I am selling something through ebay, and occasionally when i buy something, i see the seller has a message on the item description that reads something like : If you have negative, zero, or low feedback, contact me before bidding". what would the following conversation be? would the seller just say “if you bid and win, you better not stiff me!”? the reason i am asking is because i am selling something that might go for a reasonable amount of money, or atleast to a person of my economic position. So, fellow dopers, what are your thoughts on new e-bayers bidding on semi-expensive stuff?
You may find that I’m in the minority here, but as a seller I don’t care if a buyer is new. If the feedback is low because it’s full of negatives I’ll cancel a bid and block the bidder, but newbies get automatic benefit of the doubt. Everybody was new once. Right now I have a piece of gold jewelry up and my high bidder just registered on eBay yesterday. It’s making me SLIGHTLY nervous - if he/she wins, I’m sincerely hoping they already have a Paypal account and I don’t have to lead them step-by-step through the process.
Remember, as a seller you do have options - if you don’t get paid, you can leave a negative feedback, you can file a non-paying-bidder report and you can relist your item.
Also - and I’ve never done this myself - you can pre-approve bidders. I’m not sure exactly how, but there are links on the sellers’ tools page that can lead you through that.