eBay Advice. No Feedback Buyer. 2 2

[Xenosmilus]

The winner of the auction just became a member on 01/27/2021 and has zero feedback. It was a 2K sale. Should I give them a few days or send a second chance offer to the next higher bidder?

Edited February 4, 2021 by Xenosmilus

[Lightning55]

2000k is 2 million dollars.  2k is 2 thousand dollars.

[Xenosmilus]

Ugh 

 

[Number 6]

 I know this is could/should/would advice, but I would have never listed a $2,000 book on eBay because of the possibility of finding myself in this very situation.  That book should have been consigned to Clink, MCS, Bob Storms, etc. 
 

There seems to be a lot of discretionary money floating around lately, he could be legit. I’ve dealt with zero and low feedback bidders before that turned out fine...though not on a book this size. 
 

If you have a stated period in which you expect payment I would abide by that. If he doesn’t pay then go the second-offer route or sell through another venue.  If he pays, do everything possible to protect yourself - send registered, have the clerk scan the barcode when you drop it off, etc. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Number 6

[Xenosmilus]

1 minute ago, Number 6 said:

know this is could/should/would advice, but I would have never listed $2,000 book on eBay because of the possibility of finding myself in this very situation.  That book should have been consigned to Clink or MCS.

It was an auction.

[Number 6]

Just now, Xenosmilus said:

It was an auction.

Ok, but Clink and MCS do auctions too, without exposing the consigner to this kind of risk. 

[Lightning55]

That IS a tough situation, as @Number 6lays out.  You kind of wish eBay had a function to set a minimum feedback.  I know they used to in the good old days, but then they became pro-Buyer to the max.  Maybe they still do, but it would be a low requirement anyway.  Or it's just the number of strikes you can control.

I don't have any suggestions to add, but will watch for what others have to contribute.  Best of luck on this no matter the path.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Lightning55

[Xenosmilus]

1 minute ago, Lightning55 said:

That IS a tough situation, as @Number 6lays out.  You kind of wish eBay had a function to set a minimum feedback.  I know they used to in the good old days, but then they became pro-Buyer to the max.  Maybe they still do, but it would be a low requirement anyway.  Or it's just the number of strikes you can control.

I don't have any suggestions to add, but will watch for what others have to contribute.  Best of luck on this no matter the path.

The second and third highest bidders have a lot of good positive feedback so I hope it works out one way or another.

[ADAMANTIUM]

21 minutes ago, Xenosmilus said:

The second and third highest bidders have a lot of good positive feedback so I hope it works out one way or another.

The only thing I think is that the second highest bidder might see the zero feedback won and then see you cancel it and offer to him. This second highest may think you shilled since there is no way to prove otherwise.... Maybe I'm too critical and knowing your concern, just know that it could be perceived

[Number 6]

2 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

The only thing I think is that the second highest bidder might see the zero feedback won and then see you cancel it and offer to him. This second highest may think you shilled since there is no way to prove otherwise.... Maybe I'm too critical and knowing your concern, just know that it could be perceived

Actually, I was thinking and was about to type the same thing. 
 

In this crazy market maybe the response will be different. But 6-12 months ago that could very easily have been how the other bidders would have perceived it. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Number 6

[Lightning55]

With shill bidding, the idea is drive the other bids UP, not to WIN.  The last thing you want to do is win.  That just results in an eBay final value fee, and the collaborators are still stuck with the item. 

If the under-bidders come to the conclusion that this was a shilled auction, they would be mistaken on the face of it.  It's just not logical.  But people sometimes are short on logic, and jump to conclusions anyway.

BUT...the second place bidder could realize that their bid wouldn't have been as high with the zero feedback buyer out of the contest.  So they would be looking at when the third place bidder dropped.  The very next bid is the actual selling price, devoid of the zero feedback buyer.  In other words, the zero feedback buyer ran them up.  But not as a shill, for their own purposes - to actually win to own it, or to win to later defraud.

[Lightning55]

I will also stand corrected that winning without the intent to complete the sale COULD also be construed as shill bidding, as @ADAMANTIUM cautions.  It does provide a way for the seller to find out the maximum bids each person was willing to make.  But we know that's not the case here, just a murky situation.  And maybe not, if the money comes in.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Lightning55

[Xenosmilus]

So the last 2 sales of the book were $1500 and $1700. Mine got up to 200K ( @Lightning55).  Here the link incase you were curious.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133649653674

[Lightning55]

Wow, I have to check my stack of TMNT comics.  The Bid History is of no use - can't tell which bidder is bidding, being a Private Listing.  No idea where the 3rd place bidder is on the list, where they stopped bidding.  I wonder what the bidders see, since they participated.  If they can't see the other bidders, maybe can't even see their own bid, they wouldn't realize the winning bidder has zero feedback.  You could be fine in both scenarios, where the winner pays, or an under-bidder slides in.  Yay for you!!!

[Xenosmilus]

Just now, Lightning55 said:

Yay for you!!!

Only if they pay Yeah, TMNT Adventures #1 is crazy high now. Sell if you have one before the market gets flooded! HAHA The Newsstand is even fetching crazier prices!

[Xenosmilus]

I'm pretty sure it's fake now. I Googled the address and the current resident has a different name, ugh.

 

I'm not sure I understand this statement from ebay:

Sending a Second Chance Offer is free but if your item sells, you will be charged a Final Value Fee based on a percentage of the final sale price.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Xenosmilus

[Lightning55]

2 hours ago, Xenosmilus said:

I'm not sure I understand this statement from ebay:

Sending a Second Chance Offer is free but if your item sells, you will be charged a Final Value Fee based on a percentage of the final sale price.

It means if you send the offer, you owe a fee on THAT sale, like any sale.  Which is fine, as long as you have cancelled the first sale.  If you don't, eBay will think you sold 2 of them, had an extra. 

Which is frequently what Second Chance Offers are used for.  Like if you have 3 Mint in box toys that are in demand.  You have one auction, sell to the high bidder, but you can also sell the other 2 to the under-bidders.  Making 3 sales off the single auction (and also 3 sales fees to eBay). 

You used to be able to do Dutch Auctions, selling multiple items at auction, but they ended that quite a while back.

Back to your situation - to avoid the 2nd fee, getting rid of the first sale, I think, is a step you have to take.  Technically, you sold to that high bidder, and they just haven't paid yet.  It might not be kosher to just write them off.  I guess if you offer to the 2nd bidder, they pay and it's shipped, it will be hard for the first bidder to get the comic that is shipped elsewhere.  Could be some blow-back, though. 

Again, technically, you are supposed to let the first transaction run its course - allow a reasonable time to pay, report as NPB, go through the waiting period, etc.  That deals with that transaction, clears it off the books.  Then you send out Second Chance Offers.  If you don't do things in that order, eBay still thinks you sold it twice. 

I guess you can try to cancel it after an offer to and payment from an under-bidder, but you might need the original buyer's confirmation of the cancellation to do it.  When you try to cancel a transaction, eBay sends the buyer an email to confirm that in fact they are aware of the cancellation, that they agree with the cancellation.  If you have bypassed them, they could withhold that confirmation, saying "No, I won this item and I still want it, ready to pay now."  So eBay will still treat it as a sale, final value fees due.  You are hit twice, possibly, and this is not a small fee on such a large transaction.  Step carefully.  It might involve (oh no) calling customer service. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Lightning55

[Gaard]

A somewhat popular way of bidding (which I don't like) is bidding in small increments, multiple times, a few seconds apart, with the purpose of finding the highest bidder's top price. I know it's a common way of bidding, but I truly don't understand the reasoning. What makes it much worse is you can't tell if it's legitimate or shill bidding.

[Pat Thomas]

Why don't you just wait for the payment to clear before shipping the book? Nothing unreasonable about that, considering the money involved. Lots of conspiracy theorists around here when it comes to ebay and other trends that have emerged over the last decade or so.

[Number 6]

7 hours ago, Xenosmilus said:

I'm pretty sure it's fake now. I Googled the address and the current resident has a different name, ugh.

 

I'm not sure I understand this statement from ebay:

Sending a Second Chance Offer is free but if your item sells, you will be charged a Final Value Fee based on a percentage of the final sale price.

So you’re only concern is that they won’t pay?

That would be the least of my concerns as non-payment would leave me with the book, the ability to get my FVFs refunded and to move on and sell to someone else. 
 

My chief concern here is that they pay and then claim they didn’t receive it, want to return it and send back a German newspaper, claim their account was hacked or any of the other “conspiracy theories” that result in them getting to keep the book and the money.