eBay time wasters

[Badger_Boom]

Some people always try it on - bid £x - then offer to just pay 3/4 of it - some people advertise on ebay because they are desperate and feel they need to accept it
so they think they can get away with it and try it again
I had the same thing on Gumtree - put an ebike up for £400 - got an immediate interest who said he would buy it - then said he would only pay £200
When I refused and told him I would not accept - he became quite insulting - said I was lucky to have something worth £400 to sell and should be grateful for him making an offer of £200
Which suggest that he accepts it was worth £400 - but that anyone putting something up for sale must be desperate and he is quite entitled to offer half of what I ask - and I am being unreasonable in not accepting it

made me think about how people operate - looking for desperate people and how to make a profit from them

The flip side of that is when you make what you believe to be a reasonable offer and the seller comes back with something like £5 off the starting price.

 

[rogerzilla]

I could just post the fork since he's paid (in his sleep) but then he'd just leave crappy feedback saying the item was poor or something else made-up. Best to cancel the transaction, which means no feedback, and add him to one of those "bad buyer" databases.

This is the sort of person I'm dealing with. Would you waste time negotiating with them?

Cancel you have not dispachedyet if you look at the time pressing buttons in bed at 2 in the morning sleeping on my phone,i have no use for this order whatsoever please refund immediately

 

[rogerzilla]

The flip side of that is when you make what you believe to be a reasonable offer and the seller comes back with something like £5 off the starting price.

I once made an offer and the seller counter-offered the actual Buy It Now price! So I bought elsewhere. Stuff them.

One cause is that the increasingly dire eBay app tries to allow offers by default, and many sellers don't realise their listing allows offers until they actually receive one.

 

[oldwheels]

So this has happened to me a few times and I wonder why people do it.

The other day I posted a really nice, 3 months old mint condition child's bike on eBay with a desired price in mind of at least £100, (older, well used ones go for 80-90), reserve was set at £90. Local collection only, payment by PayPal.

Within 2 hours someone local with an okay ish history (some years, a slack handful of purchases) made an offer of 100 and I accepted. I ended the auction, invoiced, and messaged him to say once payment was received I'd supply address and phone to arrange collection. A few hours later he messaged back and said "I'll collect tomorrow".
No payment has been received, no mention of payment, and no further contact since. He could have paid instantly in the time it took to type "I'll collect tomorrow". I know from experience that this kind of buyer has no intention of paying.

I know that I simply report him for non payment, and he gets some form of warning (judging by previous time wasting experiences they're not banned), but does anyone know why people do it? What can they possibly get out of it? It's a faff for me as I now have to relist and eventually get paid further down the line. It's blimming frustrating behaviour.

That kind of behaviour is surprisingly common IME. If I am selling anything I stipulate that the first one with the cash gets the goods. When moving house some years ago we had a pretty good piano which we could not take with us. We advertised it for collection free of charge and had several people make definate appointments to come for it. Not one ever appeared or made any further contact or apology.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

That kind of behaviour is surprisingly common IME. If I am selling anything I stipulate that the first one with the cash gets the goods. When moving house some years ago we had a pretty good piano which we could not take with us. We advertised it for collection free of charge and had several people make definate appointments to come for it. Not one ever appeared or made any further contact or apology.

When we offered some stuff FOC first thing that was asked was can we deliver

 

[postman]

When we offered some stuff FOC first thing that was asked was can we deliver

About three weeks ago.We began clearing our lads bedroom out.He is now settled in Manchester,we moved him this weekend.Anyway we were giving an Ikea Billy bookcase away FREE.We had loads of interest,but the question was asked could we deliver.Sorry no.It was gone in a day,picked up 10-00 am next morning.

 

[Notafettler]

The flip side of that is when you make what you believe to be a reasonable offer and the seller comes back with something like £5 off the starting price.

Don't see your point?
You make an offer he doesn't except it, that's that not the same as winning an auction or using a buy it now and renegading. Your view of a reasonable offer doesn't have to be the same as theirs.
I stick with a buy it now and no offers.

 

[Notafettler]

I generally offer freebies on freecycle I am member of 4 sites but as some have said that doesn't mean they will turn up, eventhough they have given me a time. I am still waiting from Christmas for somebody who wanted a Christmas tree for her goats to eat (just the leaves). I wouldn't have been happy if I had cut the tree down.

 

[classic33]

I generally offer freebies on freecycle I am member of 4 sites but as some have said that doesn't mean they will turn up, eventhough they have given me a time. I am still waiting from Christmas for somebody who wanted a Christmas tree for her goats to eat (just the leaves). I wouldn't have been happy if I had cut the tree down.

Leaves on a Christmas tree!!

 

[Notafettler]

Leaves on a Christmas tree!!

I typed kneedles auto correct decided to change it to leaves. Honest.

 

[mustang1]

I thought buyers do that kind of thing because they had an eye on another bike but liked the OP's one too but the 2nd bike was not available until a few days later and the buyer wanted to check the 2nd bike before committing to the first one, and stop anyone else buying the first one.

Not saying that's right, but I figured that's why they do that.

 

[Notafettler]

I thought buyers do that kind of thing because they had an eye on another bike but liked the OP's one too but the 2nd bike was not available until a few days later and the buyer wanted to check the 2nd bike before committing to the first one, and stop anyone else buying the first one.

Not saying that's right, but I figured that's why they do that.

Never heard that before......sly so sly.

 

[Black Sheep]

But if you want to take the risk up to you, however back to the original point, if they intend to give you cash on collection why would they pay Paypal the night before, I certainly wouldn't. All my sales offer cash on collection, both in the text & as a buying option offered by Ebay, but then I have been a member for over 18 years, maybe not everybody has.

I always type this at the top of the description:-
Cash on collection. No PayPal. If you pay by PayPal, I will cancel the sale and relist the item.

Problem is, eBay has been known to amend contact data when you message about collecting before you've paid (I got a warning sent to me from ebay also) and the buyer gets hounded repeatedly that they've not paid.

What the seller can do is invoice for £1 that way a payment has been sent (if ebay ask, it's a deposit) and the rest in cash when collecting.
This way the most that the buyer can ever pull back from paypal is £1