Weird ebayness

[Annie]

I listed and have now sold a pen and something about the buyer doesn't sit right.

After listing the item the buyer asked a question - would I accept 40 pounds on BIN. Would I also meet him in person so that he could try the pen out and then he would pay me in cash. I messaged back that there was no BIN (listed as auction) and that it was easier and safer for all concerned for me to post the item tracked. I also said to pay with paypal (not cash) as it protected both of us.

Bidding continued with others also bidding but he was the eventual winner and bid over the top. He won the pen for 80 pounds. No payment received for two days and then another message from him. Would I meet him in person and hand the item over. His reason is, he doesn't trust the post office. At this time, a paypal payment plopped into my account.

The buyer has a feedback score of 1 and I was feeling really uncomfortable about this. Took some advice from a member here who warned me against an 'in person' delivery as the buyer could claim 'non delivery' as there would be no tracking number to show paypal that he ever received it. Took advice from ebay who told me to cancel the transaction. They said he was wanting a delivery method not specified in the listing and they would never endorse a single female meeting up with an unknown male, even in a public place.
I issued a refund and then cancelled the sale, explaining politely why.

This morning, he's back, very apologetic, saying he realised it all went belly up due to his inexperience and that his only other ebay trade didn't go well either! He wants me to relist the item on BIN for his final bid price and that he will agree that I post the pen.

Can anyone else smell fish? What would you do.

[sloegin]

Meet the guy outside of an ebay listing since he has set a price, in a public location with another of your people present, let him pay cash and you can avoid ebay and paypal fees. Thus avoiding any of ebay's or paypal's 'policy'.

[Jon Szanto]

I find this a little hard to believe. After all the hand-wringing over Renpei, why ON EARTH would you do any kind of a transaction remotely beyond a basic "win the auction, pay the amount, get it in the mail"? Annie, really now - you need to be a lot more circumspect in your dealings. You certainly can't need the money so badly that you are willing to get into weird territory to sell a pen.

This whole deal sounds so lame I can't believe anyone would follow it up. Tell the person it has just been too unorthodox, wait a while, and re-list it. From the very beginning of your post it is clear you already know this is too creepy a situation to get involved in.

[hari317]

Meet the guy outside of an ebay listing since he has set a price, in a public location with another of your people present, let him pay cash and you can avoid ebay and paypal fees. Thus avoiding any of ebay's or paypal's 'policy'.
I think this is a good suggestion.

FWIW, in the role as a seller on ebay, I have had some buyers act very strange, but later it turned out that it was only due to their inexperience in buying online or over the internet etc.

[earthdawn]

Annie I am with Jon on this one.

DO NOT MEET THIS PERSON ... He could be the most normal person in the world and just does not understand ebay. Good for him if thats the case.

Sell it ebay and if he wins then post it with tracking and signature required. As well I would take extra pics of the pens condition as well just in case.

Now what you could do is contact the second highest bidder and see if they are interested in buying it for their highest bid and if they say yes then relist it for that price with a BIN and message them back that it is listed for them.

But again... Do not... Do not meet anyone you dont know in person, especially for a transaction.

Meeting people from here is one thing. I mean we set up meets as a group or club and talk about the meet prior and whos going to be there and what happened at the last meet etc. It is very different.

Trust your gut and not your good intentions.

[CS388]

...snip...

This morning, he's back, very apologetic, saying he realised it all went belly up due to his inexperience and that his only other ebay trade didn't go well either! He wants me to relist the item on BIN for his final bid price and that he will agree that I post the pen.



Sure. Why not give this a go.
Or drop a few quid and offer it to the second highest bidder. You don't even have to re-list it to do this. Ebay shouldl have offered you the opportunity to make a second chance offer, after cancelling the transaction?

Your call, at the end of the day. But I'd go along with above posters and say: don't meet the person.
It may be genuine inexperience on his behalf, or your suspicion of fishiness may be correct.
Either way, not your problem.

[ardgedee]

If you don't feel comfortable with the buyer's actions, don't deal with him. Relist the item and, if you feel it's necessary, restate your shipping requirements in the product description.

[tandaina]

Trust your gut, do not meet him. If he's a regular bloke he'll learn his lesson a d move on. But you stay safe...

[Paul-H]

Hi

Do not give the pen to the buyer if he has paid you though paypal. You will have no proof of delivery and the buyer will file a not received claim and the buyer will get all their money back.

I know this to my cost and lost over £400 when a buyer did exactly the same to me.

If you take a paypal payment only post it with an on-line checkable tracking number.

If you want to meet the buyer then refund his payment and ask him to bring the cash.

Paul

[View from the Loft]

Annie,

Rule number one is stay safe - so don't go to meet this person. For the sake of simplicity, if the second placed bidder isn't too far off the mark, I'd make them a second chance offer. Otherwise, just relist the pen and start the auction again.

Recorded or special delivery post, or courier delivery with proof of delivery is the only method of delivery acceptable to eBay and PayPal that proves your item was delivered - so why risk a claim against you being upheld? In my view, just not worth it.

View

[Flounder]

What they done said. Why should you go out of your way taking financial or personal risks on his behalf?

For the 51 in question, is £80 over the odds? If he renages on the deal, who's going to BIN @ £80 if it's a £40 51?

His reasoning for stressing you out over this is that he doesn't 'trust the post office'. There's too many ifs and buts for what should be a straightforward eBay sale. Maybe he's just a bit eccentric but my take on this: you don't need the aggro.

[Annie]

Thanks all for the good advice. Already refunded his paypal payment and offered it to second highest bidder. We'll see what happens on that. This guy is still bleating though and says if I put it on a BIN listing he is happy to buy and for me to send it special delivery.

[Annie]

What they done said. Why should you go out of your way taking financial or personal risks on his behalf?

For the 51 in question, is £80 over the odds? If he renages on the deal, who's going to BIN @ £80 if it's a £40 51?

His reasoning for stressing you out over this is that he doesn't 'trust the post office'. There's too many ifs and buts for what should be a straightforward eBay sale. Maybe he's just a bit eccentric but my take on this: you don't need the aggro.

Correct, I really don't need the aggro. To my mind, this is a fifty quid 51. It's in good nick, new sac, custom smoothed nib but he bid way over the odds for it. Strange he's still hassling me for it.

[Honey Mustard]

... It's in good nick...

Good nick? I've never heard that phrase before, mind helping me out with a definition?

[KrazyIvan]

Don't meet the person, re-list and also block the person in question from any further bids.

[Paul-H]

... It's in good nick...

Good nick? I've never heard that phrase before, mind helping me out with a definition?

Good Nick is just English slang, it simply means its in good condition.

[I like mango pudding]

If you really must do this deal with this person, do it outside ebay as private transaction, cash only and with someone else with you, preferably a man and in a very public place, like a large shopping mall.

[mmahany]

Pen collectors are eccentric people in general. I always have to factor that in when selling a pen compared to selling sports memorabilia or something more commonplace. Sometimes when something seems fishy, it may not necessarily be.

The fact that the buyer wanted to meet you in person may not necessarily be a red flag. If they’re an elderly person they may not trust electronic payments. I still have clients that own tangible stock certificates and prefer as little electronic communication as possible. They fail to realize that it’s actually safer, but I respect that using computers and the internet get them out of their comfort zone so I don’t push the situation.

The same should also go for you: never get out of your comfort zone. If something seems fishy to you, never be afraid to walk away (especially, when it’s over such a small amount of money).
However, don’t forget that the entire premise behind Craigslist is meeting face to face for transactions. Before the internet, people were almost always forced to meet in person. The internet is a luxury, but it can also be a curse when dealing with those who abuse the system.

If you don't want to sell the pen to him, don’t. If it’s still a consideration of yours, meet him at a bank. You’ll be protected by security cameras, you can immediately deposit the money into your account, and you can have the teller mark the bills to make sure they aren’t counterfeit (I don’t know how big of a problem that is across the pond). If that's not okay with him, then move on and forget about him.

I’ve sold all kinds of things face to face. When it’s only a couple hundred dollars I usually just meet in a public place. When it’s a higher value item, I meet at the bank just like I mentioned. I’ve sold $2000+ worth of gold coins, $3000 turbo kits, $1000 pens, and everything in between to local buyers I met face to face. I’ve sold literally hundreds of items through Craigslist so I usually have near 100% confidence on what is and isn’t a scam.

To me, this sounds like an elderly pen collector who has little knowledge of ebay and/or paypal. There is of course the chance that it's not, but I wouldn't necessarily write it off as a scam.

[cwent2]

Pen collectors are eccentric people in general. I always have to factor that in when selling a pen compared to selling sports memorabilia or something more commonplace. Sometimes when something seems fishy, it may not necessarily be.

The fact that the buyer wanted to meet you in person may not necessarily be a red flag. If they’re an elderly person they may not trust electronic payments. I still have clients that own tangible stock certificates and prefer as little electronic communication as possible. They fail to realize that it’s actually safer, but I respect that using computers and the internet get them out of their comfort zone so I don’t push the situation.

The same should also go for you: never get out of your comfort zone. If something seems fishy to you, never be afraid to walk away (especially, when it’s over such a small amount of money).
However, don’t forget that the entire premise behind Craigslist is meeting face to face for transactions. Before the internet, people were almost always forced to meet in person. The internet is a luxury, but it can also be a curse when dealing with those who abuse the system.

If you don't want to sell the pen to him, don’t. If it’s still a consideration of yours, meet him at a bank. You’ll be protected by security cameras, you can immediately deposit the money into your account, and you can have the teller mark the bills to make sure they aren’t counterfeit (I don’t know how big of a problem that is across the pond). If that's not okay with him, then move on and forget about him.

I’ve sold all kinds of things face to face. When it’s only a couple hundred dollars I usually just meet in a public place. When it’s a higher value item, I meet at the bank just like I mentioned. I’ve sold $2000+ worth of gold coins, $3000 turbo kits, $1000 pens, and everything in between to local buyers I met face to face. I’ve sold literally hundreds of items through Craigslist so I usually have near 100% confidence on what is and isn’t a scam.

To me, this sounds like an elderly pen collector who has little knowledge of ebay and/or paypal. There is of course the chance that it's not, but I wouldn't necessarily write it off as a scam.

That is all fine and respectable - but bottom line and at the end of the conversation the whole scenario does not set well and I don't think it is a good idea for Annie to meet this individual.

Just not a good idea - just my opinion

Carl

[mmahany]

That is all fine and respectable - but bottom line and at the end of the conversation the whole scenario does not set well and I don't think it is a good idea for Annie to meet this individual.

Just not a good idea - just my opinion

Carl
Fair enough, I was simply offering a different perspective (just as you and everyone else did). I don't expect everyone (or anyone) to agree with me. I certainly respect being overly cautious rather than being too trusting in these kinds of situations. I just think that most people on here seem to assume something is a scam when it may not necessarily be.

If it were me: We'd be meeting at my local bank today.

[woosang]

Damn. I have a strange buyer for my retro 51. Is it a full moon? ::goes to check::

[Annie]

Damn. I have a strange buyer for my retro 51. Is it a full moon? ::goes to check::

This stange buyer is still being...er...strange. I thought I'd got shot of him but having won a n other penwith listed by a n other seller, he still wants mine. His latest plan is to back out of the deal on the item he's just won in hopes that I will change my mind. Of course I will, when hell is covered in little icicles...

[Annie]

To me, this sounds like an elderly pen collector who has little knowledge of ebay and/or paypal. There is of course the chance that it's not, but I wouldn't necessarily write it off as a scam.

He isn't elderly and he has had his ebay account for several years.