my mind up to cancel if I hadn’t got a reply back from the buyer but as I say, this came earlier today.

I totally understand that people often register with eBay to purchase single items and are likely to never use it again and I of course understand that students buy stuff - I was one myself!
However it just seems odd this has happened twice.

Both items were high value cameras by the way.
I buy and sell a lot of camera gear on eBay and have had no issues as I’ve usually had a savvy eye for weeding out the potential scammers and time wasters. But this one has me stumped.
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Don't do it. It is a scam.
 
dLockers said:
Don't do it. It is a scam.
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Why's that? Not much of a sample size but I've sold a couple of items to zero feedback buyers registered on the day of purchase and didn't have an issue. In this case it sounds like they are foreign students so it makes sense that they didn't already have an account.
 
Eddie99 said:
Why's that? Not much of a sample size but I've sold a couple of items to zero feedback buyers registered on the day of purchase and didn't have an issue. In this case it sounds like they are foreign students so it makes sense that they didn't already have an account.
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Student halls are not proof of postage. They can easily make a claim it was never received.
 
Thanks guys.
I reckon I’ll just cancel it in the morning and claim there was an issue with the address.
 
doesn't ebay demand shipping to a validated/confirmed address if a buyer were purchasing something expensive ... so first time student in halls, is out ?
 
GMac11 said:
Thanks guys.
I reckon I’ll just cancel it in the morning and claim there was an issue with the address.
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That's what I'd do / did. There's an eBay option to say item is damaged and no longer available. It appears at the moment like they aren't going to charge me. Wouldn't surprise me if they did though.
 
Vandle said:
That's what I'd do / did. There's an eBay option to say item is damaged and no longer available. It appears at the moment like they aren't going to charge me. Wouldn't surprise me if they did though.
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I've used various methods.
Sometimes I say it's shipped but got lost. Sometimes I say it's damaged depending on what it is.

You'll get the fees back
 
I am a long user of Ebay since 2000 and I haven't had an issues with 0 feedback customers.

The most important is to specify in the advert low feedback users will not be considered. you can also block the 0 feedback user plus logging the IMEI so far I have deal with good ebayers also have been doing local collections instead of posting to avoid any courier issues especially if the item is valuable or expensive.
 
Billz2023 said:
I am a long user of Ebay since 2000 and I haven't had an issues with 0 feedback customers.

The most important is to specify in the advert low feedback users will not be considered. you can also block the 0 feedback user
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I know this has been asked ad nauseam but how do you block 0 feedback users? I didn't think it was possible. Also, do you tend to list your items in Auction style or BIN? As with BIN, you cannot tell if a 0 feedback user buys/intends to buy your item until the sale is complete.
Billz2023 said:
plus logging the IMEI so far I have deal with good ebayers also have been doing local collections instead of posting to avoid any courier issues especially if the item is valuable or expensive.
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Yeah the local collection would probably be my preferred option as well (eBay or otherwise) however Northern Ireland is a very small market - even more so for items such as cameras - so the chances of even attracting a local buyer are next to zero unfortunately.
 
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I've had both good and bad experiences with eBay support. The bad; I sold a 6800 XT on eBay, it worked perfectly, but the person that bought it obviously didn't know much about computers and couldn't get it working as well as he thought it would work (whatever that was!). He raised a case claiming it was defective so I was forced to pay to get he card back so was out of pocket for expensive insured delivery as eBay automatically sided with him. I learned that even if you state no returns, you can still be made to accept a return if the buyer claims its faulty/damaged.

The good; I sold a CPU to someone. I sent it to the address specified which turned out to be a shop. I didn't put the eBay code on the parcel so the shop at the other end refused the parcel. He raised a case with eBay and I refunded him the money. But after speaking to eBay, they were apologetic about it and also refunded me the money. So I got my CPU back and the money he had paid for it.
 
GMac11 said:
I know this has been asked ad nauseam but how do you block 0 feedback users? I didn't think it was possible. Also, do you tend to list your items in Auction style or BIN? As with BIN, you cannot tell if a 0 feedback user buys/intends to buy your item until the sale is complete.

Yeah the local collection would probably be my preferred option as well (eBay or otherwise) however Northern Ireland is a very small market - even more so for items such as cameras - so the chances of even attracting a local buyer are next to zero unfortunately.
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The only way you can block them is if they bid on your item and you notice its a 0 feedback user i can't remember specifically but you went into a ebay link and added the username and item listing number and ebay would block the bid and the user from bidding again on your auction. if you look online there should be a guide for it its been a while since I last did it.

I have only started doing local collection and for me its very safe providing the buyer pays through ebay first and then they can collect never accept cash on collection its not traced and likelihood is you will get scammed.
 
What's stopping someone taking ebay to small claims court, like matey said about his drone that was bought then broken and returned?
 
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