# Interesting Ebay phenomenon **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648 "2004-10-28T11:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/1 "2004-10-28T11:40:44Z")
I have now closed two Ebay auctions (one my own, one for a friend) in which I encountered the following apparent scam: 1. Auction closes. 2. Invoice sent immediately. I send them using the Ebay Invoicing feature. 3. Buyer does not respond. 4. Follow-up invoice sent. 5. Buyer writes back claiming either to have “e-mailed me and gotten no response” or to have “never received a payment address” despite the invoice. These people complain and seem to not get my responses. I think they are faking it, and am getting close to losing my temper. Most of my auctions are paypal only and the paypal link takes the buyer right to my paypal account for payment. Has this happened to anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/2 "2004-10-28T12:39:46Z")
Could be cold feet, or it could be that the automated emails that the ebay system is sending them are getting misidentified as spam and filtered out. Or it could be something else. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/3 "2004-10-28T12:55:26Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Could be cold feet, or it could be that the automated emails that the ebay system is sending them are getting misidentified as spam and filtered out. Or it could be something else. I’m thinking cold feet. The first guy claimed that he e-mailed me, and that I had not responded. I checked my spam folders (I get every other inquiry from E-bay, so it would indeed be anomalous that this one was filtered from _my_ e-mail) and the e-mail was not there. When I e-mailed him back and asked him to forward the original e-mail, he got very quiet. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/4 "2004-10-28T13:08:44Z")
I think this happens all the time. Not much to do but negative-feedback him and relist the item. I don’t know what eBay policies are for waiving a fee for a relist if the buyer doesn’t pay. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/5 "2004-10-28T13:13:53Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I think this happens all the time. Not much to do but negative-feedback him and relist the item. I don’t know what eBay policies are for waiving a fee for a relist if the buyer doesn’t pay. They waive the FVF, but not the relist. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/6 "2004-10-28T13:14:56Z")
Could that happen if their eBay user information is incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/7 "2004-10-28T13:19:56Z")
I’ve had the exact opposite problem… 1. I win auction. 2. Send M/O or PayPal payment. 3. No response from e-mail to seller. 4. Still waiting for items to arrive. This has happened to me on the last two auctions. Both sellers have had 200 + positive feedbacks and at most 1 negative. It’s startin’ to get annoying… ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/8 "2004-10-28T13:23:17Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > I’ve had the exact opposite problem… > > 1. I win auction. > > 2. Send M/O or PayPal payment. > > 3. No response from e-mail to seller. > > 4. Still waiting for items to arrive. > > This has happened to me on the last two auctions. Both sellers have had 200 + > positive feedbacks and at most 1 negative. > > It’s startin’ to get annoying… I’ll take my problem over yours any day. If I don’t get paid, I’m only out the listing fee. You have to try to recoup your payment. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/9 "2004-10-28T15:53:09Z")
Another odd thing: I won two auctions last week and sold nothing, so this is all buyer’s end. After completing the purchases AND e-mailing the auctioner (I always do this, buying or seling), I got no less than 10 e-mails from eBay of other sellers giving me the tracking info of the packages they sent. In each e-mail, a different buyer was listed than my username. In fact, they were auctions I was not a part of. So, I replied to each of them that eBay ws acting screwy and I was getting their e-mails. No, I was not getting the merch, just the e-mails. So…, I would chalk it up to an eBay system glitch. If I werr you, I would reply person to person and not just through eBay’s system. It seems their mail is currently FUBAR. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-ebay-phenomenon/271648/10 "2004-10-28T15:56:58Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Another odd thing: > > I won two auctions last week and sold nothing, so this is all buyer’s end. > > After completing the purchases AND e-mailing the auctioner (I always do this, buying or seling), I got no less than 10 e-mails from eBay of other sellers giving me the tracking info of the packages they sent. In each e-mail, a different buyer was listed than my username. In fact, they were auctions I was not a part of. So, I replied to each of them that eBay ws acting screwy and I was getting their e-mails. No, I was not getting the merch, just the e-mails. > > So…, I would chalk it up to an eBay system glitch. If I werr you, I would reply person to person and not just through eBay’s system. It seems their mail is currently FUBAR. Hmmm. . . I think you are right about the Ebay e-mail glitch. But in the second case I’m talking about, I did just that, and the guy still claimed I never sent him anything. Unless E-bay is giving out wrong winning bidder e-mail info, and like the sellers in your case, some other guy was getting this guy’s e-mails. I’m trying to make it Ebay’s fault and not the buyer’s. But I guess I’m just too cynical.