I just sold a $3,000 watch to an eBay buyer with 0 feedback. Please give me some advice.

kkt · Nov 15, 2018

superfly
The potential problem the seller is anticipating is the zero-feedback buyer filing a chargeback, and winning that chargeback once the buyer has the watch in hand. Buyer gets a free watch if that happens.

Selling on ebay comes with risks. This seller is trying to mitigate those risks.

Fair enough, but if the seller doesn't want to live with Ebay's rules, he should be selling in a different forum. If the seller backs out of what seems to be a legit purchase so far, he has wasted the buyer's time.

M.D. · Nov 15, 2018

I understand your concerns, but you knew this was a possibility when you listed it. Seems late in the game to be asking about a contingency plan.

I hope it works out for you.

Dan S · Nov 15, 2018

Hopefully the buyer will respond in a way that gives you a better idea of whether or not he is trustworthy. Otherwise, there are ways to back out of the deal, as we all know, since it happens all the time.

arcadelt · Nov 15, 2018

ffej4
I'm honestly torn, because the outcomes are basically:

1. This guy is a dick trying to scam me and I saved myself.
2. This guy is legit and I just screwed him out of something he wanted to buy.

It would seem odd to wait four years after opening an eBay account to use it to defraud someone. I choose to believe that most people are good and only some are bad. Have an e-mail exchange with the guy and I'm sure he'll turn out to be alright.

stevec14 · Nov 16, 2018

I’m in a similar boat. I’ve had an account for years and never bought or sold anything. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I am going to screw someone (I wouldn’t). Maybe your 3k watch is the first thing the person has seen they want to buy.

As above, I’d contact them and see what they say.

ConElPueblo · Nov 16, 2018

arcadelt
It would seem odd to wait four years after opening an eBay account to use it to defraud someone.

Or it could be an unused account that was hacked - I'd say that suddenly using a 4 year old account out of the blue to purchase a $3K item is even more odd.

User passwords for pages like eBay are apparently a commodity on some parts of the web.

Foo2rama · Nov 16, 2018

ConElPueblo
Or it could be an unused account that was hacked - I'd say that suddenly using a 4 year old account out of the blue to purchase a $3K item is even more odd.

User passwords for pages like eBay are apparently a commodity on some parts of the web.

My thinking as a possibility.

mr_yossarian · Nov 16, 2018

ConElPueblo
Or it could be an unused account that was hacked - I'd say that suddenly using a 4 year old account out of the blue to purchase a $3K item is even more odd.

User passwords for pages like eBay are apparently a commodity on some parts of the web.

The Horse I would bet on this time!

Rasputin · Nov 16, 2018

Consider asking the buyer to send you a photo of a valid ID through eBay to cross reference with his PP/eBay contact info.

Speedmasterfan88 · Nov 16, 2018

Second what @ConElPueblo said.
That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read "Account since 2014 with zero feedback"
That's more than odd, especially when your ever first purchase is going to be a 3k watch.

As the others suggested, contact the buyer, and see what he has to say about that.

Btw: That's why I list BIN items with Bankwire as the sole payment option when selling on ebay. I'm way to paranoid after reading some of the Paypal stories.

Best of luck.

padders · Nov 16, 2018

Since you have sufficient post count, perhaps selling on here was a better idea in hindsight. That aside, it used to be possible in the seller settings on ebay to block buyers with a feedback score of less than 3 (AFAIR). Not helpful for this sale I know but may be useful for next time. I do think there is real potential for a scam here so I too would be reaching out to the buyer before shipping as ebay routinely side with the buyer in the event of a claim and a Watchco isn't of insignificant value. It may well be 100% legit, after all a scammer hacker would likely prefer an account with a high feedback score but it wouldn't make me sleep easy.

lcolors1 · Nov 16, 2018

Just refund and cancel. I did it with some shoes. No big deal.

Gordon Heavyfoot · Nov 16, 2018

lcolors1
Just refund and cancel. I did it with some shoes. No big deal.

What's your eBay username, so I know not to buy anything from you? If the buyer is so inclined he/she can hit you with a nice negative feedback as well.

watchstick_81 · Nov 16, 2018

Always a tough call to make! But maybe sharing my experience might help you. I had listed a $3500 watch on Ebay and two times someone just clicked the "buy it now" button and offered to pay for it via Paypal......but to the address of his uncle. Waste of time! Because you are only protected against fraud if you ship the watch to the Paypal verified address. A third time Ebay send me an e-mail stating it was a fraudulent account. So if this hasn't been send by Ebay already, it might be a legit account. Anyway, if you ship to a verified account and take enough photos of the contents + package + package label in one shot, this should be enough proof that you actually send it. And only use couriers that will cover the complete costs in case the package is lost or damaged. A bit strange he is not responding and has no feedback. But most hacked accounts have hundreds of positive feedback. There are a lot of frauds that SELL using 0 feedback accounts, but hardly any with loads of feedback. Good luck!

Wryfox · Nov 16, 2018

Gordon Heavyfoot
By the way, under PayPal's Seller Protection you're protected from chargeback fraud provided that you adhere to the eligibility requirements.

Unfortunately the problem with this is the seller eligibility reqts disqualify you if the there is a claim of “Significantly Not as Described” or if they claim it is a "Counterfeit Item". Both are things you cannot control them doing. Both go down the rabbit hole with Paypal for a long time as it requires return of the item(or proof they have to provide, which they may fake), and you hope they don't return a box of packing peanuts instead, and then claim theft, or customs, or any of a laundry list of issues, including fraud on you because they took pictures on their side (but didn't actually keep the item in the box when shipped).

I have been on Ebay over 20yrs. Listen carefully...the ONLY issues I have EVER had were with zero feedback(ie less than 10) buyers in both selling AND buying. Mostly due to criminal nature but sometimes due to gross ignorance, which can be just as bad. The zero feedback is a HUGE flag to me on the deal due to the amount. You may cancel the deal, that's fine, but be ready for negative feedback, which is justified on their part. Willing to bet dollars to donuts they won't, though. Most don't even know they can do feedback if its cancelled, because they can only do it through the Feedback tab, not through the usual Purchases tab where it would normally be done. So it seems Ebay doesn't want buyers to ding sellers if its cancelled by seller. I suspect due to their assumption that sellers want to sell and it would be only extraordinary and valid reasons why they cancel.

Many people put feedback limits in their listing text...you can't really do that, BUT if you HAD done that you can justify to the buyer why you cancelled and have a good chance of avoiding bad feedback.

If you sold out of the country, I would cancel NOW....its ten times worse to deal with internationally.

ffej4 · Nov 16, 2018

ConElPueblo
Or it could be an unused account that was hacked - I'd say that suddenly using a 4 year old account out of the blue to purchase a $3K item is even more odd.

User passwords for pages like eBay are apparently a commodity on some parts of the web.

Yes, this is a very real possibility and a concern of mine as well. Although I believe that the MAJORITY of people are good-natured, I’m well aware of the fact that there are some bad apples out there, and I’d rather play it safe here.

Speedmasterfan88
Second what @ConElPueblo said.
That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read "Account since 2014 with zero feedback"
That's more than odd, especially when your ever first purchase is going to be a 3k watch.

As the others suggested, contact the buyer, and see what he has to say about that.

Btw: That's why I list BIN items with Bankwire as the sole payment option when selling on ebay. I'm way to paranoid after reading some of the Paypal stories.

Best of luck.

I didn’t know you could require bank wire. I’ll definitely look into that.

Anyway, if the buyer doesn’t get back to me, I’m definitely not shipping the item and will cancel the transaction. I agree with the “everyone needs to start somewhere” arguement, but I’m not going to contribute to that when a non-communicating first-time buyer snags a $3,000 item. I’ll take a negative feedback to protect myself from a worst case scenario here. Lesson learned for future listings.

Noddyman · Nov 16, 2018

ffej4
Yes, this is a very real possibility and a concern of mine as well. Although I believe that the MAJORITY of people are good-natured, I’m well aware of the fact that there are some bad apples out there, and I’d rather play it safe here.

I didn’t know you could require bank wire. I’ll definitely look into that.

Anyway, if the buyer doesn’t get back to me, I’m definitely not shipping the item and will cancel the transaction. I agree with the “everyone needs to start somewhere” arguement, but I’m not going to contribute to that when a non-communicating first-time buyer snags a $3,000 item. I’ll take a negative feedback to protect myself from a worst case scenario here. Lesson learned for future listings.

I don't blame you in this scenario, doesn't make you a bad person for trying to protect your own interests, ... I would do exactly the same thing.
Ebay is a basket full of snakes!
Good luck.

ffej4 · Nov 16, 2018

Noddyman
I don't blame you in this scenario, doesn't make you a bad person for trying to protect your own interests, ... I would do exactly the same thing.
Ebay is a basket full of snakes!
Good luck.

Thank you. I will give it time, but if I don't hear anything back, there's 0% chance I'll mail it out. I feel bad, because he has paid, but there's no way for me to know I'm not sending the watch to a sleezeball. I will definitely look into preventative measures in the future to make sure I don't screw over any (potentially) legit 0-feedback buyers.

Speedmasterfan88 · Nov 16, 2018

Bankwire is an option provided by ebay at least in Germany. But I know that outside of Germany, where this is still pretty much the norm, some buyers might discard a listing directly if PP is not provided by the seller.

speedamatuer · Nov 16, 2018

My experience of ebay in the UK is that whenever I've tried listing a watch without PayPal as a payment eBay won't let me publish the listing, it's a dice you have to roll here apparently.

I just sold a $3,000 watch to an eBay buyer with 0 feedback. Please give me some advice.

kkt

M.D.

Dan S

arcadelt

stevec14

ConElPueblo

Foo2rama

mr_yossarian

Rasputin

Speedmasterfan88

padders

lcolors1

Gordon Heavyfoot

watchstick_81

Wryfox

ffej4

Noddyman

ffej4

Speedmasterfan88

speedamatuer

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