View Full Version : Ugh ... How to proceed with zero feedback winner? Bronx, anyone?
OK, I've got years of experience on eBay and hundreds of transactions under my belt but I'm still on the fence about this one.
I had a rather expensive piece of audio equipment for sale on eBay with a BIN price of $175. A new member from New York apparently registered today and purchased my item. In a way, it is understandable because the item usually sells for $250 so it was a good deal that he was wise to snag.
The auction was PayPal only, so he also registered for a new PayPal account. As a new eBay member, it's understandable that he didn't previously have a PayPal account and that his new account is UNCONFIRMED
...
which leaves me in the quite uncomfortable position of sending a $175 piece of gear to an unconfirmed address for a zero-feedback bidder. I thought about asking the bidder to first confirm his PayPal address, but I'm not sure if doing it now would retroactively give me seller protection on the transaction that already occurred, and people have plenty of valid reasons not confirm their PayPal address by tying it up with their bank account.
I also thought about requesting telephone contact with the buyer so I could do a reverse lookup and at least verify his address in the Bronx, but I don't know what I could really accomplish with that.
Anyway, it's only been a few minutes so I haven't contacted the guy in any way yet and I've got a little while to think it over. ANY THOUGHTS? PLEASE?
Flack
01-16-2007, 01:02 AM
Well I recently had a similar situation in which someone did a similar thing and ripped me off over a $4 CD. That, I don't feel too bad about. $175, I would feel super pissed-off over.
I'm wondering if we have any established members here who live in or near the Bronx -- that way you could ship the item to a known person and make a deal in person instead.
If that buyer set up a bogus PayPal account with a stolen credit card, you're going to lose the money.
If that buyer set up a bogus PayPal account with a stolen credit card, you're going to lose the money.
The payment type was "Instant," which AFAIK means that it was a bank account transfer and not a credit card payment. I'm not sure if that adds any real credibility or not.
I'm wondering if we have any established members here who live in or near the Bronx -- that way you could ship the item to a known person and make a deal in person instead.
Good thought. Is there anyone here that's familiar with Shakespeare Ave. in the Bronx who could at least tell me about the neighborhood? Here's a Google Map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1350+Shakespeare+Ave,+Bronx,+NY+10452&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.840527,-73.922174&spn=0.005341,0.012649&t=k&om=1) of the immediate area (address altered a little to protect the potentially innocent) in case it jogs anyone's memory.
Vroomfunkel
01-16-2007, 08:29 AM
Why not just send a polite email saying thanks for the purchase, and that as per eBay recommendations you only ship to a confirmed Paypal address and will despatch the item as soon as the address confirmation process completes.
If they're getting a good deal then they shouldn't really have too much of a problem with that.
FABombjoy
01-16-2007, 08:52 AM
FYI: Your paypal account can be set to only allow payments from confirmed addresses only.
Also, the payment always says "instant" unless it's an eCheck.
FYI: Your paypal account can be set to only allow payments from confirmed addresses only.
Also, the payment always says "instant" unless it's an eCheck.
Thanks, I didn't know either of those things. Settings changed. :)
Why not just send a polite email saying thanks for the purchase, and that as per eBay recommendations you only ship to a confirmed Paypal address and will despatch the item as soon as the address confirmation process completes.
That's what I decided to do last night, we'll see how it turns out. I sent:
>>>>>
Thank you for purchasing my *********. I see that you are new to eBay and PayPal. Welcome to the community.
Will you please take a few minutes to go through the process of confirming your address on PayPal.com?
eBay and PayPal recommend that sellers ship items only to addresses "confirmed" by PayPal. This is especially important on an expensive item, and it provides both of us with more security through PayPal.
Please let me know when you've confirmed your address. Thanks again!
PSerge
01-16-2007, 02:27 PM
Hi All..
Just wanted to say thanks for the tip about shipping to confirmed addresses only. I didn't know about it before reading this topic.
SO THANK YOU FABombjoy
FABombjoy
01-16-2007, 03:31 PM
Sure thing! That setting isn't exactly out in the open. I enabled it last year, and it's funny how many buyers had to wait a few days before paying. My auctions always have "confirmed addresses only" but, as we know, most buyers don't know how to read.
I should clairify: I'm pretty darn sure it always says instant, except for eCheck. I don't remember ever seeing anything otherwise, except for the one time that Flack sent me an eCheck.
Plus, when you pay someone, there's always 2 transactions: a card payment to your Paypal account, then Paypal account to seller, so in effect nobody ever actually pays you with a credit card anyway, they only pay Paypal.
tornadostormxl
01-16-2007, 06:32 PM
I dont think you can pay with a stolen card any more. They did something to verify it.
Ugh again ... a day and a half with no reply from the buyer. Now what? If I just refund the payment I can still get negged by the guy, and I can't file NPB feedback to get my fees refunded, because the guy did pay. Grrr.
And now it gets weirder. The buyer never responded to a dozen e-mails and eBay messages (although he did send another one asking where his item was), but it appears that he did confirm his address with PayPal ... sort of?!
As you can see in the screenshot, the buyer's address is now confirmed (top of the page). For some reason, though, PayPal still identifies it as unconfirmed for shipping purposes (bottom of page) and won't authorize the Seller Protection Policy for this transaction. Ugh, again.
Edit: Holy image resizing algorithms, Batman! That was pointless.
rcgamer
01-23-2007, 02:31 PM
Call paypal and tell them what is going on with address. Have them verify that if you send the item you will be protedted. Have the paypal support guy send you an email confirming it as well. This happened once to me where an address that said confirmed wasn't coming up as confimed when I tried to make a label and that's what I did.
And send a message to the buyer telling them what is going on and that paypal has verified you are protected. If the guy is a scammer it is a way of saying you won't get away with it if you try.
bangtango
03-22-2007, 08:53 PM
And now it gets weirder. The buyer never responded to a dozen e-mails and eBay messages (although he did send another one asking where his item was), but it appears that he did confirm his address with PayPal ... sort of?!
As you can see in the screenshot, the buyer's address is now confirmed (top of the page). For some reason, though, PayPal still identifies it as unconfirmed for shipping purposes (bottom of page) and won't authorize the Seller Protection Policy for this transaction. Ugh, again.
Edit: Holy image resizing algorithms, Batman! That was pointless.
So how'd it turn out?!
Griking
03-22-2007, 09:41 PM
I'd NEVER ship anything paid for with PayPal to a non confirmed address
Darren870
03-23-2007, 10:17 AM
So how'd it turn out?!
Where you really bored or something? Because you bumped like 3-4 different topics asking the same question.
bangtango
03-23-2007, 05:57 PM
Where you really bored or something? Because you bumped like 3-4 different topics asking the same question.
I hadn't really surfed the Everything Ebay forum since January, other than one or two threads. When I decide to link a video game related auction I have up, which doesn't happen all that often, I usually go back and skim all of the threads that have been posted since I last visited. This time, there were close to 2 months worth. I started on Page 13, read one or two threads per page, bumped a few and an hour or so later I was done.
I don't actually READ every thread, just stuff having to do with transactions or a sale gone wrong. I'd read these a little more often to keep up but most of the stuff I sell on Ebay is music cd's, so I don't bother promoting them here.
Just to warn you, I sometimes do the same thing in the Technical Restoration forum. I'll dig up a 6 week old thread if the poster never got an answer or if they never reposted to say they fixed the problem. The completist in me likes to know how things turned out with a sale or broken system. Hope you appreciate the honest answer.
Darren870
03-23-2007, 06:27 PM
I could care less honestly...just wondering hehe