eBay scams - what should I do?

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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I just sold some stuff on eBay. One item was a camera for £700.

It had a single bid from somebody with 0 feedback. Assuming they pay by PayPal and I send by RMSD, what risks am I actually running? Am I right to be concerned this is some sort of scam?

Can I cancel the sale without paying eBay anything?
 
You should be covered by PayPal (look up seller protection PayPal uk) provided you have proof of posting and delivery. The main thing is when you are notified of payment don’t just follow links but open PayPal yourself to check money is there. If you are unsure you can always phone PayPal customer support on 0800 358 7911
 
When you first opened a ebay account, did you have a ton of great feedback? Everybody starts at 0.
Of course you can be scammed by somebody with lots of feedback too.

Just take the usual precautions.
 
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My post isn’t going to be very helpful as I dont know what to do in these scenarios but yes it sounds at best this is going to give you a load of hassle.
 
ecoleman said:
When you first opened a ebay account, did you have a ton of great feedback? Everybody starts at 0.
Of course you can be scammed by somebody with lots of feedback too.

Just take the usual precautions.
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Nope. But I didn't wake up one morning and think "hey this eBay thing sounds cool - I think I'll buy a £700 camera on it".

I guess I'm just being cautious - but imagine I did get ripped off and posted the details here. How many people would criticise me for selling to a buyer with zero feedback?
 
JonathanRyan said:
Nope. But I didn't wake up one morning and think "hey this eBay thing sounds cool - I think I'll buy a £700 camera on it".

I guess I'm just being cautious - but imagine I did get ripped off and posted the details here. How many people would criticise me for selling to a buyer with zero feedback?
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Or somebody woke up thinking they would live to take up photography as a hobby but without the funds for a brand new camera, thought they would have a look on eBay. Finding something they really liked, they signed up.

If you accept Paypal payment only, Only ship the the address specified by Paypal, Shipped using a tracked, signed for method and for your own piece of mind take down the serial number, take lots of photos of the camera and video the packaging, you should be covered.
 
I had an issue once, sold a Blackberry, after a week or two buyer complained and sent back a different phone, ebay would not listen as sided with him. AS it happened I cancelled my Paypal so didn't actually lose any money but was hassle.
 
Cartus said:
This is the scam you need to guard against...

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/aug/20/ebay-fraudster-selling-electric-guitar
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That happend here some while ago, over a lens.
In fact the seller hadn't sent it in the first place, but the weight on the parcel posting reciept proved there was nothing in the box.
The Police sorted it ;)

What I'm saying here is that the weight should be on the "sent item" note.
That will prove either way whether the box / case is empty or not.
 
It will probably turn out fine, it's all a matter of trust on both sides.
 
Cobra said:
That happend here some while ago, over a lens.
In fact the seller hadn't sent it in the first place, but the weight on the parcel posting reciept proved there was nothing in the box.
The Police sorted it ;)

What I'm saying here is that the weight should be on the "sent item" note.
That will prove either way whether the box / case is empty or not.
Click to expand...

Parcel weight is no "guarantee"

Somewhere on 'tinternet is a video of someone doing an unboxing of supplier sealed box revealing a brick inside .......not too sure I recall the exact details but along the lines of. He reported it and another camera was sent out and it also had a brick in it. The inference was that either the distributor had warehouse issues or a sophisticated fraud in the logistics chain.........or the whole video was a prankster hoax.

But he came across as adamant that the camera supplier had the issue not him and that the police or federal authorities should act because the goods had crossed state borders!?
 
Box Brownie said:
Parcel weight is no "guarantee"
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It was in the instance that I mentioned it was about 1Kg light :D
But I take your point about the brick

Box Brownie said:
ut he came across as adamant that the camera supplier had the issue not him and that the police or federal authorities should act because the goods had crossed state borders!?
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Only in America eh? :D
 
Check the address your sending it to. It sounds obvious but I had a problem selling a high value item on eBay a few months back. The buyers address was ‘verified’ by PayPal so I printed the label but it turned out the post code was incorrect. It was sent via RMSD but because the postcode was wrong it went to a London sorting office instead of Leicester. It was then I got a notification the item could not be delivered and couldn’t be returned because it was lost. Royal Mail wouldn’t payout because it was an incorrect address and PayPal wouldn’t pay out and kept pushing me back to Royal Mail for a solution. After months of getting no where I went to action fraud, I then passed this on to PayPal and did get my refund in the end. I did take 7 months though.

I think if you use the insured delivery and PayPal you’ll be covered. If something goes wrong it can just be a pain to get the money back.
 
If you weren't willing to sell to someone with 0 feedback then you should really have said so, not that having any amount of feedback is a guarantee. Seems odd to be selling highish value items on eBay and then being worried about it not going smoothly. I have sold loads of stuff through eBay in the past, with no problems. That's not to say problems don't exist, as they certainly do, when it comes to selling stuff now, I tend to go the easiest route. I tried my luck in the classifieds here and was asking £50 more than I could get from MBP for nearly £1,000 worth of stuff, no joy here after quite a bit of faffing around. I just let it go to MBP, like the £10K worth of Canon gear I sold. Life is too short for messing about over a few quid, well for me in any case.
 
I think I would take lots of Photos of the Item including any Model and Serial Numbers including the Sealed Parcel and send to the Buyer in advance,

Any come back i.e. damage, faulty item, etc. you have proof it left you OK.
 
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Cartus said:
At best (and in all likelihood according to my experience) the transaction will go smoothly with both parties happy with the outcome.
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there's. 99.99999 chance this is exactly how it will go, scammers usually spend £40 buying 50 cheap items and selling a couple of things to build up feedback or amazingly buy well established accounts

I've sold many expensive items over the years on eBay, over 1500 in total, I've only even been scammed once by a moron who sent me a Nintendo cube game , or rather didn't , after a few days I asked where it was , this was the days when proof of posting was a card with multiple hand written addresses depending how many items you'd posted and a PO stamp.

Anyway I ask for proof of posting and moron sends me a picture of a stamped card with 6 items on it , mine being the last but in different writing , when I looked at the hand stamp it was dated the day before I'd won the auction

I'd send it using Royal Mail special delivery and take it to the post office where it'll be weighed accurately so in the extremely unlikely event he keeps it and sends you a rock back it'll be a different weight .

I'm assuming your eBay listing has a picture in with the camera serial number on it
 
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Out of over 2000 sales on e.bay over 10+ years I have only ever had 2 go tits up , one years ago who claimed non delivery on a 99p item , and one recently where a buyer claimed that a filter 1 of 3 sold together was damaged ,he got a partial refund then left me neg feedback ,first time ever .on reading his feedback it seems he had done it before to others .what a t***
 
Just an update: looks like they are a non paying bidder.......
 
What about the PayPal gift thing, does this not eliminate buyer protection? It's been a while since I sold on eBay.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Just an update: looks like they are a non paying bidder.......
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Just wait for the next £1 final value fee weekend before relisting and block bidders with 0 feedback

I sold a lens last week for £500, cost me £1 plus the paypal fee and went in a day , that only happens on here if it's £2 over what MPB offer
 
Under no circumstances would i complete this sale, i have my Ebay set up so that anyone with less than a certain amount, or with negative feedback can't bid on any of my sales.
 
Theres also an option with buy it now for them to pay immediately , this means they haven't actually bought it until they pay so it doesn't end the listing like it does with just BIN
 
Contact PayPal once you have received the funds and get them to double check if needed.
 
Cobra said:
That happend here some while ago, over a lens.
In fact the seller hadn't sent it in the first place, but the weight on the parcel posting reciept proved there was nothing in the box.
The Police sorted it ;)

What I'm saying here is that the weight should be on the "sent item" note.
That will prove either way whether the box / case is empty or not.
Click to expand...


I had that issue, I sold a laptop and the buyer contacted me to say it didn’t work, I agreed to a return and they sent back a broken laptop screen, PayPal / eBay didn’t care, I took images etc of the box, shipping label with weight on and they still sided with the buyer. So I will never sell anything on eBay again now.
 
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