Being asked for email/phone number on auction place

[Merlin5]

I've had a fair bit of contact with a seller on you know where who relisted a laptop today. I've made two offers to him via messaging, the second of which was accepted. so I'm about to make it official by going through the ebay best offer box. His latest message to me:

"The price you offer is perfect. Can you pay straight away? I too have a question I'd like to ask...do you have either an email address or phone number I can contact you on?"

I'm not sure that he wants to do a shady deal, but what's the deal with handing out my email or phone number, why would he want it, and is it a nono as far as the site is concerned?

 

[Brian8bit]

I'd ask why he wants it and I would refuse to do anything other than go through eBay in regards to making payment.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks Brian. I'm about to post this "I'm happy to give you my email or phone number. But I assume the auction site would expect a purchase to be finalised through the normal bidding/buy it now/best offer channels first before emails and phone numbers are allowed to be given? Cheers"

 

[Kempster]

Personally I keep all contact though via eBay messaging
honestly don’t see why he would need your email or phone number unless he was trying to sell it outside of eBay

 

[AfterEffect]

Keep it all on eBay

 

[Merlin5]

(

Personally I keep all contact though via eBay messaging
honestly don’t see why he would need your email or phone number unless he was trying to sell it outside of eBay

That's exactly what I was thinking. I presume he might be trying to save himself seller fees. I'm not going to give him my details.

After the offer has been done through ebay however, it's safe then isn't it to give out my email (if I wanted to)?

 

[Kempster]

Once the offer has gone though and he’s accepted then if your paying paypal then he will get your email address from the Instant Payment Received email anyhow

 

[Merlin5]

Once the offer has gone though and he’s accepted then if your paying paypal then he will get your email address from the Instant Payment Received email anyhow

Ok thanks. He must know that as he's sold items twice before, according to his seller history and feedback. So I can't think of any other reason he would need my email now if it weren't for trying to avoid ebay.

That worries me somewhat. The description he has on his listing is great. He's selling a laptop with no more than about 6 hours usage, bought in june, all recovery discs included, restored to factory settings just as if dell had sent it, along with dell warranty till next june. He has 100% feedback with about 35 purchases and only 2 sales. Nothing negative. So even if he is trying to avoid fees, I'll make sure it goes through ebay properly. I just hope that because he's trying to do that, that it doesn't necessarily mean the item I'll be buying won't be fine and that there's nothing dodgy about it.

 

[Kempster]

Can you link the listing? Or if you rather not post it up then email it so I can take a look?

 

[Larkspeed]

I have had this happen before they try and save on fee's by concluding the deal outside ebay.

I never go for it because if something is wrong you have no protection.

 

[Merlin5]

Can you link the listing? Or if you rather not post it up then email it so I can take a look?

Well if I link it here, I'm sure that's not allowed at OcUK? But here's the picture and description. Don't go searching for it and stealing it from me . Heh, well, there's another with same spec I know about anyway.

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5766/87113620.jpg


"I bought this laptop for myself but it hardly gets used and so it’s pretty much brand new! Bought earlier in the year in June this year it has seen approximately 6 hours of use. As you can see it comes fully boxed will ALL of the recovery CDs, original packaging and charger. I’ve restored the machine back to factory settings so the machine will come to you in its original state - it’s even got Dell warranty up until June 2012 (which is transferable to the potential new owner) !!!

Specifications:
Dell Vostro 3550
Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M (2.30GHz) – Sandybridge version
15.6in High Definition LED Display (1366X768) with anti-glare
USB 3 ports
Fingerprint Reader Biometric
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera
LCD Back Cover : Silver
Memory: 4096MB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 500GB Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm)
Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Power Supply : Vostro 90W AC Adapter
Battery : Primary 6-cell 48W/HR LI-ION
Graphics : AMD Radeon HD 6630M 1GB Graphic
Wireless : Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
Keyboard : Internal Backlit Keyboard
Operating System : Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT) with Recovery DVD
Software : Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or
Outlook
Antivirus : Trend Worry-Free Business Services Multi 15 Month Vostro
Warranty
1 Year Collect and Return
1Yr ProSupport and Next Business Day On-Site Service
Postage to UK only.
Grab yourself a bargain where this machine would cost you considerably more from Dell !!!

Please do not bid if you cannot make prompt payment "

 

[arknor]

maybe he wants to check you arent nigerian

 

[Thorper]

*buys*

 

[Merlin5]

*buys*

Lol

maybe he wants to check you arent nigerian

"Gooooood afternoon madame, yes, my name is george agdgdgwngo. I wish to pay him 86,000 ugandan dollars, which translates approximately to.." *calculates on computer* .."£17 and 52 pence"

 

[Kempster]

Well if I link it here, I'm sure that's not allowed at OcUK?

Ah yeah forgot about that

Not sure what to make of his feedback to be honest

been a member since 2005
2 items sold Sep & May
and has brought 6 things since May

would put me off buying from him just due to the fact he’s sold 2 items less then £40 then selling something for over £400 and the fact he’s not sold much since he joined eBay

 

[arknor]

ive bought 2 thngs in about 5 years on ebay im probably dodgy if i try to sell something

 

[Kempster]

Lol guess im just over careful on flea bay I suppose

 

[Merlin5]

Ah yeah forgot about that

Not sure what to make of his feedback to be honest

been a member since 2005
2 items sold Sep & May
and has brought 6 things since May

would put me off buying from him just due to the fact he’s sold 2 items less then £40 then selling something for over £400 and the fact he’s not sold much since he joined eBay

And then asking for my email or phone number. All a bit worrying. To me, it's a great price for a great spec. Should have sold easily. Also worthy of note is that he just relisted it, having not sold it and only getting 3 offers on the previous listing. Makes me wonder if the reason is because he's asked everyone that messaged him for their email address and phone number which has put them off buying it. For all anyone knows, he could be trying to sell it outside ebay, receive the money, and never send a laptop because he doesn't actually have one to sell. On the other hand, if someone didn't do a best offer and just pressed the buy it now button, he would be obligated to send the laptop, or refund them, or be sued I imagine. So, I dunno.

 

[Kempster]

Could just wait till he replies to your message about why he wanted your phone number or email then ask him to send you more photos of the laptop before you buy

what type of offers did he get on previous listing. Much less/more what you’re offering?

Maybe you answered your own question there why didn’t it sell easy if it’s such a good price…….

 

[lttlejoe]

Ah yeah forgot about that

Not sure what to make of his feedback to be honest

been a member since 2005
2 items sold Sep & May
and has brought 6 things since May

would put me off buying from him just due to the fact he’s sold 2 items less then £40 then selling something for over £400 and the fact he’s not sold much since he joined eBay

I've been a member of eBay for 8 years or more and have bought maybe 70 items during that time period, ranging in price from a few pounds to a few hundred pounds and have generally been very happy with most of what I've bought, but I have never sold one item through eBay - that doesn't make me or anyone else a risky seller just because they haven't or rarely sold items that way!
Some people like myself use eBay to find things rather than to sell so, lack of sales is not necessarily a reason for concern.

The sellers that worry me are those which have say 10-30 purchases over a short time period since they joined and where the purchases are all very cheap items ( usually under 2 or 3 pounds).
Buying through ebay is always a risk just as it is with any auction site - you'll usually find that sellers who have very few sales but plenty of mixed purchases and have been members for a good while are usually a fairly good risk.
However, my advice is to go through eBay for an item of this price and then you can be confident that you are protected if things go wrong.

Speaking of risks... I recently purchased a collectable quality fishing rod from a seller who'd set his starting bid too high on the eBay item and was just unlucky with putting it on at the wrong time which resulted in him not getting any bids.
I'd have late bid on the item which was in my saved lists but I wasn't at home when the auction ended so I missed out.

I later contacted him direct and got it for the original starting bid which was a real bargain as other identical rods were going for double or more. The transaction didn't take place on this occasion through eBay but he'd sold many other pieces of quality gear for quite high but fair prices with excellent feedback so the risk was very small indeed and I was very happy with the price I paid and no doubt he was happy that he had no fees to pay - having said that, I wouldn't normally do this but I really wanted the item and was prepared to take the risk but wouldn't advise others to things that way.