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eBay selling advice. Deal seems shady, what do you think?

Corevalay

Corevalay

Supporting Member
Sep 10, 2009
2,619
3,036
New Jersey
#1
First, let me say that I've bought and sold many instruments on ebay with no problems or issues at all. I sold a guitar yesterday and it's the first time I'm questioning the transaction. It was purchased at my buy it now price and payment was made right away. Seems fine but here's what is making me take a second look....

The seller has 0 feedback. Says they joined in 2013 so it's quite possible they signed up just to make this transaction. That seems quite plausible. Then they asked for me to ship the guitar ASAP because it was a gift and they were bringing it overseas. Their email address seems a bit shady as the domain name it's linked to doesn't seem to exist.

So, my question is should I be concerned about sending this bass out? Payment has already been made so that puts me at ease a bit, but something feels fishy. Anyone experience anything like this or have any advice? Would YOU ship the bass or cancel the transaction? Thanks!
 
#2
Whenever anyone with zero feedback bids or buys an item I have listed, the frist thing I do is send a message asking for a phone number, good time to call and address confirmation. If you call the person and he/she sounds legit, follow it up with a message thanking him/her for talking with you and include some info from your discussion. The more you have in writing, the better. Good luck!
 
#4
Anymore I try to avoid eBay like the plague. If I cannot buy something locally or from a reputable company (who offers a great return or warranty policy) then as bad as it may suck to do so I walk away. With eBay if the guy has no feedback I kinda right away look at it as a red flag, cannot help it. Been burned before.
 
#5
BIGEJ2 said:
Whenever anyone with zero feedback bids or buys an item I have listed, the frist thing I do is send a message asking for a phone number, good time to call and address confirmation. If you call the person and he/she sounds legit, follow it up with a message thanking him/her for talking with you and include some info from your discussion. The more you have in writing, the better. Good luck!
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Yes. This is exactly what I did. I figure if I don't hear from them within a day I'm just going to refund the money and cancel the transaction.
 
#6
So, my question is should I be concerned about sending this bass out? Payment has already been made so that puts me at ease a bit, but something feels fishy. Anyone experience anything like this or have any advice? Would YOU ship the bass or cancel the transaction? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Wait... what the hell are you worried about, and why? They bought it, you got the cash right away, they provided a shipping address, so why would you want to cancel the transaction, instead of just shipping the item they paid for?
 
#8
Good advice. A brief chat might show that all is OK. PayPal will protect you in most cases.

On the bottom of my eBay listings for anything that I can't afford to lose - I state:

No bids accepted from bidders with zero feedback
PayPal CONFIRMED address required.
ADULT signature required
 
#9
Lots of sellers don't ship until payment clears. I know the buyer asked you to ship "ASAP", but how soon is that? He/she should be able to wait a little while. Shipping can take up to a week, as well. So, when is this person going overseas?
 
#12
Panek said:
Wait... what the hell are you worried about, and why? They bought it, you got the cash right away, they provided a shipping address, so why would you want to cancel the transaction, instead of just shipping the item they paid for?
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There's always the chance once the guitar is shipped out that they could say something is wrong with it, it never came, etc... and ask for a refund. Then, I could never get the guitar back.

Honestly, I'm not THAT worried about it, but something just felt a little off, especially because the website domain of the email doesn't even exist. What doesn't help is the address I'm shipping it to is a $10,000,000 mansion in NY.
 
#13
Credit cards can be charged back and paypal doesn't cover you for an "Item not as described" claim.

That said, I think it's fairly common for people overseas to get a proxy in the US, such as a friend or relative, to buy and then ship the bass to them because they dont have access to all the equipment we do, and shops and people in the US won't or can't sell to them.
 
#15
Fretlessbaby said:
Do not ship until payment clears!!! Ship only to confirmed paypal address. Done and done. :D
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This.

And when you ship make sure you ship with tracking. If you get insurance you'll get tracking with it. Cover your butt, there are too many scammers out there that will do chargebacks against your paypal account. Paypal is much more buyer friendly than seller friendly these days.
 
#16
Corevalay said:
There's always the chance once the guitar is shipped out that they could say something is wrong with it, it never came, etc... and ask for a refund. Then, I could never get the guitar back.

Honestly, I'm not THAT worried about it, but something just felt a little off, especially because the website domain of the email doesn't even exist. What doesn't help is the address I'm shipping it to is a $10,000,000 mansion in NY.
Click to expand...

road trip !!!!!!!!!!!!!....hold onto that guitar, scammers come up with new cons everyday. You're in Joisey take a drive. :smug:
 
#18
The only con they can pull at this point is a chargeback. I'm assuming your seller policy says "no returns for any reason" or some such? If you ship it with tracking they can't tell you they never received it. If they say it is damaged it is up to the postal inspector to determine if it was the shipper's fault (hope you pack well). But if your gut is saying this deal is fishy then cancel it and move on.
 
#19
bkbirge said:
The only con they can pull at this point is a chargeback. I'm assuming your seller policy says "no returns for any reason" or some such? If you ship it with tracking they can't tell you they never received it. If they say it is damaged it is up to the postal inspector to determine if it was the shipper's fault (hope you pack well). But if your gut is saying this deal is fishy then cancel it and move on.
Click to expand...

Yea, no refunds and I'll definitely insure it with tracking. I actually just got a phone call from the buyer so I'll give her a call back and see what the deal is.
 
#20
Well, I spoke with the buyer and everything seems to check out (best it can at least). Payment has cleared and address is confirmed. Time to take a leap I suppose! Hopefully you'll never see this thread again... unless I get burned! :)
 

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