Strange Ebay buyer behaviour - is it a scam?
Discussion
I recently removed a set of tyres, and listed them on Ebay. They only had about 2000 miles on them, but I am 'downgrading' the size for a better ride, so no need to keep them.
A buyer - with zero feedback - bought a pair, which were duly dispatched on Friday. Yesterday however, the same buyer then bought the remaining pair, but using a slightly different ID - registered that day (so again with zero feedback). The first set of tyres won't have arrived yet, and I am wondering whether to bother sending the others in case it's a 'scam'.
I also notice that the first ID was also registered the day he (or she) bought the first pair.
Does this sound a bit 'sus'?
A buyer - with zero feedback - bought a pair, which were duly dispatched on Friday. Yesterday however, the same buyer then bought the remaining pair, but using a slightly different ID - registered that day (so again with zero feedback). The first set of tyres won't have arrived yet, and I am wondering whether to bother sending the others in case it's a 'scam'.
I also notice that the first ID was also registered the day he (or she) bought the first pair.
Does this sound a bit 'sus'?
280E said:
I recently removed a set of tyres, and listed them on Ebay. They only had about 2000 miles on them, but I am 'downgrading' the size for a better ride, so no need to keep them.
A buyer - with zero feedback - bought a pair, which were duly dispatched on Friday. Yesterday however, the same buyer then bought the remaining pair, but using a slightly different ID - registered that day (so again with zero feedback). The first set of tyres won't have arrived yet, and I am wondering whether to bother sending the others in case it's a 'scam'.
I also notice that the first ID was also registered the day he (or she) bought the first pair.
Does this sound a bit 'sus'?
He has paid for them(the first pair) hasn't he?A buyer - with zero feedback - bought a pair, which were duly dispatched on Friday. Yesterday however, the same buyer then bought the remaining pair, but using a slightly different ID - registered that day (so again with zero feedback). The first set of tyres won't have arrived yet, and I am wondering whether to bother sending the others in case it's a 'scam'.
I also notice that the first ID was also registered the day he (or she) bought the first pair.
Does this sound a bit 'sus'?
If it is indeed a scam, then why bother with the second ID? This just gives an opportunity for me to be suspicious, so why not buy all four in the first instance?
BTW, I won't be selling any tyres again :-( The courier wouldn't accept them with just a label securely attached to the 'bare' tyres - they had to be 'packaged', which was a fair bit of faffing about
BTW, I won't be selling any tyres again :-( The courier wouldn't accept them with just a label securely attached to the 'bare' tyres - they had to be 'packaged', which was a fair bit of faffing about
Why would the seller bother with two accounts though? He has paid for the tyres though so withdraw the money into your bank account, delink your PayPal from eBay and your cards/account from PayPal so they have nowhere to come after the money if the buyer raises a dispute(its a given PayPal will side with the buyer). If youre that worried about it that is.
Did you place any restrictions on zero feedback ebay members, in your buyer requirements settings? If so, it's possible that he was blocked from buying the second set, so making a new account would bypass this. Have a look at your 'buyer requirements activity log' and it will tell you if he tried to buy with the first account but was blocked from buying. Might be totally innocent, although you would think he'd contact you if he was blocked. Was the bid near the end of the auction?
A bit odd but you do get some sort of discount like £10 off when you setup an account so the buyer may simply be trying to scam eBay...
Be careful though as above - I just got a chargeback via Paypal who unbelievably took the money off me before investigating - the purchase was 3 months before and the guy had left me positive feedback! They've now credited me back but I still don't know if it's resolved or not
Sending tyres - you simply need to bag them, bin liner will do... I've bought tyres online for years as they're so much cheaper and mostly they come as they are but Amazon bag them up.
Be careful though as above - I just got a chargeback via Paypal who unbelievably took the money off me before investigating - the purchase was 3 months before and the guy had left me positive feedback! They've now credited me back but I still don't know if it's resolved or not
Sending tyres - you simply need to bag them, bin liner will do... I've bought tyres online for years as they're so much cheaper and mostly they come as they are but Amazon bag them up.
As long as his PayPal account is verified, you have as much to worry about as any other buyer on eBay.
Always use a tracked service from somewhere like Parcel2Go of course.
And yes - you do get a £10 voucher a few weeks after you set up a new account - not that I have several eBay accounts or anything of course
Always use a tracked service from somewhere like Parcel2Go of course.
And yes - you do get a £10 voucher a few weeks after you set up a new account - not that I have several eBay accounts or anything of course
Edited by Dr Doofenshmirtz on Sunday 24th April 21:14
280E said:
uk_vette said:
With a new ebay account, I would not be sending any thing.
Did your Ebay feedback not start at zero? We all have to start somewhere
Unfortunately he sent the tyres to a zero feedback account, some thing that in my book, breaks all the rules.
Digby said:
Hmmm, could be - I'd never heard of 'guest' buying
jcelee said:
How do you stop zero feedback bidders?
I know you can stick various requests on your listing but with most people bidding in the last seconds, its not as if you can easily cancel their bids?
Go to the account tab which you can reach via 'my ebay' and 'summary'. On the left hand side bar choose 'Site Preferences' Then 'Buyer Requirements'. There are various options in there which are universally applied to your sales pitches. Not sure if 'No feedback' is an option, but the one I have set is 'No feedback with no credit card on file'. I know you can stick various requests on your listing but with most people bidding in the last seconds, its not as if you can easily cancel their bids?
Also if you hunt around there is an option to set which countries you will send to if you do international listings. Simply writing it in the listings is not good enough.
TheTechnician said:
delink your PayPal from eBay and your cards/account from PayPal so they have nowhere to come after the money if the buyer raises a dispute(its a given PayPal will side with the buyer). If youre that worried about it that is.
If you do that and they refund the buyer the debt collection agencies will be in contact within a couple of days. That happened to me when I was scammed, delinked my cards and was getting several calls a day from some debt company working on behalf of Paypal. Even after I told them the money is linked to an open dispute they wouldn't stop.
Of course Paybal and Ebay is always skewed towards the buyers and safeguarding them at the cost of the sellers. They told me that they had to protect their customers, they went quiet when I pointed out who their real customers are, as in the ones that they actually get their money from, ie the sellers who pay to list, pay a final value fee and then a paypal charge too...
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