Should I have to message buyers through private email?

[brownsplainspawnbrokers]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to ebay and have just recieved my first (non-scam) sale.

The buyer has asked that I message him through private email as he supposedly browsing through his phone and does not get most messages from ebay.

The item in question is a very expensive gold chain so I want to be asbolutly sure about this.

I'm wondering if anyone else has previous experience with buyers asking for this, and whether I should message him through private emails or refuse and ask him to always message through the ebay site.

Thanks guys

Chris.

[putney32]

why would you need to message a buyer at all?

he wins

he pays

you mark as posted with tracking details in ebay

he receives

he leaves fb

you leave fb

what else is there to do?

[peridot55555]

'putney32', very good, but I hope U don't mind me saying that U missed out 3 little words after 'he pays' -  by Paypal ONLY.

'brownsplainspawnbrokers', I would be vary wary of a buyer asking about private email, especially with the amount of money involved - it might be a new slant on the recent emails some people we were receiving (phishing or scams) on another site.

What is wrong with your buyer going into his eBay account & looking at the messages in his message folder?  He has to go into his account to pay.  Paypal only thru eBay link is the way your buyer should go, take nothing else.

Send with tracking & insurance at the very least.  Is your buyer in Aussie?

[bigbrickshop]

Has the buyer already made payment? If they have, once you mark an item in eBay as posted an auto message is sent to the buyer. If a buyer requested a private email message after they have made a purchase I would have no problem sending an extra message, especially if it is an expensive item. I would thank them for the purchase and prompt payment and let them know that the item has been posted and tracking detals etc.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I'm not saying that this buyer is scamming you, BUT, the type of scammers who would target you would be the ones that:

- send you what looks like a proper email from PayPal or eBay indicating that payment has been made and that the funds are being held until you provide them with proof that the item has been sent at which time the funds will be released to your account.  SCAM - the payment is never made, there are no funds, and you then have no item!

- that aren't interested in the chain, just your information i.e. email address, full name, passwords etc.  The way this one works is that you send them an email from your email account to theirs, then you receive what looks like an official eBay or PayPal email that instructs you to click the links within the email to log in to your account.  These are 'phishing' emails designed to get you to give up your username and corresponding password.

- would look to fund the payment with a credit card and make a charge-back some months down the track.

There are other well known scams.  You can google 'ebay scams' or 'PayPal scams' and get more information. 

Best advice - communicate only through eBay messaging,  DO NOT click on any links contained in emails you receive, DO NOT send the chain until payment clears to your account, send by a method that gives you PayPal seller protection, DO NOT send the chain overseas, keep coming back to this thread if you need further advice regarding this sale.

[ratman0100]

---

@putney32 wrote:

why would you need to message a buyer at all?

he wins

he pays

you mark as posted with tracking details in ebay

he receives

he leaves fb

you leave fb

what else is there to do?

---

I agree with 99% of what you say with one exception..

That would be

he wins

he pays

you leave fb

you post

he recieves

he leaves fb

Thats just my opinion rightly or wrongly 

[downeyas · Accepted solution]

I refuse to send or receive any messages via my private email regarding eBay - if anything goes wrong with the sale or the purchase and all messages have been sent & received privately then you won't have a leg to stand on (either of them) with customer support. Happened to me once - never never again. I insist that all messages, to and from, come through the eBay system and so does eBay prefer it that way 

[phorum_junkie*]

A seller is asking if a buyer's behaviour is suspect, which it very well might be, so you advocate the seller should leave feedback as soon as the buyer pays although there is a very real possibility they may then try to pull a swift one and rip the seller off?

What sort of fantasy world do you live in?

There is no reson to communicate any way except through ebay and the only thing that should happen is the seller pays with Paypal, you wait until the money clears into your Paypal account (ignoring any emails that claim the payment has been made and the funds are being held until you send tracking details, just one of the many possible scams) and then post with fully insured,  signature on delivery tracking,  to the address exactly as it appears on the Paypal transacton page.