Sob story sent with question about item - genuine or scam?

[Rivercam]

This is the second time it has happened to me, possibly from the same sender (can't find the first email to check this, but the name sounds familiar)

Someone has sent a question about an item, but then gone into some personal details about their personal situation.

Therefore, instead of simply asking whether an item has a lot of wear in it, then have gone into personal details, which is irrelevant to the bid. (I don't want to go into more detail,in case it outs the potential buyer recognises it - don't want to offend them if it's genuine).

I remember feeling a bit unnerved by th first one. I couldn't quite understand why they were giving me so much details - were they expecting me to,feel sorry for them and send the item (and extras) free to them? I admit I ignore it. This one doesn't sound so,bad, but still goes into detail I don't need to know.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Id ignore its personally. It's impossible to know if it's a scam or not so I'd ignore it and simply answer the question asked. I'd probably block the buyer afterwards too as their 'over sharing' might be indicative of a difficult buyer.

yep and add to blocked bidder list too

Weeell, when I first started selling on e-bay I listed an unusual IKEA toy item which my husband bought for our kids but they never really played with it.

It was large and heavy and, like I say, unusual. Being so large and heavy I listed it for collection only.

I had a message from someone interested in it who asked if I would consider sending it if they were to bid and win it and suggesting that I use a courier service like myhermes or collect+ etc, some cardboard and bin bags to package it.

Their message stated that their son was autistic and particularly interested/engaged by toys/things that functioned like this one did so they really hoped that I could consider doing this for them.

This made me find out about using a courier service instead of having to get to a Post Office during opening hours (I work full-time) and waste time queuing up with each batch of parcels. 300+ parcels sent by myhermes later, I'm glad I made the effort to do what she asked, whether she was genuine or not, it set me on the track to easier e-baying so I'm still grateful to that buyer anyway.

Blimey Lappy you are a lot more trusting than I am. I think I spend too much time on the eBay forum on MSE and on EBay.

Thanks for all your replies - much appreciated. I agree that the buyer could be difficult. I really don't need to know the bidder's backgrounds, it's totally irrelevant to the bidding process.

Block if you think you can sell it elsewhere. I've lost patience with weird buyers.

It was win-win for me as the ebayer who contacted me was the only bidder in the end and being new to using a courier I ended up somewhat overcharging for it but they left ecstatic feedback for me.