There are two plonkers with zero feedback having a bidding war on one of my items, they have doubled the price in the last 24 hrs. TBH great more money, but I have had bad experiences with people with zero feedback.. I can cancel their bids. Any advice/experience?

We all have to start somewhere?

Is it high value?

don simon – Member
We all have to start somewhere?

Yeah I agree hence the dilemma, if I was like umpteen other sellers on ebay I would have just cancelled them without a thought..

mastiles_fanylion – Member
Is it high value?

No, a ton tops.

Hmmm, I would think twice at that price – but if you are willing to risk losing it I would go for it. That or hope they are eager beavers and will pay over the odds.

Its not the losing it completely its the enormous possibility of them being kids and just not paying..

I had this before, so I relisted the item and the same twange came along and bid again… grrrr

Can you edit to ask them to contact you? To have two with zero feedback seems a bit unusual.

I always ask for bidders with less than 5 feedback to contact otherwise cancel their bid. And it is school holidays!

Woody – and so they contact me, and then what?

At least you will have a better idea if they are genuine and have a phone number.

So what I give them my phone no and ask them to call me?

What is the item? Is it likely to appeal to school kids?

most defo… Money on it they are kids.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180702714995

Even if they call you there is not much you can do to guarantee payment but if they don’t call you then you can cancel the bid and stop at least one timewaster.

No way is foolproof though.

Give it a go – ensure they pay through official channels and you send it send securely. If they don’t pay then just relist.

ok message sent. Thanks for the advice.

Just looked at the auction,kids for sure.But as DS said, evrybody has to start somewhere.

Sure there’s a way in eBay settings to stop zero (or any specific) feedback buyers from being allowed to bid. It’s a bit fo a dig if I remember. But you can definitely stop specific users bidding on any of your items so maybe do it to these two.

Might be genuine but it’s strange to get two zeros in a bidding war.

I make a point on ebay sales of putting a note on bottom of listing, buyers with less than 5-10 feedback message before bidding. this gives you some come back to cancel bids. Been screwed by several lower feedbackers who didnt pay or respond to cases being opened, then had to second chance offer for whole lot less money.

Also be carefull opening cases on buyers I made this mistake and paypal put a payment block on my money to apparently protect buyers even though they were in wrong.

I also have a note on my listings saying ‘less than 10 feedback contact me before bidding’, however not foolproof and a bidder with no feedback won an item I was selling last week (hadn’t contacted me before hand) but then paid via paypal within 10 minutes of end of auction. Like people say give them the benefit of the doubt, everyone starts somewhere

Sure there’s a way in eBay settings to stop zero (or any specific) feedback buyers from being allowed to bid

My eBay > My Account > Site Preferences > Selling Preferences

Been screwed by several lower feedbackers who didnt pay or respond to cases being opened, then had to second chance offer for whole lot less money.

Shouldn’t matter – if the buyer doesn’t respond to your case in 2 weeks you automatically get your fees back.

Just relist instead of getting 2nd chance offers.