- what to expect?

dollydishmop

I'm selling a few bits & bobs from the shed on my personal eBay account (I also have a seperate eBay business account FWIW)

And recently sold two items to a guy in India, with 100% feedback of 30-something.
On each auction listing I always quote shipping to UK & Ire, but state I am happy to ship worldwide, however please contact me for shipping costs before you bid etc etc.

So immediately after both auctions finished he emailed me looking for shipping costs. And so I replied with the cost of shipping the two items, via registered post, to India. I gave him the combined weight of the item, and explained how I calculated the extra I added on for packing materials.

He then replied, claiming he'd checked the an post website and that it should cost no more than €3 standard post.
And I explained that I wouldn't send the items via standard post, that registered post was the only option, and the cost was €11.20
I also pointed out that he must have looked at the wrong section of the an post, as the minimum it was possible send these items to India for was €4.85 standard, uninsured etc, not including the cost of packing materials...reminding him that I will not post them via standard post, and since I have not yet found anyone who will supply me with packaging materials for free, I have to add a little extra on for padded envelopes, bubble wrap etc.

We bounced a few emails back and forth, parrot style - him insisting he would only pay standard post. Me insisting I would only send registered post...and politely pointing out to him that the items had been listed for 10 days, and as such he'd had plenty of time to ascertain the price of shipping before he bid. blah blah blah.

Then I got a couple of emails informing me that he was away and had no access to the internet, and as such couldn't pay me for a few days...yes, the fact that he was connected to the internet, to check his ebay account and send me messages via the site, but couldn't somehow access his paypal account wasn't lost on me :rolleyes: . But I played the waiting game he wanted to engage me in, and 7 days after the auction ended he finally paid up.

Now at this point, he was also the highest bidder on another item I was listing. So I sent him another email, thanking him for his payment. I reminded him that he was currently the highest bidder on another item...and asking him if he wanted me to wait until the other auction had ended before shipping his original purchases, so that if he was the winning bidder, I could simply add the third item to the parcel for very little extra cost (it pushed it into the next weight bracket, so an additional couple of euro would have covered it), instead of sending it seperately, which would cost more.

No reply whatsoever to the email, so after 24 hrs I sent the original parcel by registered post, and entered the tracking info on the paypal site.

Then I noticed a new highest bidder on the third item. Also from India. Also from the same region/city as the previous buyer. But this bidder has only 1 feedback, account opened May '10, and the single feedback rating was from a transaction made only last week.

Since that item ended, with the 2nd buyer from India as the highest bidder, I have sent an Invoice twice, once on the day the auction ended, and another 2 days later....and have had absolutely no contact from him or her, whatsoever.
I will wait 7 days before I open an unpaid item dispute.

I strongly believe both are the same person...but I'm trying to work out what game he, she or they might be trying to play.

So, any experienced ebayer sellers come across similar shenanigans on ebay...what are they trying to pull, and what should I expect next in this 'game'?

The original parcel was sent, registered, on Tues, and I understand should take 7-9 working days to arrive...

jor el

If there's a scam going on here, it's not an obvious one. Take the money out of the Paypal account as soon as you can, and check for a delivery record on the tracking info (if one becomes available).

Was the shipping address confirmed or verified at all?

Judgement Day

My only thought - don't sell to India, China, Italy, Spain, France or other Third World countries - far more trouble than it's worth in my experience.

dollydishmop

jor el wrote: »

If there's a scam going on here, it's not an obvious one.

Exactly why I posted here...it just doesn't feel right, but I can't work out what the game rules are?

I think I'm fairly up to speed on most of the scams around...heck I was having fun with 419-baiting long before it became fashionable to do so <blush>
But I haven't come across anything like this before.

jor el wrote: »

Take the money out of the Paypal account as soon as you can, and check for a delivery record on the tracking info (if one becomes available).

Good advice, thanks

jor el wrote: »

Was the shipping address confirmed or verified at all?

The paypal account is verified on the first buyer. 2nd buyer hasn't paid yet, so no info from his paypal account.
Can't see any specific info on the addresses of either buyer on ebay. Where do I look for that?

Judgement Day wrote: »

My only thought - don't sell to India, China, Italy, Spain, France or other Third World countries - far more trouble than it's worth in my experience.

This is the first issue I've had with any one on ebay, since I set this account up in 2002...perhaps I've just been lucky.

Never bought from or sold to India before, but have done ebay transactions in the other countries you mention with no problems at all.

the groutch

I've set my auctions to block buyers from outside UK & Ireland from bidding, stops alot of the potential scamming.
imo it's not worth taking the risk of posting to anywhere esle for the sake of a few quid here and there extra on your bids, there's plenty enough people in UK/IRL to make sales to.

CantGetNoSleep

What kind of scams go on in Spain / France / Italy out of interest?

delllat

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

What kind of scams go on in Spain / France / Italy out of interest?

some people think..........

the italian postal service basically help themselves to anything thats desirable before it gets near the customer

a lot of uk powersellers refuse to ship to italy because of it

ShooterSF

Could it be the second account was to outbid himself as he no longer wanted the item but didn't want a bad mark against his "actual" account?

dollydishmop

That suggestion definitely has legs, thanks and good thinking!

Still no contact from the 2nd buyer, and still no payment either :rolleyes:

And now I have another buyer, on my business's ebay account who hasn't paid for the item they bought on a BIN listing from last week.... :rolleyes:

dollydishmop

This is now getting more weird.

After sending 3 payment invoices to the 2nd buyer, and finally a message yesterday asking if everything was ok and reminding him that he so far hadn't paid for the item he won...and that if I hadn't heard from him by Wednesday I'd have to start the Unpaid Item process....I log into ebay this morning. Still no message, or payment...but he's left me feedback "will deal again +++++" :eek::eek::eek:

WTF???

Now what game is he playing?

Does the fact that he has now left feedback, yet still not paid for the item...mean that my claim for an unpaid item now won't go through, and that I can't get my listing refund?:mad:

jor el

dollydishmop wrote: »

Does the fact that he has now left feedback, yet still not paid for the item...mean that my claim for an unpaid item now won't go through, and that I can't get my listing refund?:mad:

No, just start the unpaid item dispute now. He can't prove it was paid for, and if he doesn't respond to the dispute, you should get your credit.