Is my eBay offer a scam?
Discussion
I don't sell much on eBay but have an item listed for sale right now and have received an offer that I'm unsure is safe to accept.
The product is being sold as spares or repairs and is clearly listed as faulty. It's an electrical device with a new value of around £500.
I listed it with a starting bid of £150 which is reasonable and based in others being sold, £250 is achievable, and within 18 hours of the listen several offers around £215 had been made by accounts that are clearly genuine.
This afternoon I've had an offer of around £260.
The seller has only 13 feedback ratings, the account is 8 years old.
This puts me off even though my account is 15 years old with 30 feedback.
The offer isn't too good to be true, but at the time it was made there were no actual bids and 6 days remaining which makes me suspicious that their opening offer was so strong.
I've had about 10 offers now and none this high.
Would it be safe to accept?
Will eBay seller protection help me?
The product is being sold as spares or repairs and is clearly listed as faulty. It's an electrical device with a new value of around £500.
I listed it with a starting bid of £150 which is reasonable and based in others being sold, £250 is achievable, and within 18 hours of the listen several offers around £215 had been made by accounts that are clearly genuine.
This afternoon I've had an offer of around £260.
The seller has only 13 feedback ratings, the account is 8 years old.
This puts me off even though my account is 15 years old with 30 feedback.
The offer isn't too good to be true, but at the time it was made there were no actual bids and 6 days remaining which makes me suspicious that their opening offer was so strong.
I've had about 10 offers now and none this high.
Would it be safe to accept?
Will eBay seller protection help me?
My account is probably more than 10 years old, but I very rarely use eBay so I've got very little - if any - feedback. It's still a genuine account though.
From stuff I've read on here, eBay pretty much always sides with the buyer. But if your ad is very very clear that it's broken, you're probably OK - but maybe insist on collection so they can't claim they "didn't know" it wasn't working?
From stuff I've read on here, eBay pretty much always sides with the buyer. But if your ad is very very clear that it's broken, you're probably OK - but maybe insist on collection so they can't claim they "didn't know" it wasn't working?
Seems plausible. Unless they are trying to go outside eBay’s processes you should be safe. Might be worth messaging the buyer to confirm they are aware it’s faulty and haven’t missed that but.
Just take plenty of photos including the serial number of your item before it gets posted so you can protect yourself if it does go wrong.
Just take plenty of photos including the serial number of your item before it gets posted so you can protect yourself if it does go wrong.
Is it something that has wide ranging appeal
You hear all sorts of scams re mobiles and electronic stuff and some car related items, but I sold a couple of hundred Talbot Sunbeam parts with no issue. Limited buying market and hard to sell on without being seen by the same people next time around.
You hear all sorts of scams re mobiles and electronic stuff and some car related items, but I sold a couple of hundred Talbot Sunbeam parts with no issue. Limited buying market and hard to sell on without being seen by the same people next time around.
I recently sold a Yamaha piano/keyboard that the kids had not used in 10+ years, put it on at a minimal price and very quickly had one 'high' offer that was tempting to take. Decided to hold out and let the auction run and ended up with a higher final price.
I believe the initial offer was genuine but decided to let market forces prevail and the offer expired way before the auction end so was a bit of a gamble.
I believe the initial offer was genuine but decided to let market forces prevail and the offer expired way before the auction end so was a bit of a gamble.
I listed an iPhone as 'spares or repair, NON working' years ago, buyer then opened a case with ebay stating.....'phone doesn't work!' ebay obvioiusly sided with the buyer and refunded them, they then came after me for the money. Threatened to take me to court so I said go for it, they never did but closed my account
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