Is This a Potential eBay Scam? (Selling Surface Pro)

iTaco on 22/01/2019 - 14:38
Last edited 22/01/2019 - 15:01 by 1 other user

So I'm new to selling things on eBay and it's a bit overwhelming to get used to things.
I started with 1 item which has since been purchased and its on its way in the post to the buyer. Last night I listed a bunch of other things to try my luck at selling.

Amongst the items I'm looking to sell a Surface Pro and I have set a starting bid of X amount and a buy it now of X amount. I just received an inbox message from a brand new eBay account created today (22/1/19) asking me "Is there a set price you would be happy with?".

My first instinct is to ignore this person because A) I do have a buy it now price, so obviously I'd be happy with that price and B) Brand new account with 0 feedback it doesn't give me any faith in this person being legit.

Any thoughts on this?

A further question is, just say this person decides to buy the item (and wins the auction/buy it now) after I ignore their message. Am I allowed to choose not to sell to the person without any consequences to my eBay account?

Edit. I thought dealing with eBay would be ideal because I don't have to deal with any people face to face. But now receiving this message which has my scammer senses tingling, I'm thinking maybe dealing with Gum Tree / Facebook marketplace might be better for cash in hand.

Poll Options

• 7
  Yes, its most likely a scam
• 0
  Nah, its legit
• 22
  For an item such as a Surface Pro I should, deal cash in hand Gum Tree/Facebook marketplace.

Related Stores

eBay Australia

Marketplace

• 

  scrimshaw on 22/01/2019 - 15:21

  +3

  Q: Am I allowed to choose not to sell to the person without any consequences to my eBay account?

  According to eBay

  If at all possible, try to avoid cancelling an order because you don't have the item to send – it's considered a transaction defect and may affect your seller performance level. The buyer will still be able to leave you negative or neutral Feedback about the transaction.

  You can cancel a transaction up to 30 days after a sale, even if your buyer has already paid.

  There are situations when you can't cancel a sale:

  1. You've already sent the item
  2. The buyer has asked us to step in and help because they didn't receive the item
  3. You've already opened an unpaid item case.

  If your item is still in the auction phase, you can cancel the listing and it will not affect your seller performance. However… if you let the timer count down to the final 12 hours of the auction you lose the ability to cancel the listing and eBay will force you to sell the item to the highest bidder.

• 

  Quantumcat on 22/01/2019 - 15:38

  +1

  Never sell anything on eBay that you couldn't bear losing/get no money for. For everything else there's Gumtree (& cash).

• 

  CyberMurning on 22/01/2019 - 15:45

  when selling, there are options to filter your potential buyers. for example you can set that people with zero feedback cannot participate on your listing, or people from overseas, etc etc

  • 

    iTaco on 22/01/2019 - 16:30

    Oh really? I'll have to look deeper for that setting I was googling whether I could block 0 feedback buyers but kept coming across older posts saying you couldn't. Thanks

    • 

      scrimshaw on 22/01/2019 - 18:01

      I don't think you can. You can block people with worse than zero feedback (negatives, which are normally the result of unpaid payment strikes), but you cannot block people with exactly zero feedback.

      • 

        iTaco on 22/01/2019 - 19:13

        +1

        Block buyers who:

        Have received 2 unpaid item(s) within 1 month(s)
        Have a primary postage address in a location I don't post to
        Have a Feedback score of -1 or lower
        Are currently winning or have bought 1 of my items in the last 10 days and have a Feedback score of 0 or lower

        I found this in the list of various options and turned on which would be the last point above. I think this makes sense and achieves what I'm after

• 

  RandomNinja on 22/01/2019 - 15:58

  If you're a casual eBay seller, not getting scammed would take priority over your seller rating.

  I recently put a bunch of things up on eBay and a buyer with 2 feedback wanted me to ship to Russia despite my auctions specifying I don't ship overseas. Seems like obvious scam so I cancelled the order rather deal with the hassle.

• 

  myusername on 22/01/2019 - 16:18

  alot of ebay sellers won't sell to people with zero feedback

• 

  thatonethere on 22/01/2019 - 21:42

  A lot of people have said Gumtree/Facebook Marketplace with cash being safer. Just make sure you don't get someone who just runs off with it.

  Regarding Ebay - my amateur experience is to just let the auction run and ignore (0) or (1) rated messages. Saying that I just sold some shoes to a (0) but she was adorable and anyone who bid, she would outbid obsessively.