Need some advice about suspect buyer

[sea.breeze]

This is quite a weird situation, I put an inflatable boat up for sale with a bin price pick up only and it was bought at the bin within a few hours, this is a buyer who only joined on the day of my auction, for all I know they joined just to purchase my item . So far so good. Buyer contacts me to ask if cash on p/u is ok, I say fine give my address and ask when they want to come down. But I don't hear back from them this goes one for a couple of days, no answer to my messages, at this stage I'm getting a bit suspicious and I'm suspecting that this is a sham bid simply to leave me negative feedback, I'll explain why later. I accept for now that I'm just being a bit paranoid.

I try to get their contact details but ebay does not return anything, says it can't. So I contact help and they forward me the contact details manually. Buyer just happens to live very close as well. I leave text messages for the buyer to arrange a time to collect. Nada. No answer at all to text or messages. 

I apply to ebay to cancel the auction, the next day I get a message from the buyer saying how disappointed they are and that 'this is why I hate ebay', and that they didn't answer because they were ill, this made me more suspicious because the buyer only just joined. I wrote back explaining that I assumed they had bought it by mistake and simply didn't want it and I cancelled it so that they would not feel pressured to buy it and that if they still wanted it to not agree to the cancellation and pick it up, or cancel it whatever would make them most happy. I get no response to this. After another day I get another message saying they'd like to pick it up on Sunday between 5 and 7, it's just about 7 now and I'm pretty certain they aren't going to come down within the next minutue.

OK so why am I writing all this. Well, I'm mainly concerned that I've been set up for a negative feedback, which would banjax my 10 year record. I'm not sure what the circumstances are that ebay would actually remove a negative feedback, if this buyer does not cancel and the 10 days expires and they then left me a big red blob, would ebay allow that under these circumstances?

Informed opinions welcome.

[phorum_junkie*]

I had some pretty red dots and the buyer was de-registered and the negs were removed. I was quite disappointed as the woman was a nutcase and I had great fun with the replies. No way would I get upset about a neg and I have 3 unblemished ids one of which is much older than 10 years.

As I said I don't like my time wasted and I don't like losing money but feedback of any sort is of no intrest.

[thecatspjs]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

I had some pretty red dots and the buyer was de-registered and the negs were removed. I was quite disappointed as the woman was a nutcase and I had great fun with the replies. No way would I get upset about a neg and I have 3 unblemished ids one of which is much older than 10 years.

As I said I don't like my time wasted and I don't like losing money but feedback of any sort is of no intrest.

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Your post confirms you are not in the position to know very much at all - if anything - about how it feels to cop unfair negatives. 

Yet I have read your "red dot statement" in response to others posts, dozens if not hundreds of times

You do not even appear to value any positive feedback buyers took the time out to leave for you.

My goodness .....

[davewil1964]

Of course YOu have had numerous red dots?

Yes? Then you are qualified to comment, but might need to look at your selling practises.

No? Then you are also not qualified to reply.

[thecatspjs]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Of course YOu have had numerous red dots?

Yes? Then you are qualified to comment, but might need to look at your selling practises.

No? Then you are also not qualified to reply.

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When I started selling I did have my fair share of red dots.  Less so over the past few years.

Learnt lots of selling lessons through obtaining all my feedback over time. 

I am always keen to understand buyers perceptions and positive and negative comments regarding  my goods, my communication, my packaging and the speed at which they think I have posted.     I have also tightened up my practices in relation to the small percent of scamming buyers.

I consider eBay feedback a valuable tool for selling and much more useful than any of eBays other performance measures (save $$$ turnover)   

[shepherdsrule]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Of course YOu have had numerous red dots?

Yes? Then you are qualified to comment, but might need to look at your selling practises.

No? Then you are also not qualified to reply.

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So...........a no win for cats either way ?

Seriously, no seller wants a red dot especially early in the peice.

If it is deserved, then tuff  luck, but if it is because of a buyer's misunderstanding of eBay procedure, or lack of contacting seller for assistance first (the ones that use feedback as a means of communication) then I can understand a seller's frustration.

[davewil1964]

I am not qualified to give an opinion, which I freely admit, as I have never had a red dot. A few grey ones...

Admittedly, according to eBay, I've only sold a few thousand items. But if I had had negatives I would look at my practises. As I haven't I can only assume my buyers think I am a sterling seller.

The point, once again, is with those who call others into question, but don't disclose their own history.

[sea.breeze]

As I said in my first post, I just got a little paranoid that a really dodgy seller whom I negged for reason's I'll explain later, has set up an account simply to bid on my item. It would seem not to be the case but I had genunine concern about this, why... well I had bought a decal for my mac, I'd bought one like it before that had the same icon image in the ad, although from a different seller. There are chinese ones for 99c and after viewing the Australian ad with the good icon I bought it for $3.

However I discovered that it was not really a decal at all, it was something that someone had pirated the image from and then made it on a home computer, it was just printed on a square of acetate with adhesive on one side. I just put it straight in the bin, so inscensed was I at the blatant fraud. I had no intention of sending it back for a refund that would enrich me by $2. There was nothing to be fixed about this, it's just fraud and I felt it was my duty to warn others. 

I left a neg that simply said 'rubbish, will have to purchase elsewhere', the seller wanted to call me to sort it out, but there's nothing to sort out is there, other than refund me and then what, let him defraud others? Then he had the feedback I left removed, ebay said it contravened their policies. After that he then emailed me bragging at the removal and telling me 'ebay will be monitoring my feedback in the future' lol. I then found out that I could leave a response to my previously removed feedback which I did which was simply a factual reply about the quality, I checked with ebay that it was withing the guidlines and they said yes...

Then, he left a negative/positive for me in all caps saying that I said I did not receive the item and try to extort free items from him. lol again. ebay removed that feedback without any qualms as it is so obviously against their policies.

So when a few days later a newbie registers right next to where I live, because it's p/u only, and then arranges twice to collect without showing up and then tells me 'this is why I hate ebay' and has a phone that never answers... well I just felt it was a bit of a coincidence... turns out is seems that it was.

The difference between 99.9% and 100% when selling a big ticket item like a $1000 bass guitar, can make a big big difference, it's not about the red blob it's about the less than 100%. I appreciate that it's not a big deal so some people, but that's no reason to mock.

Anyway I relisted and new buyer collected so all is well with the world.

[sea.breeze]

I forgot to add, in one of the email I received from the seller he said that he doesn't make any money from his decals and only sells them to boost his feedback score. This sounded a bit suspect so I checked what he sells and lo and behold he is selling pirated sofware in the form of Mac OS X and macOS which are all free that he then sets up on a boot disk and sells for $20. Not only is this illegal but it can damage computers in subtle ways, because to obtain this software one has to download it from the Apple Store and depending on what computer is used to download it, Apple changes the components slightly, it will generally work but it will also introduce possible future problems for users, which is the real problem.

[thecatspjs]

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@shepherdsrule wrote:

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Of course YOu have had numerous red dots?

Yes? Then you are qualified to comment, but might need to look at your selling practises.

No? Then you are also not qualified to reply.

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So...........a no win for cats either way ?

Seriously, no seller wants a red dot especially early in the peice.

If it is deserved, then tuff  luck, but if it is because of a buyer's misunderstanding of eBay procedure, or lack of contacting seller for assistance first (the ones that use feedback as a means of communication) then I can understand a seller's frustration.

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Haters gonna hate ...       

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Gotta -  I also find it quite amusing that there are some have justified that they have posting IDs so their feedback and stars aren't trashed.  The stories change, the style never does though unfortunately for newbies who seek support from this trading community.

[davidc4430]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

buyers come in all types.

ive just 'sold' a chest freezer, not by ebay just put a notice on the board at the local foodland store.

guy calls me last tuesday, asks if i'll be home thursday. i say yep, come anytime.

nobody shows up thursday.

he rolls up friday afternoon, sort of says sorry about thursday.

looks at the freezer and says he'll take it, gives me $50 deposit and says he will return saturday with his trailer and a friend to help lift it as hes got a crook back.

i say thats fine.

now its 8.30pm sunday night, no phone call, nothing? lol

as i said, buyers come in all types.

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well, he finally rings me wednesday afternoon, thats 4 days after he was comming to collect the freezer.

ok, he'll come saturday 29th. i'm ok with that.

he does come saturday, but no call to say hes on his way or anything. as it turns out i was in the back garden watering plants and hanging out washing. if he rang the door bell i didnt hear it.

just my luck i came inside and saw a landcruiser with a big trailer on the back turning around ready to leave from my front window.

my road is a dead end so you have to turn around at the end and come back out they you came.

so i managed to catch him before he left.

if hed rung i'd have made sure i was in the house as i live on my own. i would never have just turned up to someones home, id ring to make sure someone would be home first.

not i big phone user was my freezer buyer lol.

he got his freezer, i got my cash so all ended ok.