You're soaring high... The auction went well and you've sold an item on eBay! Feels great doesn't it? But now what?
Before you send anything to that buyer, you must get to know them first. This is especially crucial when you're selling a high-ticket item that you can't afford to lose. Even if the buyer has paid, the PayPal transaction could still end up being reversed, leaving you completely out of pocket.
So how do you get to know buyers to see if they can be trusted?
1. Look at their feedback for sellers.
Go to their feedback page and click Left for Others. If they post a lot of negatives about other sellers, then run away from them as fast as you can! If you still choose to deal with them, make sure not to post your feedback about them first. You should consider a negative someone has left to be just as bad as a negative left for them.
2. Look at feedback from sellers.
You might find that they have more complaints from sellers than from buyers. Or it might be the other way around. Some people really are just better at selling than buying.
3. Pay attention to bid retractions.
If your buyer has a high number of bid retractions, this as a red flag.
4. See what else they've bought.
When someone goes from buying items worth $1 to suddenly buying something worth $1,000 you might want to be a little suspicious of them.
5. See what they're bidding on now.
If they've never shown any interest in your kind of item before, and now suddenly they're bidding on lots of them, then that's cause for concern. You should also be suspicious of someone who seems to be spending a lot of money all at once. Few buyers have thousands at a time to blow on eBay.
6. Check their ID history.
People who've changed their ID are often trying to get away from someone who's trying to find them. This is another warning sign! Be especially wary of someone who has changed their ID recently.
7. Be nice to new buyers.
Genuinely new buyers will probably have a name ending in a number and a feedback score of 0. These people usually aren't fraudsters. Somewhat counter-intuitively, people trying to commit fraud will almost never do it when they have a feedback score of 0. They’ll think it's too obvious. New buyers often have problems with being inexperienced on eBay, however, and you might have to guide them through things like opening a PayPal account.
8. Email them!
If you want to get to know your eBay buyer, why not have a little chat with them about the item and what they plan to do with it? Tell them how you know they're going to love it and ask if there's anything else you can do for them. Few buyers who seem chatty and nice will turn out not to be in the end.
If you keep getting buyers you don't want, you might consider using eBay's pre-approved buyer function.
Copyright 2006 - J. Sheridan
For more free information on ebay selling, drop shipping strategies, handling bid snipers, and to find out what's the hottest selling items on eBay, visit
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