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ebay - zero feedback buyer scam
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 2:50 am 
 

So I decided to list a semi rare, higher priced item on ebay to test the waters in a sense and within hours of listing a new member as of that day hit the BIN.

I went to check who bought the item and to my surprise it's Stan Lee. LOL from comic book drive no less. So yeah zero feedback buyer with a bogus name and bogus address. I don't recall this name from the known scammers thread but maybe missed it.

I obviously am not shipping the item. What is my recourse? Report buyer? Cancel transaction? It's been 12 hours and no payment. Too bad too because a reputable buyer made an offer minutes before this other person bought the item. I probably get a seller rating hit for cancelling right?

For the future I guess the only way to mitigate this on ebay is to use a business account on PayPal and the pay immediate option on eBay?

Thanks for any advice.

  

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Post Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 5:16 pm 
 

Do you have an "immediate payment required" clause in your auction? Do you require low feedback bidders to contact you first? If not, on your next auction I would look into adding both.

As to this case, I'd report the buyer to ebay, as I'm fairly sure fake names and addresses aren't permitted. Then I would cancel the person's bid and offer the reputable buyer the item via a second chance offer. Take the hit on your seller ratings and move on. The account was likely created with the express purpose of dinging your ratings, because you're selling something they want but not at the price they want it at.



  


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Post Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:36 pm 
 

cabala wrote in ebay - zero feedback buyer scam:So I decided to list a semi rare, higher priced item on ebay to test the waters in a sense and within hours of listing a new member as of that day hit the BIN.

I went to check who bought the item and to my surprise it's Stan Lee. LOL from comic book drive no less. So yeah zero feedback buyer with a bogus name and bogus address. I don't recall this name from the known scammers thread but maybe missed it.

I obviously am not shipping the item. What is my recourse? Report buyer? Cancel transaction? It's been 12 hours and no payment. Too bad too because a reputable buyer made an offer minutes before this other person bought the item. I probably get a seller rating hit for cancelling right?

For the future I guess the only way to mitigate this on ebay is to use a business account on PayPal and the pay immediate option on eBay?

Thanks for any advice.


To follow the rules to the letter, you'd need to wait and then file a non paying bidder strike against the bidder. Three days I believe. In the future, you'd want to require immediate payment, and not allow zero feedback bidders to purchase from you. These are both available options when you set up the listing. No worries, we've all had people not pay. It happens. Now you know how to protect yourself. :)

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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:23 am 
 

I thought that unless you sold a ton on eBay, you couldn't get the the 'immediate payment' option.  I know I tried using that once and it said I wasn't allowed to.

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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:11 pm 
 

I believe you get it if you only offer a bin option


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:42 pm 
 

'Immediate Payment' option is ONLY available if you have a Premier or Business account with PayPal.

It's not really a bad thing, having a PayPal debit card is nice. No need to wait days on $$ to transfer to your bank account


Make them pay as much as they think they can afford...J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

  


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:25 pm 
 

webrik33 wrote in ebay - zero feedback buyer scam:'Immediate Payment' option is ONLY available if you have a Premier or Business account with PayPal.

It's not really a bad thing, having a PayPal debit card is nice. No need to wait days on $$ to transfer to your bank account


PayPal debit card takes an extra cut from your money. I'd rather wait 2 days to get every penny than lose another dime to the PayPal / eBay machine.

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Post Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:19 am 
 

Zenfinite wrote in ebay - zero feedback buyer scam:
webrik33 wrote in ebay - zero feedback buyer scam:'Immediate Payment' option is ONLY available if you have a Premier or Business account with PayPal.

It's not really a bad thing, having a PayPal debit card is nice. No need to wait days on $$ to transfer to your bank account


PayPal debit card takes an extra cut from your money. I'd rather wait 2 days to get every penny than lose another dime to the PayPal / eBay machine.

Zenfinite



I think I've had my paypal debit card since 2001.  I've never noticed a single extra fee for any transaction made using their debit card. They even offer rewards when making purchases at certain retailers online.

They do however charge to withdraw money from the ATM much like the fee one would pay for using other banks ATMS. Also you pay a fee when using it to make a foreign purchase or use at non-us ATM

Maybe there are fees associated with the Consumer debit card? Doesn't really matter much I suppose


Make them pay as much as they think they can afford...J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

  

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Post Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:52 pm 
 

Thanks for all the advice. I got it squared away. I don't think I did it quite like Zen recommended but eBay rep was extremely helpful. Go figure. I actually cancelled order then reported buyer then reported no payment. I think if you report no payment first you can't cancel transaction until it processes through system. Rep said that was fine.

I now have immediate payment required on higher priced items. PayPal premiere is free so not sure what the confusion is. I dont pay anything and apparently was already premiere. However ebay mobile app doesn't have built in option for immediate payment so I missed it when listing. I don't sell much but have immediate payment option through full ebay site.

Again thanks for help.

  
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