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Selling iPhone on eBay - zero feedback buyer :/
DeathPrawn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've got an iPhone 2G, and I put it up on eBay to sell it so I can get an iPhone 3GS, since a jailbroken 2G goes for roughly the same as a new 3GS.
It sold today. Here's the issue: the buyer has zero feedback. I've bought and sold lots on eBay without having any trouble, but I've heard plenty of horror stories and having zero feedback is throwing up some warning flags.
My question to you guys: should I go ahead with the deal, or just try to refund him and restart the auction? If I do ship it off to him, what can I do to minimize my risk? Obviously I would ship with delivery confirmation, as well as transfer all money out of my PayPal account and remove all bank accounts/credit cards associated with it, but is there anything else he or PayPal could conceivably do to me if he tries to screw me over?
It sold today. Here's the issue: the buyer has zero feedback. I've bought and sold lots on eBay without having any trouble, but I've heard plenty of horror stories and having zero feedback is throwing up some warning flags.
My question to you guys: should I go ahead with the deal, or just try to refund him and restart the auction? If I do ship it off to him, what can I do to minimize my risk? Obviously I would ship with delivery confirmation, as well as transfer all money out of my PayPal account and remove all bank accounts/credit cards associated with it, but is there anything else he or PayPal could conceivably do to me if he tries to screw me over?
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DeathPrawn on
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Has the account been made in the last 30 days? if so, I'd say definitely trying to screw you.
You wait till his payment is to you and cleared, then you ship.
You're being a little paranoid about removing all the info and money from your PayPal. What information do you think he's going to obtain that's going to let him hack into your PayPal and drain you of all your money?
If he refuses then fuck him.
That really isn't how Ebay works.
OP, the real risk is with Paypal. There have been stories in which the buyer files a claim stating they received an empty box, or a broken product, and Paypal's conflict resolution amounts to a coin flip or something equally unhelpful.
The paranoia isn't because of him hacking into the system or anything like that. Based on numerous horror stories I've read about PayPal/eBay customer service, if he complains that I'm somehow screwing him over, it sounds like PayPal will freeze my account so that they can refund him. If I don't have the funds in my account, they'll try to take it from any connected accounts.
And honestly, if I was an eBay buyer and the seller said "no PayPal, send me a cashier's check", I'd think he was sketchy as fuck and refuse to do business with him.
Link to the auction please.
It boils down to this...If it makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. Just email the buyer and explain your trepidation and then relist it with the caveat that you will not sell to low or zero feedback buyers.
A good number of scams take place with compromised accounts. So feedback isn't really helpful in this case.
I've sold a ton of stuff on Ebay and never had issues. Then again I don't think I've ever sold to a zero feedback buyer. If feedback isn't helpful in any case according to you, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.
Yes, you can, when starting a listing, forbid accounts with low/no feedback. Bit too late now.
Actually, paranoid is the appropriate mindset for selling on eBay. You can successfully trade on eBay, but you have to be careful and know the risks and how to mitigate them.
I can no longer use paypal because someone did this with me.
It'll be an extra couple bucks out of your pocket,
but that way if the receiver claims he received an empty box when you as the sender insured your shipment as being worth / containing something worth $xx.xx dollars, you can file either a dispute with the carrier, who is going to be looking at the receiver for defrauding them, or you can use your insurance receipt as evidence that you did in fact ship off your end of the deal.
I just registered an account one day because I saw something I wanted (cheap ass comic book series). So because my account is new I'm instantly a terrible hacker fraud?
Just ship it after you get paid.
That being said, I'm going to ship it but try to cover my ass ten ways til Sunday.
Your thinking is perfectly legitimate, although with account hacking even high-feedback users can be scammers.
Rfalias, new users normally build-up their feedback with a few low-cost items which sellers are happier to take a risk on. Some sellers will sell to low or no feedback buyers but it's quite common for them to refuse bids from them, although this needs to be stated when the auction is started. Beyond a certain price tag it's just not worth the risk, especially with plenty of buyers with positive feedback likely to buy. This doesn't mean no-feedback users are definitely scammers, it's just that the risk isn't worth taking.
Unfortunately, you neglect to exclude no-feedback users, so you really need to ship unless you want to forfeit the cost and possibly your eBay and/or PayPal account as well. Go with Captain Vash's suggestion, make sure the shipment is insured (you should be doing this anyway for a high-cost item because delivery companies can and will loose and/or destroy your shit). I don't know if there's some way you can verify that the iPhone is functional as well before shipping it, although if the buyer claims it's damaged, malfunctional or 'not as described' then it's your word against his. In the event, you may just have to accept a return, (better a return than compensation IMO, otherwise you get into the whole argument of what one party considers 'fair' compensation) in which case make sure it's your carrier, they check the contents on collection and again it's insured so that you can verify the collection and have protection against it getting 'lost'. Otherwise at best you get an empty box shipped back to you, the buyer claims the phone was inside it when he took it to the post office and he still wants his money back and you have no phone or financial compensation.
Honestly, this kind of situation/paranoia is why I rarely buy or sell anything over $50 or so on Ebay.
Refusing bids from users with low feedback can help (compromised accounts or not) but as noted before, it's a bit late now.
Difference being that he technically was excluded from winning in my description, which isn't the case with yours. Also, the guy was pretty cool about it. Ebay sent him something asking if he agreed to cancel the transaction and he said he was. I feel bad having to lump all the citizens of a country together as acceptable risk or too risky, but I blame that on Paypal and ebay. Paypal will give the buyer their money back almost every time and ebay won't even let you give the buyer a negative feedback.