Topic: Why?

[ceres]

I'm selling off a lot of stuff on eBay and the vast majority of transactions are a breeze.  Last week I sold a small item to a person who registered on ebay on 19 Dec and has zero feedback.  I got their address details when they won the auction and on the surface it looked OK - central London address.  They haven't paid yet for the item so I requested their phone number from eBay and tried to call it.  Number doesn't exist. So, suspicious now, searched for their address, it doesn't exist either.  Have turned it over to ebay fraud people.  But why?

[pumkinlover]

 ???

[shirlton]

Have you sent them the stuff Ceres?

[Melbourne12]

This is an endemic eBay problem.  I assume that it's caused by people who simply enjoy the thrill of winning an auction, and are sufficiently antisocial to bid without any intention of paying.

It hurts the buyer as well as the seller.  Several times I've bid up to my limit, been outbid, then received a "second bidder" offer, because the winner isn't contactable.  That's all very well, and a couple of times I've taken advantage of it, but without the rogue bidder I might not have had to go as high as I did.

[small]

I don't think it's fraud, I think some people just get a buzz from this stupid behaviour. I sell a lot on ebay and only a tiny fraction of transactions haven't gone through - just go through the ebay due process and relist the item, don't let it get to you.

[Chrispy]

What Melbourne12 is describing could be shrill bidding, sellers bidding on their own stuff just to bump up the price, and totally against eBay rules.

As for the person bidded in ceres item, well the global village is full of village idiots.

[ceres]

No, I haven't  sent the item - never do that until payment has cleared.

It's certainly a problem on both sides of a transaction.  I hope that eBay takes this type of stuff seriously.  The person I spoke to said I'd hear in 24-48 hours the result of their investigation.  There are surely some sick puppies around with way too much time on their hands.

[BarriedaleNick]

I think it could be the buyer bidding twice under different accounts - the first wins - the buyer doesnt pay and therefore goes to the second bidder.  The seller probably doesn't want to start another auction so sells it to the 2nd buyer - who is the actual winner - well maybe!

[betula]

We recently sold on best offer..............three weeks later had a reply to say he had been away.Still no attempt to purchase,by thenI had opened a case with ebay ,closed it and got the fee back in mthe postagey account.

I have only had this happen once before,years ago.The second bidder was happy to have it as it was a vey collectable item.No scam on my part,a genuine second bidder offer.

The main problem now is people saying the item was not receaved.I only post on a sighed for basis now....be warned.Another one is saying the item was boken,I always say send it back,if it is broken I will pay the postage,the answer always is oh no just money back will do ..............don't play the game.

[dtw]

Dodgy people are very few and far between, I've only been caught out once, somebody had hijacked an account and bought a couple of batteries. the account holder got his account back and I was forced to give refund by paypal. It was only a couple of quid, so I don't send via recorded delivery, as for low value items it puts buyers off.
Another guy tried to claim that the box had been damaged in the post and he wanted £25 (for a £100 item sent by special delivery). I asked for photographic evidence so that I could claim off the post office. He declined saying that the postman told him I couldn't claim because the box wasn't covered in bubble wrap. I ignored him and a couple of weeks later he tried again saying his wife had thrown the box away and the headphones didn't work (sold as spares or repair).
I reported him to ebay for monetary extortion.
They said that they would deal with it, I haven't heard from him since.
He had private feedback, which is very dodgy.

[cambourne7]

quite often there using fake cc details to see if they work before hitting big ticket sites. Charities get hit for lots of £1 transactions which are generated by computers entering in masses and masses of cc numbers to try and find ones that work. Turn around from a authorised £1 transaction to a spending spree in the thousands is between 15 and 25 min as the banks are very slow at checking balances and usually only update on the hour.

To register with ebay they need to enter some details and in some cases the fraudsters are also checking these.

[ceres]

Ebay has just come back with a suspicious buyer report - they've unregistered him/her and cancelled the bids on my item, presumably any others they tried too.  Warns that I may get a fake email saying payment has been made and to ignore it and not to send the item.  At least they acted quickly.

[Kea]

I had someone do a chargeback claiming her card had been stolen but she had had an email conversation with me using the address she'd registered on eBay about the item and she had purchased lots of stuff the same week either side of this transaction and left feedback for other sellers. Plus I had recorded delivery to her registered address. Paypal found in my favour but it took 8 weeks.....really put me off eBay too.

[sunloving]

Ceres its just sounded a bit odd that someone would go to the effort of bidding. Glad that things are sorted out.

I love ebay ive sold more than 300 things and have never had a problem with buyers and often get penpals from all over the world as a result.

The safety net of paypal and ebay means that it would be very rare for something to go wrong and it not be dealt with fairly so just keep on selling and ignore the small percent of idiots.

x Sunloving