OT: eBay

[temery]

Anyone here have experience selling on eBay?

If so, here's my question: Should I be suspicious when the high bidder backs out once the auction has closed?

Twice in the last week an item received a couple low bids, then a much larger bid (far more than I expected), which ultimately was the highest bid. Within minutes of the auction ending, I get an email saying the bid was an accident. Shortly after that I was contacted about the second chance option that allows me to offer the item to the next lowest bidder.

Are there people actually running such scams, or am I being too suspicious?

 

[husky99]

Scam. Happened to me. I use Craigslist for this reason. You can report them but it does not change much. I found that a person had two accounts with 2 different emails and credit cards.

 

[tykurez]

It happens - eBay struggles keeping up with those scams - but I've done 50+ transactions on eBay in the past few years and only once have I ever had a problem with someone (they ultimately shipped the item but I had to open a case.)

It's just a pain when that happens because you have to start the auction all over again and wait.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Minimal eBay experience; have you tried OfferUp? Selling several things & buying a few items, e.g., bike last weekend, it's generally been pain free (some low ballers & no shows), preferably local transactions to longer distance if you'd like, and worked well. Download the ap and away you go

 

[boog204]

Sold on there for years and years (it was an incredible place to buy and sell guitar gear) and only had a couple problems. I feel like it has gotten increasingly "sketchy" lately as the scammers figure out their game plan and try to game the system. I moved onto Craigslist once UPS and Fedex shipping prices became astronomical and buyers were less willing to cover to ship. Only had one issue on Craigslist when a guy came to buy an amp I was selling armed with a crossbow. He was actually a really nice guy.

 

[UConNation]

Anyone here have experience selling on eBay?

If so, here's my question: Should I be suspicious when the high bidder backs out once the auction has closed?

Twice in the last week an item received a couple low bids, then a much larger bid (far more than I expected), which ultimately was the highest bid. Within minutes of the auction ending, I get an email saying the bid was an accident. Shortly after that I was contacted about the second chance option that allows me to offer the item to the next lowest bidder.

Are there people actually running such scams, or am I being too suspicious?

My wife and I do a little bit of selling on eBay, but my father-in-law has a fulltime business just selling. Actually does very well for himself. As others have said, it is very likely a scam. Doesn't happy too often, but you have a few options. You can open up a complaint (which likely won't yield the desired result of selling the item), you can use the second chance option, or you can just relist the item with a "buy it now" option and just skip the whole auction piece. My suggestion would be to list the item somewhere between the high price (fake one) you got and the next lowest. Someone will likely contact you asking you to negotiate, and you can make that decision yourself. Hope that's helpful.

 

[boba]

Sold on there for years and years (it was an incredible place to buy and sell guitar gear) and only had a couple problems. I feel like it has gotten increasingly "sketchy" lately as the scammers figure out their game plan and try to game the system. I moved onto Craigslist once UPS and Fedex shipping prices became astronomical and buyers were less willing to cover to ship. Only had one issue on Craigslist when a guy came to buy an amp I was selling armed with a crossbow. He was actually a really nice guy.

Got to ask, was he wearing chain mail too?

 

[noeynox]

I know I bid on 2 items, once I got one I immediately contacted the seller to let him know I won a separate auction. Of course I won both auctions. The seller understood because I contacted him days before.

 

[boog204]

Minus the chainmail, the dude looked exactly like that. He never pulled it on me or anything, but it was very visible in his trunk in case I tried to pull anything. I asked him about it and he said it was his first CL buy and wasn't sure. And the fact that I asked him to meet me at our band's then rehearsal space, an old warehouse in New Britain, freaked him out.