scammers on ebay or just coincidence?

[Half-Saint]

I've been trying to sell some cheap items such as lapel pins and patches on ebay for the past 4 months or so with various degrees of success. I send cheap items via standard airmail (no tracking) as otherwise I would not be competitive price wise and people wouldn't buy from me. Now this obviously leaves me wide open for potential scammers. I feel that I've been scammed at least twice now, always by people with 0 feedback. One guy with 6 feedback bought something and never paid. Two others claimed "item not received" and I had to refund them. While it is possible that they in fact haven't received their items, I'm growing increasingly paranoid about users with low feedback. I now have an offer on a high value computer keyboard from a buyer with 0 feedback. Of course this would be sent with tracking and insurance but he could still try to scam me.

Any advice on my situation?

Cheers

 

[miggymad]

Changing your bidder restrictions to no bidders with a feedback of less than 10 is a good place to begin.

As for the keyboard with the buyer having 0 feedback, I would politely decline the offer as it sounds too good to be true IMHO.

 

[rcade]

eBay will not let you restrict bidders in that way, unfortunately. I think you can set to to not allow a certain amount of negative feedback in a certain (long time) period, but that is it.

 

[miggymad]

rcade is right, you can't disallow bidders as I originally outlined. However, another possible route to go with low feedback bidders is to state in all your auctions that bids from those with a certain amount of feedback (I've seen 10 as a much used figure), will be cancelled unless they contact you first.

Don't know if this ploy works or not but it might help keep the scammers away from your auctions.

Always check their feedback if they have any. I tend to steer clear of those people who have chosen to keep their feedback private unless they are well established or companies.

 

[SPeCTRo]

I am a bit paranoid also so I always send with a follow-up even if it means paying a little more. But before I systematically make a video of the object in working condition or we see its serial number and I take photos during the packaging or we can distinguish this serial number or another sufficient distinctive sign so that there is no confusion about the nature of the object sent.
Finally in your sale you can specify that there are two shipping methods one with and the other without insurance, so if the buyer takes without insurance you can not be held responsible if the package is damaged or lost.


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[Half-Saint]

I am a bit paranoid also so I always send with a follow-up even if it means paying a little more. But before I systematically make a video of the object in working condition or we see its serial number and I take photos during the packaging or we can distinguish this serial number or another sufficient distinctive sign so that there is no confusion about the nature of the object sent.
Finally in your sale you can specify that there are two shipping methods one with and the other without insurance, so if the buyer takes without insurance you can not be held responsible if the package is damaged or lost.​

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That's not how eBay works. Even if the customer selects an option with no tracking, they can still claim that the package was lost and request a refund. If you are unable to provide a tracking number, they win automatically.

As for the shipping options, standard airmail costs 2,18€ for items up to 20 g and 4,94€ for the same but with tracking.​

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[SPeCTRo]

For me tracking is not an option it's automatic, just insurance in option.

 

[tbtorro]

I've been trying to sell some cheap items such as lapel pins and patches on ebay for the past 4 months or so with various degrees of success. I send cheap items via standard airmail (no tracking) as otherwise I would not be competitive price wise and people wouldn't buy from me. Now this obviously leaves me wide open for potential scammers. I feel that I've been scammed at least twice now, always by people with 0 feedback. One guy with 6 feedback bought something and never paid. Two others claimed "item not received" and I had to refund them. While it is possible that they in fact haven't received their items, I'm growing increasingly paranoid about users with low feedback. I now have an offer on a high value computer keyboard from a buyer with 0 feedback. Of course this would be sent with tracking and insurance but he could still try to scam me.

Any advice on my situation?

Cheers

You should be able to cancel a sale and refund the buyer immediately before posting the item.

 

[keropi]

^ you are then open to negative feedback, I have 2 of them from the same guy that was buying my items. Immediate cancel+refund but he was able to leave feedback and ebay will not remove it. Had to exclude his whole country temporarily to get rid of him.

 

[timmie]

I was victim of a totally failing British mail company or scammer when selling something via Discogs (pretty high value). I learned from that. Apart from Amibay I'll only ship insured.

 

[tbtorro]

^ you are then open to negative feedback, I have 2 of them from the same guy that was buying my items. Immediate cancel+refund but he was able to leave feedback and ebay will not remove it. Had to exclude his whole country temporarily to get rid of him.

Not if you are top rated seller. Plus you can explicitly block specific users to bid/buy your items, for that any seller account is fine.

 

[stachu100]

Even if the customer selects an option with no tracking, they can still claim that the package was lost and request a refund. If you are unable to provide a tracking number, they win automatically.

Always use tracked shipment.
If you think it's not good from price point of view (too expensive in total), stop selling this item. Do something with better margin.