I found a cache of brand new modem cables in my junk box at home; rather than throw them out, I thought I’d knock them out on ebay for just a few pence (plus the postage, of course).
And they sold, netting me hardly any money at all - but that’s OK - I have a few pence in my pocket and the warm glow of satisfaction that somewhere, there’s a tiny little gap in a landfill that can be used for something else. OK, it was nothing to do with any of that, but it got me a few more feedback points on my already untarnished record, which is nice.
Anyway, there’s something weird about one of the buyers; his PayPal payment came through as an ‘eCheque’ - I think this means he is funding his PP account by bank transfers, rather than from a credit/debit card.
eCheques apparently take a little while to clear and PayPal instructs me not to despatch the goods until this has taken place; clearance was supposed to happen yesterday, but hasn’t.
It’s only 79 pence fercryinoutloud, but the payment isn’t in my account yet, so I’m not sending the cable; it’s a matter of somewhat pointless principle, but there you go. It’s the other things about the buyer that are making me slightly nervous:
-This is the first thing he’s bought for months
-He contacted me asking why I didn’t reply regarding his earlier email (which I didn’t receive) about a different auction (which had subsequently closed) - apparently he wanted to offer me some ridiculously small amount to close the auction and sell him the item outside ebay - I know this is against the rules and I wouldn’t do it, but what is weird is that the amount he offered was so ludicrously, pitifully small.
-He lives in my home town
My spider sense is tingling about this one; am I being set up for some kind of scam? Is this just an elaborate ploy to get my personal details?
Probably not, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be careful.
I work as the manager of the ebay department of an art gallery (meaning I manage myself, its a small art gallery) so I spend 8 hours a day with eBay. The e check thing is perfectly normal. They are annoying because you end up getting 2 or sometimes three notifications before you actually get payment, but they are usually ok. It’s not unusual in my experience for them to take 2 to three days to clear, but don’t send him a thing until it does. No matter what he says, you haven’t been paid until that e check clears or he sends you funds some other way.
In my experience nothing you posted seems too unusual, but there is always the x factor of what your spidey sense tells you. If you really feel uncomfortable dealing with this person, don’t.
Now the best way to go about protecting yourself is to not let him know anything. Don’t mail packages from your house, take them to the post office. If you can make the return address on the package somewhere other than your home. He has no way of getting any information you don’t give to him without you knowing about it, so if you are worried make sure he doesn’t have any info to get. Ebay is surprisingly good about protecting you in this sort of situation, the most they will ever give him is your phone number, and even then he has to prove that he needs it, and you will be notified by ebay that he has requested it.
Also remember, you are the seller and have the right to refuse service if he is behaving badly. As long as you don’t take his money, you don’t owe him anything. Worst case you can justify just about any action by showing ebay that he violated ebay policy once already by going to you with an outside offer. Also, make sure you keep any and all correspondence you have with him.
As far as feedback goes, the best thing to do at this point is to just not leave any. Most people won’t leave negative feedback if you haven’t left any feedback yet, for fear of retaliation.
Thanks; the original PP message said the eCheque would take four days to clear, but it’s been more than a week (there was also a delay of one week between the end of auction and his payment, but that’s entirely his problem); looking at the transaction details on my PayPal account details, it still says it was due to clear yesterday.
This auction was PayPal only, so I think you’re right that he won’t have been supplied with my personal address details. My biggest fear is not that he’s trying to scam me over this particular item (it’s worthless), but rather that there might be some identity theft or burglary plan in the offing.
I once sent an eCheck sort of by accident. I was paying for an item I bought off ebay and couldn’t figure out why Paypal was forcing me to do this eCheck thing instead of sending the money instantly (directly from my bank account). I only later realized it was because the credit card I had on the Paypal account had expired. I guess Paypal normally lets you transfer money out of your bank account instantly when you have a valid credit card backing it up, in case the money’s not actually in the bank account. No credit card == seller must wait for the check to clear.
Since you say this guy hadn’t bought anything for a while, maybe the same thing happened to him.
(And yeah, it really did take a good number of days before it cleared.)
How much would you spend to take a NEG off your record? More than 79 pence, I imagine (I think it costs like $25 when & if you can do it). Thus, as a Seller- never sit on anything valued less than that. Ship the damn thing and do it now, with an apology. You stand to lose 79 pence on the one hand, and get a big fat NEG on the other. There really is no choice, here- ship the damn thing.
I wonder if Paypal has been having problems over the past couple of weeks. I bought a new PDA a couple of days after Thanksgiving, and paid for it within an hour of winning the auction. But instead of “Paid” appearing when I went to the link for the item, “Payment pending”, which I’ve never seen before, was on it even a week later.
The seller must have gotten the payment okay eventually, since I got an e-mail Monday saying he mailed it - but that was 8 days after the auction closed. I’ve e-mailed him to ask if he had notice of there being a problem (all I got was a paid recept from paypal right after paying) but haven’t checked that e-mail account to see if he’s replied yet.
I have actually done this in the past, when I felt the buyer was trustworthy; this guy simply hasn’t inspired me that way, because:
-The whole damn thing about the other auction; he wanted to offer me £3 to end an auction and sell outside of ebay a product that already had bids exceeding that amount, and eventually sold for £17. - Dishonest and dumb.
-The communication thing; he didn’t even initiate payment until a week after the auction ended; he didn’t respond in any way to the invoice I sent (and resent) him. - Shady.
He simply didn’t give me any reason to trust him; on top of this, paypal’s explicit instruction was not to send the goods until the payment clears.
Now of course getting all wound up about the value and the goods probably is a little out of proportion for something of such small value, but as I said, my fear was not that he would stiff me, but rather than there was some kind of other trouble brewing.
Glad your payment finally cleared. Things have indeed been odd with ebay and paypal this last couple of weeks, they are doing some site reconstruction on the eBay side that is starting to screw with me a lot during my normal work day. We don’t use paypal for anything other than accepting payment so thankfully I am not dealing with that too.
You did the right thing by not sending the item until he paid, and until that echeck cleared he HADN’T paid. I do hope you took my advice about not mailing the package from your home, and making sure that the return address wasn’t your home address. It was probably nothing, but always better to be safe.
Unfortunately eBay attracts a lot of unscrupulous and occasionally exceedingly stupid people. I had a piece of art listed at an opening bid of $99, it would typically retail for about $149, I got an email from a guy offering me $10 for it if I would close the auction early. I have currently, 3 people who won items in October and still haven’t paid for them. Sadly that is just the nature of the beast. You also occasionally find the very kind people too. The ones who send you hand written thank you notes because they were so happy with the item they bought, or who send an extra couple of buck with a note attached that I should spend the extra on a cup of coffee. It isn’t all bad.
Good to hear things seem to have worked out for you on this one.
