I'm new to selling on auction sites, and have a couple of auctions of non-shaving things. It seems like a lot of the bidders have 0 feedback. Should I be concerned?
Question about selling on the bay
- Thread starter hsamuels
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Everyone has to start at the beginning. I don't worry about folks with low feedback unless it has a high percentage of negatives.
Let them bid on your stuff, then if it works out, remember to leave positive feedback for them.
Let them bid on your stuff, then if it works out, remember to leave positive feedback for them.
Like Gray said, everyone has to start on there at 0 feedback. I wouldn't worry too much unless they have negative feedback.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks, guys!
I have to agree with Pete_T. Ebay will always always ALWAYS side with the buyer, it's easy to rip buyers off on ebay. I'd avoid/block buyers with zero feedback.
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- #7
Well, if I wait for payment before shipping, I should be OK, right? I'm selling some consumer electronics from a large fruit company, so I wonder if there may be some sort of scam where new accounts are created specifically for getting those devices.
No. They could argue something was wrong with the product, or could ship back an empty box (so they have a tracking number to give to ebay/paypal). Once you create a "my word" vs. "your word" situation, they will side with the buyer. Even if you transfer the money to your bank account, paypal can still retrieve it back. It's a lot worse nowadays that sellers can't leave negative feedback for the buyer.
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- #9
There doesn't seem to be anything in the 'buyer requirements' that would allow me to specify buyers with more than x transactions. Is that something I just put in a comment?
What I've done is to individually block zero feedback accounts, although it's been a while since I've sold anything of value because of the risks. Not sure what the options are once the auction is already going.
Electronics is pretty much a worse case scenario, unless they're some antiquated test tube thing only of interest to collectors.
I haven't had to deal with something like this in a while, so I don't know if you can do all this still, but I would agree with individually blocking all the zero feedback bidders that have bid, and I'd edit the sales text to state that you wont accept bids or purchase by a zero feedback buyer. If you want, you can say a zero feedback bidder can contact you for permission to bid, but I wouldn't bother. One of them can still snipe and win, since you cant actually stop them from bidding, but hopefully they'll move off to greener, less suspicious pastures, and you can always second chance to a buyer with good feedback, or just relist. Be nice about it, though, if you're too curt in your message you could put off regular buyers.
I'd google research it too if I were you, that way you can get an idea about what they might be trying to pull.
Of course, this might be being overly suspicious and the bidding could be innocuous, but personally I wouldn't take chances with something expensive or easy to move.
I haven't had to deal with something like this in a while, so I don't know if you can do all this still, but I would agree with individually blocking all the zero feedback bidders that have bid, and I'd edit the sales text to state that you wont accept bids or purchase by a zero feedback buyer. If you want, you can say a zero feedback bidder can contact you for permission to bid, but I wouldn't bother. One of them can still snipe and win, since you cant actually stop them from bidding, but hopefully they'll move off to greener, less suspicious pastures, and you can always second chance to a buyer with good feedback, or just relist. Be nice about it, though, if you're too curt in your message you could put off regular buyers.
I'd google research it too if I were you, that way you can get an idea about what they might be trying to pull.
Of course, this might be being overly suspicious and the bidding could be innocuous, but personally I wouldn't take chances with something expensive or easy to move.
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- Thread starter
- #12
It looks like I have to take my chances for now. At least the bidders have been around for a while (several months at least) so they don't seem to be dummy accounts created for some quick nefarious purpose.
Good luck!
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- #14
Well, one went to somebody with over 2000 transactions, and the other to somebody with none. Still waiting for payments from both of them!
Another thing you can do is email 0-rated buyers to contact you, even with a phone number, so you get a feel of who it is, and then cancel their bids if they don't respond. My own feeling is that eBay should let sellers block all 0-rated buyers, but, no surprise, they don't. I'm fine if they're buying something inexpensive, but I didn't like putting an expensive smartphone on eBay and taking their bids. My feeling is that they can at least buy one inexpensive thing and get a non-zero rating before they get to bid on high-cost items.
(Of course, what happened with the phone is that I cancelled 0-rated buyers, it was bought by someone with a 100% rating of 55, and he didn't pay. It took forever for the eBay process to let me re-list it. And then it was bought by someone with a rating of 1 and he paid quickly and never was a problem.)
(Of course, what happened with the phone is that I cancelled 0-rated buyers, it was bought by someone with a 100% rating of 55, and he didn't pay. It took forever for the eBay process to let me re-list it. And then it was bought by someone with a rating of 1 and he paid quickly and never was a problem.)
- Thread starter
- #16
Ah, well.
The buyer who had 0 transactions didn't respond for several days, even though I messaged him a couple of times through ebay. Then I requested and received his contact information (address and phone number), and he got mine as part of the deal. I sent an email - no response for another day. Finally I got a reply that he was having problems with his credit card, and wanted to back out of the deal.
It was nothing nefarious, as I had feared. But the item was a 4th-gen iPod, which is now worth less as the 5th-gen is coming soon. Fortunately a family member wants it, so my son isn't out any money due to some stranger's fumbling.
The buyer who had 0 transactions didn't respond for several days, even though I messaged him a couple of times through ebay. Then I requested and received his contact information (address and phone number), and he got mine as part of the deal. I sent an email - no response for another day. Finally I got a reply that he was having problems with his credit card, and wanted to back out of the deal.
It was nothing nefarious, as I had feared. But the item was a 4th-gen iPod, which is now worth less as the 5th-gen is coming soon. Fortunately a family member wants it, so my son isn't out any money due to some stranger's fumbling.
