[Closed] Can I exclude Ebay bidders? Urgent!

you definitely can, but off the top of my head cant remember how

He joined ebay yesterday - why would someone do this?

It seems a little excessive for the old send a cheque for more and ask for the difference back scam.

Don't worry about it - if you'e seeing £5k as a bit, then another bidder must have bid £4900 so somethings a foot.

If your bid has gone up that high, it's not one person doing it, it's two!
If I bid £100 and someone else bids £1million and we are the only bidders, the sale price will be £101, not £1million. 🙂

Yes - there are two bidders - both joined yesterday.

I've blocked them, but there bid is still there. It must only take effect with new sales.

I sent a shitty message saying please confirm it is a genuine bid or i'll report you to the internet police.

Don't worry - it's cash straight into my PayPal account or nothing. (is that the safest thing right?)

You can send a second chance offer to the last sensible bid if they dont pay, it could, but is unlikely by a pay by paypal ask for collection in person snd then claim item not recieved scam.

Has it finished?

Wondering what the buyer wants you to do now

I fear it will involve a cheque for 5100 with you giving him change or similar

There is maybe the potential for a bit of sport when you get his address, which will probably be spoofed as well.....

ok, so is the best way to say send my account number and sort code or is that dodgy?

I'm sensible, but a bit of an ebay novice

I dont see this going well

It is likely the scumbag is a professional scammer whilst your a novice, which is a good thing obviously for you 🙂

The likelihood of getting 5k for a second hand iphone is errrrr, well what do you think?

I am naturally curious about how he plans to rip you off though
My bet is a duff cheque which he'll reverse (assuming its just not stolen) after you have given him change

Paypal is similarly easily reversed too, but I'll bet you his account is NOT verified

Keep us informed

Yep, their address is Tiverton, London....

I've sent them an invoice to see what happens.

Thanks Sporticus - rest assured nothing will happen until I see money nestling securely in my bank account (I'm aware this won't happen!)

Like you said, fun and games for a bit but I'm happy I won't get turned over.

Just make sure you don't end with an enormous ebay (£510) for your troubles.

For future reference (and having had auctions ruined with this sort of scamming before) you can add restrictions when you list an item. By default now I block people with little or no feedback, people with minus feedback and overseas buyers on any valuable items such as phones, computers etc.

'the best way' is not to engage. Scammers are looking for people who they can figure out how to scam - engage, even if you're being a smart arse about it, and you're giving information away about yourself. A scam approach can be outwardly stupid but the analysis of how you react might be very sophisticated. Before today they just had some random email address/ebay account to target, respond and you're adding a profile to that account and an opportunity to tailor scams to slip past your guard.

If the auction is still open just close it and re-list it, all the people who have watched or bid on the auction will be notified the auction is running again.

If it has closed just ignore the winning bid and make a second change offer to any sensible bidders

[quote=eightyeight said]Thanks Sporticus - rest assured nothing will happen until I see money nestling securely in my bank account

Even then it's not safe.

Don't have anything to so with them.

If they ask to pay by cheque then refuse. It'll´most likely be a stolen cheque and even if the bank don't pick up on it right away they can take the money back up to 6 months later.

Thanks - good advise macrusikeen. I've mostly obeyed it as well, though I did send out an invoice.

I've sent a second chance offer out to the last sensible bidder.

ecksee - also noted, thank you.

Thanks - good advise macrusikeen. I've mostly obeyed it as well, though I did send out an invoice.

Obviously the bid they made was 'too good to be true'. Not so much so that you didn't at least entertain the idea that they might actually send you the money, even with nefarious intent. What they're looking is your threshold for what you'd consider [i]just[/i] good enough to be true - where greed obscures better judgement, and you've given them a clue.

Seems one of the scams is to bid stupidly high then offer to buy with an unsecured payment system like western union,.

Send the invoice, only accept verified paypal, only send to verified paypal address and send via special delivery and take photos of you packaging the phone. Thats the most bulletproof you can be imo on ebay.

If they don,t want to do this then raise an unpaid item dispute with ebay, follow the process then relist with buyer restrictions

Had this happen when I flogged an old Car via ebay several years ago, worthless old heap, worth a couple of hundred quid tops, some chancer bid several grand on it in the final moments...

The bidder contacted me not long after, proposing to overpay even more than his bid value, I could deduct a couple of grand from this payment and His "associate" would pick up the motor plus the balance of the transaction in cash... I didn't respond, forwarded it straight to ebay's fraud team, they voided the bid and shut down the scammer's account, and then I offered the car to the second place bidder under ebay's "Second Chance" feature...

Russian Mafia innit, Report to ebay and do not engage with the Bidder! They'll kill you to bits... probably.

I think what I've taken away from this is to introduce a feedback threshold to all bidders.

where greed obscures better judgement, and you've given them a clue.

I was only ever interested in seeing what their response was - nothing was ever going to change hands.

I've sent a second chance offer out to the last sensible bidder.

Thats a good trick, halfway through an auction put a bid in that gets you highest, then block any other real bids by spamming the auction with ludicrous bids. Seller then comes back to you with your 'real' bid, which is probably lower than it would have sold for if the auction had completed normally. Might try that one. 😆

Seriously, OP, cancel autcion, notify ebay (so you dont get charged) and place another ad.

I was only ever interested in seeing what their response was - nothing was ever going to change hands.

Curiosity might just yield you a Columbian neck tie*, there weren't any email/postal address/real names given as part of your communications were there?

If in doubt, it's a scam, DO NOT RESPOND, forward it to ebay to deal with...

*slight hyperbole perhaps

Hang on, how does just one bid make the price sky rocket? Surely even if they put in a bid of £5100 as a maximum they would win the auction paying a pound or ten more than the next highest bid. There has to be two stupid high bids from two stupid people for the winning price to be stupid high.

Spam you with high bids from a couple of fake accounts?

Hang on, how does just one bid make the price sky rocket? Surely even if they put in a bid of £5100 as a maximum they would win the auction paying a pound or ten more than the next highest bid. There has to be two stupid high bids from two stupid people for the winning price to be stupid high.

or stupid people not reading a thread 😉

There has to be two stupid high bids from two stupid people for the winning price to be stupid high

Yes this was stated in a previous response from the OP, he then went to the next bid and offered it to them, id suggest its possible this person was the source of the spamming, to prevent any further legitimate bids and get it for the price they wanted.

or stupid people not reading a thread

What, you are expecting me to read more than the first and the last post and respond in an informed manner?

Flounces off! 😀

Years ago I was offered a second chance bid almost immediately after an auction ended, Knocked it back and seller was a bit miffed, Knocked it back because I was wondering if his 'mate' had bid me up.