eBay - no feedback buyer question

[mihaixp]

I have an auction listed on eBay and well, given the fact that my experience add a seller is limited I decided to ask you one thing. Well, I had a serious bidder (with afew feedbacks) but now he was outbid by someone with 0 feedbacks (I am on my phone at the moment so I can't see if the account is new or not).
What do you think is the best course of action for me? Should I let the auction go on as normal and if he is the highest bidder at the end and pays, send the watch without any second thought? Or should I cancel its bid?

Please send me your suggestions.

Thanks in advance,
Mihai

[demonloop]

Let it run. We all started with 0 feedback. If he doesn't pay you can offer it to the other guy afterwards.

[andrew e]

I normally state politely, could all bidders with low feedback/recently joined please email me or your bid may be cancelled. People that contacted me were usually 100%. Those that didn't got the Eddie boom button treatment!

I will add I sold a sizeable amount of agricultral equipment and kept getting messed by zero feedbackers... eBay found out they shared I.P. addresses with people selling similar higher priced equipment (but this was in the good old eBay days mind!)

[scooobydont]

You can check to see what else they are bidding on. If they are bidding on loads of other things too, I would bin him/her/it.

[markrlondon]

What do you think is the best course of action for me? Should I let the auction go on as normal and if he is the highest bidder at the end and pays, send the watch without any second thought? Or should I cancel its bid?

Let it run. There is no reason to do otherwise as far as I can see.

Naturally make sure you use a tracked and suitable insured method of postage so that PayPal protection covers you.

[mihaixp]

Thanks to all of you for your input.

Let's say he pays and I send the watch to him. I am worried that he might say that the watch is not as mentioned (1) or might not pick it up from the post office (2) (and in that case, even if I get it back I'm left with paid postage).

Anyone knows how can I be sure that he can't complain about the first thing? Some pictures right before the postage might do the trick?

Cause the second issue might be encountered with any buyer (without any connection to its feedbacks).

[mihaixp]

You can check to see what else they are bidding on. If they are bidding on loads of other things too, I would bin him/her/it.

He/she/it is bidding on some other watches too (but only watches). I am not on my PC and I found out that the account is new (created about a week ago).

That's how his summary looks like:

30-Day Summary
Total bids:	35
Items bid on:	14
Bid activity (%) with this seller:	14%
Bid retractions:	0
Bid retractions (6 months):	0

He placed 5 bids on my item (upping the ante by 5$ each time until the previous bidder got outbid).

[catflem]

I normally state politely, could all bidders with low feedback/recently joined please email me or your bid may be cancelled. People that contacted me were usually 100%. Those that didn't got the Eddie boom button treatment!

I notice similar wording on many ebay sales, but there is nothing you can do if a zero feedback bidder sticks in his bid in the last minute of the auction.

You just have to brace yourself and accept that you may not get paid, or may get messed around. But I've had more non payers with loads of feedback than I've had non payers with zero feedback. I do use the ebay facility to block bidders with 2 or more non payment strikes within the last 6 months.

[kibrisjason]

I would let it run, you can always get the listing fees back if he turns out to be a duffer.

[jl smout]

I tend not to worry about it. We all have to start somewhere. I recently sold a Parker pen to a 0 feedback bidder in Holland, and it was one of the smoothest transactions I've ever done.

[markrlondon]

I am worried that he might say that the watch is not as mentioned (1) or might not pick it up from the post office (2) (and in that case, even if I get it back I'm left with paid postage).

These are a risk with any transaction. There is at present no substantive reason to be particularly concerned.

For future reference (it's too late for this transaction) you can block no/low feedback bidders.

Some pictures right before the postage might do the trick?

I always do this regardless of the status of the buyer.

Cause the second issue might be encountered with any buyer (without any connection to its feedbacks).

Both issues can be encountered with any seller, regardless of their feedback. It's life.

[mihaixp]

Thank you very much. All your opinions are greatly appreciated. You've relieved the tension.
I am now less concerned and more confident as the auction enters its last 24 hours.

I'll keep you posted.

Regards,
Mihai

[mihaixp]

I had a few bidders that outbid him until the last 30 seconds when he returned and placed the winning bid.
I have told you that he is new (at least the account is). After the auction ended he sent me the following message: "Can you send an invoice to me via email account p*b*i*as@h*l.com paypal is having problem with my account they advise that i contact you, they would examine other payment methods". So I sent him an invoice to the email that is linked to its eBay account (it's different from the one he mentioned in the message). I am now waiting to see if he will pay.
Can I send an invoice on a different email than the one he registered with the eBay account?

[markrlondon]

"Can you send an invoice to me via email account p*b*i*as@h*l.com paypal is having problem with my account they advise that i contact you, they would examine other payment methods".

It could be a newbie problem (I've seen this sort of genuine confusion before with eBay/PP newbies) but it doesn't sound positive.

So I sent him an invoice to the email that is linked to its eBay account (it's different from the one he mentioned in the message). I am now waiting to see if he will pay.
Can I send an invoice on a different email than the one he registered with the eBay account?

I'm not sure if you can send an eBay invoice to a different address. However, my view is that it's irrelevant: When you send an invoice via eBay then it is directed automatically to the correct address with which he registered. If that's a problem for him then he needs to sort it out.

Oh well, let's hope he does cough up. Did you allow payment by any means other than PayPal in your auction?

[mihaixp]

Oh well, let's hope he does cough up. Did you allow payment by any means other than PayPal in your auction?

I am confident that everything will turn out well. No, PayPal is the only payment method allowed.

[markrlondon]

I am confident that everything will turn out well. No, PayPal is the only payment method allowed.

That simplifies things.

[mihaixp]

Well, looks like he won it and he also paid it. I sent the package so from now on it's a waiting game.

[markrlondon]

Glad he paid. Let's hope he doesn't cause trouble now.

[VoleBoy]

Fingers crossed for you. My worst buyer had a perfect feedback record. He didn't pay for a month, (and never apologised) then finally paid and wanted it sending to a different address (and country!) to his confirmed address. Then when the item got there (it was new and sealed) he opened it and said it was damaged (it was slightly) and demanded a full refund. Considering it was new and from the manufacturer I couldn't have known.

I barred him from all future bids obviously.

[roondog]

Well, looks like he won it and he also paid it. I sent the package so from now on it's a waiting game.

Make sure you keep us posted on the final outcome. Hope it all works out satisfactorily for you.

[mihaixp]

Make sure you keep us posted on the final outcome. Hope it all works out satisfactorily for you.

I hope everything will end well too.
Probably, in a couple of weeks tops, we'll have a definitive outcome (hopefully positive).

[mihaixp]

Well, seems like we have a positive outcome.

He picked the watch from the post office, left me a positive feedback (in the meantime he gained another 3 positive feedbacks).
Thanks for everything, guys. You have given me a lot of confidence in this matter.

Regards,
Mihai

[Junaid8]

Good to hear :)

I try not to sell to low feedback buyers unless they're paying for postage which has some sort of proof.

[mihaixp]

Good to hear :)

I try not to sell to low feedback buyers unless they're paying for postage which has some sort of proof.

Well, eBay and PayPal policy somehow obliges the buyer to pay in advance, including the postage price.