eBay Buyer Request - Am I missing something here?

CircleK

Short of it:

Listed a set for auction and it had 0 bids. A person messaged me and asked if they placed a bid for the current list price if I would end the auction early. I gladly obliged since my list price was close to what I wanted to sell for anyways.

Buyer messaged me after I ended the auction and is requesting timely shipping, that the item is clean, that there is no eBay invoice or other documentation included, and that I add signature confirmation. The buyer requested that I ship to specified address, but it is the confirmed address used by the PP account. The buyer has over 5K feedback for purchases - no items for sale or seller feedback. Member since 02.

I realize this could be completely legitimate and probably is - it could be a gift or something the person is quick flipping through some other avenue or eBay account. Something just seems off about it though. It feels like a drop ship to me, but as far as eBay and PP are concerned it all checks out. The buyer just seems a little too persistent though - I got detailed instructions sent to me like three times and of course they want it ASAP.

I only do a small amount of hobby reselling when it comes time to clear some room - just want to make sure I'm not missing something blatantly obvious that maybe some of you Pros have ran into in the past. I think everything is fine but wanted to run it by you guys first.

Thanks - Any help is appreciated.

ryjay

Sometimes these are form letters or request they make to everyone. I have had these sent to me before as well.  I can't stand to have condition put on an auction after the fact.  I have responded by saying, "all my auctions are handled the same way, I do not perform anything special without further payment.  Please review my feedback.  If you have any concerns we can always cancel".  

It also sounds a bit like this buyer may be a volume buyer sending many purchases elsewhere all at once.  I've had buyers ask me to put the ebay # on the box, which tells me they aren't the final destination of the package

BTW, don't ever end an auction at the request of the buyer regardless if you receive  what you wanted or not.  List as buy-it-now if you want to go that route, but once you list as an auction let in run its course.

TheLoneTensor

It could be completely, 100% legitimate and result in a great transaction for you both.

That being written, I would never, ever do it, and pleasantly reply that he's welcome to participate in the auction.  If this sours him, so be it.  There is always another buyer.

Btw, your gut is already telling you the answer, listen to it.

CircleK

Thanks for the replies - you guys are right in that I shouldn't have ended the auction early after he placed his bid bc there is a solid chance my item would have gone a little higher than list. He was most likely looking for a better deal and I just gave him one in order to nab the quick sale. 

I'm going to let it play out though bc (due to my intervention) he did *win* my auction and hasn't asked me to do anything "eBay illegal", even though it seems a little sketchy. I will ship to the PP verified address and request signature confirmation. Seller protection should be there if I need it. 

Thanks again - I appreciate it. 

SprinkleOtter

You should be fine. Lots of deals on ebay struck me as sketchy, but they went through without a hitch.

If you ever, ever think that there is even the slightest problem with your order (someone threatening to leave bad feedback if you don't give them replacement rubber bands that they broke, for an extreme example), call ebay so that they get your side of things first. It really helps.


In regards to the current deal, I see no reason not to go through with it. If it were me, I wouldn't add signature confirmation (it doesn't help you at all)- it is on you to make sure the package gets delivered (and tracking proves that just fine), not to make sure the correct person gets it - that is on the buyer. But if you don't care and are fine spending the extra ~$3, I see nothing wrong with that.

CircleK

SprinkleOtter said:

In regards to the current deal, I see no reason not to go through with it. If it were me, I wouldn't add signature confirmation (it doesn't help you at all)- it is on you to make sure the package gets delivered (and tracking proves that just fine), not to make sure the correct person gets it - that is on the buyer. But if you don't care and are fine spending the extra ~$3, I see nothing wrong with that.

He messaged me right before he placed the bid and asked for signature confirmation and I agreed. I wouldn't be doing it otherwise. 

I don't think this person lives where the item is getting shipped - that's what stands out as odd to me. The name on the PP account is not the name on the verified shipping address. That in itself doesn't mean as much but I was able to see that the eBay user is from a different state than where the confirmed shipping address is. 

Still... I'm in the exact same boat I would have been in if this person would have just bid and won the auction without it ending early. As long as I am shipping to where eBay/PayPal is telling me to then I'm good. 

SprinkleOtter

CircleK said:

SprinkleOtter said:

In regards to the current deal, I see no reason not to go through with it. If it were me, I wouldn't add signature confirmation (it doesn't help you at all)- it is on you to make sure the package gets delivered (and tracking proves that just fine), not to make sure the correct person gets it - that is on the buyer. But if you don't care and are fine spending the extra ~$3, I see nothing wrong with that.

He messaged me right before he placed the bid and asked for signature confirmation and I agreed. I wouldn't be doing it otherwise. 

I don't think this person lives where the item is getting shipped - that's what stands out as odd to me. The name on the PP account is not the name on the verified shipping address. That in itself doesn't mean as much but I was able to see that the eBay user is from a different state than where the confirmed shipping address is. 

Still... I'm in the exact same boat I would have been in if this person would have just bid and won the auction without it ending early. As long as I am shipping to where eBay/PayPal is telling me to then I'm good. 

I've had that happen to me before, too. Even with bricklink, people want their stuff shipped to an address other than paypal, and just don't understand why sellers can't do that...

teal93mr2

Not that this is a surprise, but yours selling to a reseller. I've had similar requests over the years, sometimes months apart from the same buyer. Messages looked exactly the same, so clearly a template is being used.  

sarbear

The reason that it is not a good idea to ship anywhere but the PP address is that you will NO longer be covered by PP Buyer Protection. It becomes null and void....

madforLEGO

I almost never list anything as an auction anymore. I grew tired of listing something for 10 days, seeing 15-20 people watching it, only to have no one bid until the last 2 minutes of the listing, and usually keeping the price below what it typically goes for. I sell almost exclusively as 'buy it now' as it just eliminates all of the uncertainty. Auctions are great if you are not expecting much but two guys decide to fight over it, and one of those bidders is likely 'schilling' the item, more often than naught the savvy eBayer maybe puts a low bid in to 'tag' the auction in their 'My eBay page' then waits to snipe in the last 1-2 minutes these days.

CircleK

I made this post last month. Just as a follow up, everything went fine with the transaction. The item was no doubt sold to a reseller. I believe the eBay buyer actually resides in another state than where the item was shipped to, even though the shipping address was the verified by PayPal. I'm not really sure what the person's game is bc they paid pretty much the going rate for the set. They may have saved $5 to $10 or so on a nearly $200 item...

CircleK

madforLEGO said:

I almost never list anything as an auction anymore. I grew tired of listing something for 10 days, seeing 15-20 people watching it, only to have no one bid until the last 2 minutes of the listing, and usually keeping the price below what it typically goes for. I sell almost exclusively as 'buy it now' as it just eliminates all of the uncertainty. Auctions are great if you are not expecting much but two guys decide to fight over it, and one of those bidders is likely 'schilling' the item, more often than naught the savvy eBayer maybe puts a low bid in to 'tag' the auction in their 'My eBay page' then waits to snipe in the last 1-2 minutes these days.

Yeah I never use "watchers" as an indication of interest anymore bc of the exact reasons you listed. I have had plenty of auctions end with no bids or maybe 1 bid even though they've had 30 people watching. In all fairness, I watch listings all the time that I have no interest in bidding on. 

CCC

madforLEGO said:

I almost never list anything as an auction anymore. I grew tired of listing something for 10 days, seeing 15-20 people watching it, only to have no one bid until the last 2 minutes of the listing, and usually keeping the price below what it typically goes for. I sell almost exclusively as 'buy it now' as it just eliminates all of the uncertainty. Auctions are great if you are not expecting much but two guys decide to fight over it, and one of those bidders is likely 'schilling' the item, more often than naught the savvy eBayer maybe puts a low bid in to 'tag' the auction in their 'My eBay page' then waits to snipe in the last 1-2 minutes these days.

These days? I've been sniping on eBay for 18 years now and automated snipe tools such as those by vrane have also been around since about 2000.

sklamb

Same here, except I prefer using a "watch" to a bid in order to mark auctions that interest me. I take pride in doing all my sniping by hand, mind you--none of that nasty automated rubbish for me! :-)

There do seem to be more schillers than there used to be, admittedly. Sigh.

Sethro3

^I'd agree to that. It's "odd" how many items miraculously skyrocket in price at a certain time in the auction.

ryjay

It has been a loooooooong time since I've listed an item as an auction....I won't even list with the "best offer" checked.  And I often list without the intention of selling, I just want to check interest first, so I list high, if a buyer bites, great if not, that's ok...I just relist at an even higher price.  Without an endless well of product, I'm just looking for the one buyer, not a dozen buyers.

legomental

I never list with 'best offer' these days. You just get loads of 'offers' at 1/5 of the buy it now price. I'm also done with auctions - many more non paying bidders