Very sorry I had to unfortunately close my account down for fraudulent reasons and have had to open a new one witch will be activated on Monday I know this is a lot to ask would it be ok to wait til then and I can pay first thing I m so sorry for any inconvenience cause by this many thank sam x

I just got this message on eBay regarding an auction this person won at the weekend. What’s making the alarm bells ring slightly is if their account has been shut down, how are they emailing me from it!?

Anyone got any thoughts?!

They’ve messaged you from an account they’ve had to close.

And by their own admission the reasons they’ve had to close the account (which isn’t closed) are fraudulent.

What’s the question again?

I bet that on monday, you won’t receive your payment. Instead there will be some special kind of problem at the bank, is it ok if i pay via some other payment method?

the other payment method will, ultimately, turn out to be reversible.

it’s a scam, forget it and move on.

Kind of what I was thinking…

were you able to collect, and have the brakes been subsequently damaged?

fishy. tell them to do one, and re list the item.

Adopt a zero tolerance approach on eBay. There’s too many dicks out there. State in your listing that winning payment must be made within 24 hrs or a case will be opened. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but it seems to work for me. After sales communication is rarely genuine or anything less than trouble.

You sure it’s their ebay account they’ve had to swap/close or rather their PayPal account or bank account?  Bit weird if it’s ebay account, particularly the ‘activated on Monday’… don’t ebay accounts just work from the outset?  I could imagine if Paypal or bank were creating a replacement account and re-funding due to some sort of fraud then there might be a few days delay whilst that process happens.

Anyway, er… I think I’d be giving it a wide birth.

Sounds all sorts of hassle – even if it’s genuine you’ll have to then start a new auction so that their new account can win. You can’t just sell someone something direct without a listing in eBay.

I’d just reply saying sorry, please can you cancel the winning bid so I can relist the item. Or contact eBay – eBay customer service is actually really good. They’ll sort it out.

“Sounds all sorts of hassle – even if it’s genuine you’ll have to then start a new auction so that their new account can win. You can’t just sell someone something direct without a listing in eBay.”

true although i think- reading between the lines- the buyer is just re creating a new eBay account and wishes to purchase from that. It seems like they’re asking the seller/OP to hold on to the item and wait for payment from the new account. I wouldn’t give them the option personally as i said- you cant be sure of the motive.

PS is it the case that the buyer has to cancel the winning bid? if so i did not know that, seems open to abuse and takes the power away from the seller.

if the OP wants to waste his time, he could speak to ebay to see their take. I suspect in the first instance it will be ” wait 7 days for payment, then we’ll look at it”

It seems like they’re asking the seller/OP to hold on to the item and wait for payment from the new account.

There’s no way to do that within the eBay system though. My gut feeling is it’s a scam (for all the reasons already mentioned) but even if it is legit there’s no way to complete the transaction. I would just relist the item. The original winner can always re-bid on the off chance they are genuine.

Second chance offer on the next highest bidder? I’d be waving off the winning bidder.

I’m not in a rush, moving house this weekend so eBay is down my list of priorities.

Adopt a zero tolerance approach on eBay. There’s too many dicks out there. State in your listing that winning payment must be made within 24 hrs or a case will be opened. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but it seems to work for me. After sales communication is rarely genuine or anything less than trouble.

That there is the advice I’ll be following – sold a PS1 game to someone in Spain (even tho my listing states UK only) & he’s now quibbling over postage price (reckons he usually pays £4, I’m quoting £8 as I don’t want to make a special trip into town to the post office & I get stuff collected via myhermes) & threatening negative feedback.

yeah lesson learned there. 99% of my time on eBay is purchase only for this very reason, had many a low value sale become absolute ball aches because of absolute dicks who cant read or start quibbling. Selling UK only is one route i also took. Its a shame, as 10 years ago ebay was actually quite fun to use to get rid of things.

Your Spanish PS1 game guy there is a great example. Can you refuse the sale given that you specified uk only? i thought that prevented EU/worldwide bidders etc..

about 98% of my sales on eBay have in fact been fine, including – surprisingly – stuff to Ukraine, France, Spain. couple of **** complaining that a 30 yo Hornby loco didn’t run smoothly, and a scratched phone was very scratched, but the former was not trying it on – just unreasonable – and the latter was probably a description misunderstanding.

Both cases, do one would be my response too.

Your Spanish PS1 game guy there is a great example. Can you refuse the sale given that you specified uk only? i thought that prevented EU/worldwide bidders etc..

Yeah – I probably could, I’ve just sent him stonking email telling him the updated cost if he wants me to use the post office, charging my time, fuel, car parking as opposed to the service that collects. It came to about £75.00…

I had someone else who saw an auction for Final Fantasy 9, ps1 game from Germany, they messaged me to ask if I would ship to Germany I gave him a price he then won the auction paying £36.00 for the game & £8.00 for postage… paid immediately as well. When it’s like that it just works perfectly. The funny thing is of the 5 ps1 games I owned I figured I might get about £15 for all of them… so well happy with that.