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Potential buyer with terrible feedback - how do I handle this?

8 replies

EagleRay · 06/04/2014 11:39

Hi - I've been selling a couple of baby-related items (large, collection-only) on Ebay recently and one item is due to end this eve.

I had a buyer email me yesterday asking if I would do a buy it now on the item so that she could have it straight away (she included a bit of a sob story about why she has to buy this item for her poor suffering baby asap). I didn't get a chance to reply as we were visiting family all day in an area with very poor signal.

She's emailed again this morning asking the same thing, but I guess there's a chance that as there's only a few hours left to run on the auction, she may bid anyway.

Thing is, I checked her feedback and it's appalling - there's were 3 comments from buyers saying she had been abusive, aggressive and so on and they hadn't got their items. She's offering a reasonable price for the item, but I've got a bad feeling about the whole thing.

So, do I:

  • sell her the item at a buy it now price
  • leave the auction to run and risk her buying anyway
  • avoid dealings with her at all and block her (is it possible to do this?)


Is it reasonable to not want to do dealings with someone who looks like they're going to be the biggest PITA?

By the way, I've found selling baby stuff on ebay very stressful - listed a Jumperoo last week and it was like a feeding frenzy - incredible amount of messages from people with mini-biographies of their babies and why I HAD to end the auction and sell direct to them. Thing is, I've found the local FB selling pages just as scary Confused
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LavenderGreen14 · 06/04/2014 14:20

I would add her to my blocked bidder list.

And make sure you only take cash for collected items btw, never paypal.

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LaurieFairyCake · 06/04/2014 14:21

I'd do it with cash on collection only

And I wouldn't respond at all if she then got home with it and decided it was 'broken'

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tutu100 · 06/04/2014 14:25

If the item ends today, you can't add a BIN anyway. If you want to you can message her saying you can't add a BIN but good luck if she decides to bid. If she does win it only accept cash on collection - which is the only payment method you should accept for collection only items, and make sure she inspects the item fully before she leaves with it.

Good Luck and don't worry, hopefully some lovely person will bid on it last minute and will be pleased with it and your faith in ebay may be restored a bit.

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expatinscotland · 06/04/2014 14:52

Block her immediately.

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GemmaTeller · 06/04/2014 16:29

I'd block her straight away - ebay's a minefield at the best of times without getting involved in sob stories.

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nickstmoritz · 06/04/2014 19:01

Block, not worth it.

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HolidayCriminal · 07/04/2014 18:34

block

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EagleRay · 07/04/2014 21:20

Thanks for the advice everyone - I replied to her and said it wouldn't be possible to end the auction early, and thankfully haven't heard from her since. I will block her now though, just in case she pops back up!

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