Sorry, yet another eBay thread - zero feedback buyer

[petrolbloke]

My g/f was having a sort out recently and found an old digital camera that hasn't been used in years. I put the model number into eBay and found it was worth more than £100, result!

I listed it on buy it now with best offer at the mid-upper end of what others had sold for. Quite quickly had two offers at £90 which I decided to sit on to see if any better offers came in. Overnight (1am ish) someone hit the buy it now - a user who had registered in the hour before buying with 0 feedback. I sent a message the next morning to thank them for their purchase and ask them to confirm they've read the description (because it lists some minor defects) and to confirm that returns are not accepted but I haven't had a reply yet and it's been over 24 hours.

All seems a bit suspicious to me.

• New user who registered just before buying
• 0 feedback
• Didn't make a "best offer" of even a small amount less. Amateur eBaying! (unless you're totally loaded and there are no similar items for sale)
• Paid for the most expensive postage option (£10 Special delivery vs £5 tracked 48)
• No reply to communications

I haven't sent the camera yet. I suspect what would happen is they would say it's not as described and "return" it, but it wouldn't be the same item, eBay would refund them and I'd be left with no cash, no camera and a battle with eBay to get the right outcome.

What would you do?
(amusing replies welcome along with serious ones)

Unfortunately it's not possible to restrict these types of buyer in the eBay seller settings.

[simon_harris]

cancel the sale and relist

[Motorman74]

This is the problem with eBay for occasional sellers.

I had a similar experience although it was an auction - bid put in early by a brand new account, lots of interest and bids but the bid by the new account was obviously a high one.

No response from buyer - I was extremely dubious anyway - and then mess about waiting for eBay to decide you've waited long enough, cancel the sale, no option to leave the ahole feedback as a warning to others.

Interestingly, the 2 higher value items that I sold at the same time went through absolutely fine despite being what I would consider being high risk for the scammers - a GPU and a PlayStation 4.

[petrolbloke]

Might not be clear from my OP but it has been paid for. But I'm still suspicious and inclined to cancel the sale. I don't trust that eBay will be on my side if this goes pear shaped even though I have a good record over 19 years and the buyer is new with zero feedback.

[Raccaccoonie]

eBay won't be on your side whoever you sell it to. Also it will cost you 10 quid if you cancel.

[Big Stevie]

I would never sell anything on ebay, all the buyer has to do is say the goods are faulty and then ebay will claw their money back from your bank account to refund them.

[andyxxx]

All the above reasons are why I hardly use ebay anymore.
The only time I do – the item is listed as ‘cash on collection’ (I realize I will get less interest, but I get zero chance of being scammed.)

[JerryEXE]

An alternative view … we are all eBay virgins at some point. First time I used eBay was almost exactly as described above. I created an account to bid on a very specific item, won the auction and then paid in full immediately. I rarely use said account since and have made maybe 5 purchases over the last 4 years (of which some have been buy it now), hence sellers would see me as a low feedback buyer … but I always pay immediately and have never created a problem.

Maybe he just wants the camera and the buy it now option works for him? The lack of response could be concerning but maybe he’s at work, forgot, etc?

Of course, it could also be a scam.

[chazwozza]

Never use it to sell anymore, you have no protection as a seller. I sold a 100% working g-tech handheld, hoovered my car that morning to re-assure myself it was fine due to OCD. Got returned as non-working so I lost out massively, they clearly just swapped with their same model dodgy one. Had a few issues in the last few years and that was the final straw.

[petrolbloke]

Still no reply. I think I'll cancel the sale and probably just stick it on FB marketplace but take a lower price for it.

[TheRainMaker]

You need to wait until eBay say you can cancel or you will be charged fees.

I had this last week

I’ve given up on it now and everything is going in the bin.

[Narcisus]

Few weeks ago I broke my golden rule of cash on collection only and sold a 100 quid item ....

It took the buyer nearly 3 weeks to collect from the Post Office including 2 attempted deliveries that he had arranged himself !! I sent it Special Delivery and he assured me he would be in for the first delivery .... Oh had to go out....

I then received snotty messages from the guy saying what poor service RM provide and I should have sent it with a different courier.....

He's not left feedback yet ..... < Blocked >

And back to cash on collection only ....

[Big Rig]

You can set buyer preferences for your auctions to limit who can bid. People with 0 feedback etc. I always set it to on for all my auctions.

[petrolbloke]

TheRainMaker said:

You need to wait until eBay say you can cancel or you will be charged fees.

I had this last week

I’ve given up on it now and everything is going in the bin.

That might only be if they don't pay, or for items sold in a different category. I've cancelled it now and don't seem to have been charged anything.

The fees are ridiculous these days though - cost £70 to sell a £4.5k car last year (auction with reserve price). It was at least an easy sale.

[petrolbloke]

Big Rig said:

You can set buyer preferences for your auctions to limit who can bid. People with 0 feedback etc. I always set it to on for all my auctions.

I didn't see it on the individual listing options.

I can't block 0 feedback buyers in my selling preferences either, but I think the option used to be there so maybe it's now been removed or is account specific.

[Spare tyre]

Personally I’d put it all neatly in a small box, tuck it away and delist it on gumtree every couple of weeks for £120

Might take a while but someone will pay it, collecting with cash

I put all of my second hand stuff on local sites with an inflated cost, always sells might just take 5 years

All lot of stuff is small and can neatly sit in a cupboard waiting

[The spinner of plates]

andyxxx said:

All the above reasons are why I hardly use ebay anymore.
The only time I do – the item is listed as ‘cash on collection’ (I realize I will get less interest, but I get zero chance of being scammed.)

Same here.
I’m an ‘annual seller’ to clear stuff I don’t want.
99p start auction with Cash on collection is the only way for me.
Local people get bargains
fk it, it’s pin money for stuff that was in my way and needed clearing.

Ebay has just got worse and worse over the years, full of scumbags.

[DSLiverpool]

Very high chance of fraud, street view the address and sanity check the area.