Another ebay thread, cheque payment

al123 · 7 Jun 2007 at 02:50

Sorry for another ebay thread but I really need some advice

I bought a Porter Cable (will know what this is if you hang around in motors) earlier from someone that didn’t take paypal, usually I will only bid on listings that have PayPal as it offers protection. But this one worked out cheaper as the postage was less and I can’t use it for a few weeks so I decided to go for it as I didn’t mind waiting for the cheque to clear.

I got suspicious when they sent me the payment address because it was to ‘Miss Smith’ that doesn’t match the name of their email address which is a Hotmail one. They only have 18 feedback, I checked it before I bid and it was positive. Now having looked at their feedback in more detail it turns out that they have just bought cheap ebooks.

From looking at the forums on ebay it seems that if I pay by cheque and the item never arrives then there isn’t much that I will be able to do about it.

So what would you do? I was thinking about not paying and taking the negative feedback or trying to get some proof that the item is legit if that is possible.

A2Z · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:05

tbh you should have thought of that before you bid, your fault

Slogan · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:17

A2Z said:
tbh you should have thought of that before you bid, your fault

Captain Obvious to the rescue. It is the opening poster's fault for not looking, but that doesn't exactly help matters.

What price were the ebooks? How much is your item?

al123 · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:28

Slogan said:
Captain Obvious to the rescue. It is the opening poster's fault for not looking, but that doesn't exactly help matters.

What price were the ebooks? How much is your item?

I know its my fault for not looking properly.

The ebooks are less than £1 most, are 1p. My item is £130.

I was thinking I could ask them for a picture of the item with a piece of paper that they have written their username on. If they are genuine I doubt they would mind as it would only take 5mins.

Slogan · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:34

Ouch, £130 is a bit meaty.

You could ask for the picture, but it still really wouldn't be a guarantee that you'd get it.

If it was me, I would take a miss on that. Especially given the low feedback and how it was attained (e-books).

If you value your feedback, perhaps offer the person the money to re-list? Comes down to personal opinion.

In saying that, it could be a genuine sale, but to me that would be a lot of money. And I would want to be comfortable knowing I was going to get my item.

A2Z · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:34

Slogan said:
Captain Obvious to the rescue. It is the opening poster's fault for not looking, but that doesn't exactly help matters.

well its kinda obvious what to do, either a) not pay b) ask for some kind of proof the seller has the item and is going to send it

Slogan · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:36

A2Z said:
well its kinda obvious what to do, either a) not pay b) ask for some kind of proof the seller has the item and is going to send it

It's kind of obvious that it was his fault for not looking... :confused:

zaza · 7 Jun 2007 at 03:51

just ask to go collect it and pay cash, if they say no, don't pay, plus, do they have neg feedback? If not, they ain't gonna want it so early in their account, so if they do leave it, leave something nasty back, and then they'll probably withdraw mutually.

MeatLoaf · 7 Jun 2007 at 08:31

I dont see the problem?

I take it the auction included a picture of the item so you see it exists. If you had any questions you should have asked seller a question before you bid.

As for wanting a cheque in a different name, when i used used ebay, i actually didnt have a bank account back then so frequently asked for cheques to be made out in my wifes name. Obviously the surname was the same tho.

alexakasloth · 7 Jun 2007 at 08:36

If you feel very unsure about it then leave it. You have your reasons.

Bill101 · 7 Jun 2007 at 08:42

A cheque can only be paid into an account so you can always find out where and when (and who's account) the money went into. I've often written cheques to the 'proper' name of the person selling rather than BigErnie007 or whatever the seller called himself/herself on ebay or hotmail.

z0mbi3 · 7 Jun 2007 at 08:44

I wouldn't be worried about the difference in names no matter how common "Smith" is. My e-bay account is in my girlfriends name and I'd often send e-mails from whatever address, never had a problem.

The feedback is a little worrying, just bare in mind that you are protected with a cheque.