Selling to buyers with zero feedback

[Hal Nail]

I was pretty certain my seller preferences required buyers to have a certain level of feedback, be uk and a few other things. Yesterday I sold two items on by it now, to two different buyers, who've turned out to be the same person. Both have 0 feedback. so 2 questions:

 

1) Have eBay reset settings at some point and/or removed the ability to block people with less than 5 ratings (I think that's what it used to be)? and

 

2) presume given they have paid I just pack extremely carefully, make sure I have tracking etc and hope it works out?

 

I keep reminding myself we all started on zero. It's a bit unfortunate to say the least that although I am confident I described them accurately, these are two scratch built items I felt there was some risk a buyer wouldn't like (afterall, I didnt!). A newbie potentially thinking everything on eBay is a bargain and these will be museum pieces going cheap, wouldn't have been my ideal purchaser.

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Hal Nail
grammar

[37114]

54 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

I was pretty certain my seller preferences required buyers to have a certain level of feedback, be uk and a few other things. Yesterday I sold two items on by it now, to two different buyers, who've turned out to be the same person. Both have 0 feedback. so 2 questions:

 

1) Have eBay reset settings at some point and/or removed the ability to block people with less than 5 ratings (I think that's what it used to be)? and

 

2) presume given they have paid I just pack extremely carefully, make sure I have tracking etc and hope it works out?

 

I keep reminding myself we all started on zero. It's a bit unfortunate to say the least that although I am confident I described them accurately, these are two scratch built items I felt there was some risk a buyer wouldn't like (afterall, I didnt!). A newbie potentially thinking everything on eBay is a bargain and these will be museum pieces going cheap, wouldn't have been my ideal purchaser.

 

I can't help on point 1 but you are correct re point 2, I have sold to a few 0 rated buyers and just make sure I package it well, send them a message to say it is on the way and here is the tracking number (I know ebay automatically tell the item is despatched) and ask them to message me to let me know it arrived safe, in each case it has been fine.

 

 

[Crosland]

Take pictures of the package as you package it.

[Hal Nail]

Cheers Guys, useful ideas.

[John M Upton]

Hang on a minute, two different ebay accounts, both zero feedback but both the same buyer?

 

Major red flags here.

[Hal Nail]

43 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Hang on a minute, two different ebay accounts, both zero feedback but both the same buyer?

 

Major red flags here.

quite. but since its let him purchase and pay, not sure what I can do now.

[DCB]

2 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

quite. but since its let him purchase and pay, not sure what I can do now.

If it's enough money to worry about  Apolgise and say you damaged the item wrapping it up, and Cancel item lost or damaged. .   I managed to break a cast Mazak Grafar King body I had sold  once...   You would think that was impossible but  it shattered when dropped on the floor.

 

If the guy has two accounts that in itself used to be against guidelines, and 0 feedback is worrying. Contact the buyer and check the address and why he has two accounts. Same address.   Why?    You could have combined postage?  I think address problems are another reason to cancel.      Pragmatically you could say you want to be sure he is satisfied with the first before despatching the second,  But they guy could be operating his poor old Dads account as well as his own or some other legit reason and might not be a con artist at all.
My  experience is most people buying and selling railways on eBay are trustworthy.  Its only me who buys cheap stuff "weathers" it nicks the good bits and flogs the remains for more money,   but in my experience  those selling musical instruments have a high proportion of twisting lying scumbags and disability scooter  buyer ./ scammers are in a class of their own. 
 

[Tofufi]

  

9 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Hang on a minute, two different ebay accounts, both zero feedback but both the same buyer?

 

Major red flags here.

 

 

I'm pretty sure eBay lets people check out as a guest now.

 

In this instance, they usually have a nonsense username and, of course, 0 feedback. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buying-guest?id=4035

 

This is probably how they 'appear' to have two usernames.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Tofufi

[Hal Nail]

2 hours ago, Tofufi said:

 I'm pretty sure eBay lets people check out as a guest now.

 

In this instance, they usually have a nonsense username and, of course, 0 feedback. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buying-guest?id=4035

 

This is probably how they 'appear' to have two usernames.

Interesting.

 

The one further problem I've hit is I cant add the same tracking number to both on eBay so potentially they could claim I've not proved postage in a dispute - but ive taken enough photos of them being packed, the weight of the box etc etc that it ought to be fine.

 

There's always a danger of creating problems before they exist with eBay - "never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence" etc - but this one doesn't feel the most comfortable. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Hal Nail

[Hal Nail]

8 hours ago, DCB said:

If it's enough money to worry about  Apolgise and say you damaged the item wrapping it up, and Cancel item lost or damaged. .   I managed to break a cast Mazak Grafar King body I had sold  once...   You would think that was impossible but  it shattered when dropped on the floor.

 

Its only me 

In the end i decided it wasnt high enough value to be bothered and in some ways worst case it will test eBays disputes procedures which would be handy to know for selling higher value stuff.

 

It isnt only you :)

[Hal Nail]

In respect of my original point that the preferences have changed, found the page now and they have taken away the option to block people with less than 5 feedback - top option here is the watered down equivalent.

 

[Crosland]

3 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

In respect of my original point that the preferences have changed, found the page now and they have taken away the option to block people with less than 5 feedback - top option here is the watered down equivalent.

 

It's called "enshittification"

 

First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

 

Wiktionary defines it as "The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits"

[Hal Nail]

By way of update, got a nice note today saying items arrived safely and the buyer is happy.

 

Still, never does any harm to be careful.