Am I being neurotic? eBay sale

[PinkDaydreams]

Morning all!
I have a mobile phone for auction on eBay. I had a buyer make an offer, wanted me to post it immediately and wanted me to send my PayPal details directly to them rather than go through eBay. I reported the buyer and eBay agreed that the buyer was suspicious. I have therefore included within the description that unfortunately I can’t accept low feedback levels. I feel like I am being picky but I just want to protect myself from potential fraudsters.

Anyway, I have another buyer that has made me an offer, only has 2 feedback, wants me to send it as soon as possible. I feel uneasy about the low feedback and also wanting me to post it as soon as possible. Last year a buyer paid then requested a reverse transaction through PayPal, luckily PayPal contacted me to say don’t send the item. The buyer kept on asking me to post, this went on for a couple of weeks. I explained I hadn’t received payment, that the transaction had been reversed and PayPal told me not to send it. The buyer wasn’t happy with me as I wouldn’t send the goods.

Am I being neurotic regarding this buyer with only 2 feedback? For a low priced item I wouldn’t think much of it.

[RusholmeRuffian]

You're not being neurotic. I wouldn't sell a high value item to someone with extremely low feedback either. When it comes to eBay I think your instinct is normally correct. Not worth the risk!

[PinkDaydreams]

Thank you for reassuring me! I replied to the buyer three times already explaining my reason and they keep replying saying it’s not fair that he has low feedback but also asking how soon can I post as they want it quickly.

[BarbaraofSeville]

If it's on an auction, you let it run to the end, no matter how much they beg. You'll almost certainly get a better price that way. The people who beg for the item now, never offer anywhere near what the item should sell for.

But be aware that feedback is almost meaningless for buyers, as you can't give them negative feedback, so always read the comments to see if there is a history of messing sellers about.

Also make sure you make a note of the IMEI for the phone, in case they try and pull a fast one by claiming the one you sent them was broken.

[PinkDaydreams]

Good idea regarding the imei number, I hadn’t thought of that, thank you so much!

Yes I always check the actual comments on the feedback, i think it’s wrong that sellers can’t give buyers negative feedback if they are due it. The buyer has only joined this year and only has 2 feedback. I’ve heard of fraudsters creating many accounts to scam eBay sellers.

[doublehalo]

You can change things so you don't get messages or bids from people with negative feedback, and I think very low feedback and also unpaid item strikes.

Go to Site Preferences, scroll down and click on Buyer requirements and make the changes.

No need to ever deal with anyone by going round the ebay platform. It's more trouble than it's worth.

[PinkDaydreams]

@doublehalo thanks for that! It only gives the option of blocking -1 feedback or lower, which is a bit silly! But I’ve done it anyway, thank you! Also blocked unpaid item cases too which is handy, and people from outside of my shipping area.

[TheGirlWithAPrince]

To be fair i would never sell anything over £50 on ebay as all they have to say is wrong item/broken/not received etc and ebay usually sides with the buyer, ive had many things refunded to me from ebay and always made me think.

I never scammed anyone but realised how easy it would have been had i wanted to.

[PleasantVille]

Word of warning - if you're selling a phone on eBay pretty much every message you get will be from a scammer, it's absolutely the norm. This isn't an exaggeration, I've sold a lot of phones but it got to the point where it wasn't worth it, Ebay don't care about the seller experience ime.

You might be better to sell on Facebook or Gumtree, cash in hand, meet the buyer at a neutral location, job done.

[AJPTaylor]

Can you not just remove the risk and sell it to someone like musicmagpie(,there are others?). Easiest thing ever. I would never bother flogging one to someone on eBay again.

[islandislandisland]

I hate selling anything to someone with low feedback, everyone who has scammed me has had under 10. Def wouldn't sell a more expensive item to someone with feedback of 2. Unless I can see they've had the account for a number of years, I have had legit buyers with low feedback who seem to just randomly buy some shoes from ebay every 6 months and nothing else in between.

[MyOwnSummer]

Definitely second PP advice to sell it for cash, in person. Items like phones will attract scammers like anything and you have very few protections.

[PinkDaydreams]

To be honest it’s really stressing me out. I was bought a phone but don’t like it so have had to put it on eBay. I’m not on social media at all, it’s on gumtree but I’ve only had two message me asking to post it. I don’t know how posting through gumtree would work or getting payment. I’m not happy at having to put it on eBay as like a pp has said, it only takes the buyer to say that it has something wrong with it (it has nothing wrong with it) and eBay will easily refund them. I’ve been feeling so anxious about it.
I’ll check out music magpie thank you, hopefully won’t lose too much money going through that.

[BarbaraofSeville]

I've sold several phones on ebay without any problems.

But I never end auctions early, check out the feedback of the buyer, won't post overseas and haven't sold 'high end' desirable phones as they've just been my old phones at 2/3 years old and I don't have expensive ones.

There are a lot of scammers and idiots on ebay, but most people are not.

[bobbikato]

You have been very wise,many sellers do not sell anything to buyers without at least 100 positive feedback points .
I do not block them in advance but if i feel the buyer is being pushy,i just say sorry " my dog has eaten it " and cancel sale.
I also do not sell to african based buyers by not clicking the post to options,also often not include russia .
Nor to buyers with lots of recent negative feedback or even neutral ones .
I have a 100% postive feedback with a current score of 1,449.

[Sunshineandflipflops]

I wouldn't say someone wanting you to post asap is dodgy in itself. Most people buy a phone because theirs is broken/lost. The dodgy Paypal requests would worry me though.

[bobbikato]

Gumtree is very dodgy - i haver never used it - i think you are expected to meet up in car parks at one am,wearing hoodies .

[Toddlerteaplease]

I have been scammed on eBay a few tunes. Absolutely stick to the eBay rule and don't send until payment received. I won an auction a few weeks ago and turned out that the seller didn't have PayPal. Which immediately rang alarm bells so I cancelled the transaction.

[PinkDaydreams]

Thank you for all of your advice