# Sold an item on ebay to a guy who just signed up to ebay today - should I be worried? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395 "2017-08-12T01:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/1 "2017-08-12T01:05:11Z")
I put my old video card up for sale on ebay. Someone hit the buy it now price today. I noticed his ebay account was created today, so he has no feedback history or anything. Should I be worried? I mean, yes, he paid the money on paypal already, but people must scam this way all the time. Claiming you never shipped them the item or it was defective or something and charging back on paypal or something. Or using stolen paypal credentials or a paypal based on a stolen CC maybe? Ebay almost always takes the buyer’s side on these issues, right? Should I cancel the sale, or otherwise proceed here in some way other than shipping the item? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/2 "2017-08-12T01:15:11Z")
I suspect that there will be a continuous line of people who need to sign up for Ebay to buy some dumb thing. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/3 "2017-08-12T01:32:04Z")
I once got scammed (almost) on Ebay, to the point of having the laptop I sold already delivered to my Post Office for shipping to the buyer. Fortunately I got a call from Ebay warning me of the scam and was able to retrieve the laptop before it was shipped. I’m not going into details because I don’t want everyone to know exactly how stupid and naive I am (very and very, respectively, my husband still mocks me regularly about this), let’s just say the shipping address involved Indonesia. At any rate, it didn’t matter that I had already been paid, because I had been paid fraudulently, with someone else’s banking account info, so the money was immediately pulled out of my account as soon as it was identified as a scam. That said, there is a world of difference between a high-end slightly used laptop and an old video card, and I doubt anyone is trying to scam you for an old video card. Unless you are seeing other red flags (weird bank account info, buyer asking weird questions), I’d ship it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/4 "2017-08-12T01:41:43Z")
Why would anyone sign up before they want to buy something? He saw your product, he wanted to buy it, and so he signed up. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/5 "2017-08-12T01:44:31Z")
Just follow PayPal’s terms for their seller protection policy, and you will be fine, even if it is a scam. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/6 "2017-08-12T01:44:53Z")
Sure, it’s possible that happened, but scammers probably make brand new accounts at a higher rate than other people, since ebay has been a fixture for decades. I feel like the chance of scam on this one is about 1000x higher than someone with an established ebay history. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/7 "2017-08-12T01:50:54Z")
Maybe he wanted a video card and signed up when he saw one he wanted. As for brand new accounts, after a lapse of a coupla years I I signed in a few months back to find out they’d erased my account — which had a long history — and their advice was to start over with a new account, all history gone. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/8 "2017-08-12T02:45:55Z")
Moved to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/9 "2017-08-12T02:52:17Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Sure, it’s possible that happened, but scammers probably make brand new accounts at a higher rate than other people, since ebay has been a fixture for decades. I feel like the chance of scam on this one is about 1000x higher than someone with an established ebay history. I don’t know, that seems to imply that everybody who could ever want to use eBay at any time in the future already has an account. That can’t be true. I myself don’t have an eBay account, though there are some items I’ve been tempted to try to sell through it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/10 "2017-08-12T03:10:28Z")
No, I already said obviously there are people who make their first account. But people who routinely scam on ebay probably make dozens or hundreds of accounts, so the proportion of scammers to legit accounts with zero purchases on their account is probably 3 or 4 orders of magnitude higher than the proportion of scammers to people with a history on ebay. In other words, the chance that someone without a history is a scammer is at least 1000x higher than someone who has been around on ebay with good feedback for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/11 "2017-08-12T03:14:43Z")
I thought scammers built up a history of tiny purchases to build enough reputation to go for the most dangerous game. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/12 "2017-08-12T03:32:40Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Maybe he wanted a video card and signed up when he saw one he wanted. > > As for brand new accounts, after a lapse of a coupla years I I signed in a few months back to find out they’d erased my account — which had a long history — and their advice was to start over with a new account, all history gone. I just checked and the bastards did the same thing to me! :mad: I didn’t have a long history but I did have a bunch of purchases with 100% positive feedback, and it’s all gone, just because I didn’t log in for a few years. How the hell much storage does the information in one small account take up? If that’s how they feel about their customers, fuck 'em. So, **SenorBeef** , if I had wanted to buy your video card, you would have seen me as a brand new signup with zero track record. Except now I have no intention of signing up with eBay ever. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/13 "2017-08-12T05:10:00Z")
IMHO if you have a good history and you used PayPal and you purchase postage with tracking I feel that eBay will come down on your side if there is a “he didn’t send the thing” dispute. I’ve been selling again and in the past few months I’ve had two buyers who had no history. One paid right up and I had no problems with the transaction. The other didn’t even bother to pay, so PayPal refunded my fees. So in my experience, there’s a 50/50 chance your transaction will go smoothly 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/14 "2017-08-12T06:02:09Z")
Fah gidda bow dah! You’s got yo monay, mall it and Fah gidda bow dah! ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/15 "2017-08-12T06:47:42Z")
Just ship it with eBay/Paypal with tracking, collect your money, and move on. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/16 "2017-08-12T15:16:29Z")
I recently signed up to buy my first item on ebay. The first vender accepted the sale then emailed me a form to fill out which included a copy of my driver’s license and credit card! For a week I worried that they had my money and were giving me some kind of run-around. I got the vender on the phone and they said this is common on ebay. How do they get new buyers? Fortunately it wasn’t a unique item. Went with someone else who was willing to trust a first time buyer like every other site I’ve ever been to. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/17 "2017-08-12T16:27:05Z")
I too bought my very first item ever off eBay about a month ago. I had to sign up to do it. I also created a Paypal account for the first time to make that purchase. I’m not a scammer. There are thousands of new accounts created every day on both services. Ref \*\*shiftless \*\*just above, I would not do business with a seller that wanted even more “security” than those services already provides. It happens the vendor I stumbled across was happy to sell me the trivial item without me needed to hand him my identity for theft on a silver platter with a hand-engraved “kick me” sign attached. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/18 "2017-08-12T16:34:48Z")
I have sold a number of items to Ebay newbies. Never had any problems. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/19 "2017-08-13T02:31:56Z")
Yes, there’s a real chance it’s someone who’s going to turn around and say you shipped them a brick (literally or figuratively), but as **beowulff** said, follow eBay’s procedure for seller protection and you should be fine, especially if you have an established history. ---
**Author:** ![StrangeBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@StrangeBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangeBird)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sold-an-item-on-ebay-to-a-guy-who-just-signed-up-to-ebay-today-should-i-be-worried/793395/20 "2017-08-13T02:44:44Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > The first vender accepted the sale then emailed me a form to fill out which included a copy of my driver’s license and credit card! For a week I worried that they had my money and were giving me some kind of run-around. I got the vender on the phone and they said this is common on ebay. I doubt this is common, despite what they told you. I also suspect that it may not be within ebay’s terms of use for sellers to require this level of additional information, but am too lazy to read through them to check.