eBay sellers with no rating?

[Loves2spoon]

Should we give these people a chance? I found a couple items I want, 0 rating but the seller listed in USA.

I've always bought from trusted sellers, and paypal will help get my money back if I get scammed correct?

Thoughts?



(items are xbox 360 games and headphones)

 

[Hellhammer]

Are they new or used? We all have to start our eBay journey at some point. If they are used (i.e. just some kid getting rid of his old stuff) and the prices are fair (not a huge loss if it's a scam), then I would go ahead and pull the trigger.

 

[jav6454]

I usually would never go with users with no ratings. If you want to use eBay first learn how to buy stuff, then do the selling. That way you have the Buyer's POV.

 

[Loves2spoon]

Are they new or used? We all have to start our eBay journey at some point. If they are used (i.e. just some kid getting rid of his old stuff) and the prices are fair (not a huge loss if it's a scam), then I would go ahead and pull the trigger.

It's a new item, the description is generic from the manufacturers web site. It's an auction with 18 bidders so far.

 

[unkn0wnsoldier]

How long has the seller been a member of ebay? Watch out for the ones that opened new accounts recently. I have only sold 2 things on ebay so my rating is low. But a person that joined ebay the same day my auction ended won, then sent an email 3 hours later saying that he couldn't pay.

Just something to think about.

 

[Loves2spoon]

Member since 1/11/2011

Shipping: $9.15 Standard Shipping | See all details
Delivery:
Estimated between Fri. Jan. 28 and Thu. Feb. 3
Returns:
3 day money back, buyer pays return shipping | Read details

 

[ucfgrad93]

For me, the deciding factor is how much is the item? How much money are you willing to risk on someone with no rating? For me, it would be less than $100.

 

[Loves2spoon]

For me, the deciding factor is how much is the item? How much money are you willing to risk on someone with no rating? For me, it would be less than $100.

The item I want retails for $120 at amazon, it's currently $52 on eBay.

The problem I have is that I see in a lot of buyer's with 0 history as well. So he made a 2nd & 3rd account to boost the price?

Other bidders have 100-500 rating. The seller has 51 items for sale... lol

 

[rhett7660]

As long as you can stomach the loss and the loss is not to great then yes I would go for it.

 

[littleman23408]

As long as you can stomach the loss and the loss is not to great then yes I would go for it.

I agree with this.
I bought something from a user with no rating, who was in canada. I tried contacting him a couple times after the auction ended as he didnt give me any kind of correspondence that my item (a poster) shipped. I was prepared to take the hit, but then my item finally showed up in the mail. I went to give him feedback, but he already disabled his account or deleted it or something.

Good luck!

 

[0815]

Should we give these people a chance? I found a couple items I want, 0 rating but the seller listed in USA.

I've always bought from trusted sellers, and paypal will help get my money back if I get scammed correct?

Thoughts?



(items are xbox 360 games and headphones)

I know it's not fair for new sellers, but I never buy if there are 0 ratings. Probably if it is a rare item. If the price is much cheaper than anywhere else, it's probably too good to be true, if it is comparable, I buy from someone with decent reviews. I buy in 99.9% of the cases only if there is lots of review. If there is negative review, I read what they are - often it's buyers that are not happy with the features of a product which is not the sellers fault but bad research on the buyers side.

As long as you can stomach the loss and the loss is not to great then yes I would go for it.

that is probably wise advice ...

 

[maflynn]

Pay attention to shipping.
i was looking at an iPhone 3gs, to tide me over until the iPhone 5 comes. I saw one from a reputable buyer (lots of good feedback) for a price that seemed to too good to be true.

It was one of those buy it nows, that was sitting there for a while. As I staired at it for a long time, it dawned on me. He was charging several hundred dollars for shipping, so while the "purchase" price was only 199, the total cost was in the 500 dollar range thanks to a 300 dollar shipping charge.

Kind turned me off of ebay (again)

 

[Loves2spoon]

We'll see what happens. Paypal always sides with the buyer according to sellers on on yahoo answers... lol

I'm the highest bidder so far, would be a great deal if I won and actually got the item.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Pay attention to shipping.
i was looking at an iPhone 3gs, to tide me over until the iPhone 5 comes. I saw one from a reputable buyer (lots of good feedback) for a price that seemed to too good to be true.

It was one of those buy it nows, that was sitting there for a while. As I staired at it for a long time, it dawned on me. He was charging several hundred dollars for shipping, so while the "purchase" price was only 199, the total cost was in the 500 dollar range thanks to a 300 dollar shipping charge.

Kind turned me off of ebay (again)

Those people should be turned into Ebay. It is against there TOS to scam Ebay out of fees and then it scams the buyers as well.

 

[Loves2spoon]

Ok this is BS, I learned my lesson... lol

I bid in increments of $10 every time than I get outbid by someone with 1 feedback.

I'll stick to Amazon...

 

[jav6454]

Ok this is BS, I learned my lesson... lol

I bid in increments of $10 every time than I get outbid by someone with 1 feedback.

I'll stick to Amazon...

Here is the thing, Let's say that 1-star guy put in $200... however eBay will show the highest bid 1+10, so if the bid started at $50, you'll see something along $51 current. That means you'll put in at least $61 to make a bid (because you are bidding in $10 increments). Well, since that 1-star guy bided $200 max, then eBay's systems automatically out-bid you at $73 or $83 (I can't remember the right algorithm) and lest you are outbided in 1 second. Sneaky. You won't out-bid the 1-star guy until you pass his max bid.

Also, in all that bidding and outbidding eBay always pumps the price by 10% to further up the price more than what it has too just to make extra profit from the higher price.

 

[rhett7660]

Ok this is BS, I learned my lesson... lol

I bid in increments of $10 every time than I get outbid by someone with 1 feedback.

I'll stick to Amazon...

LOL... oh yes that is always fun too!

 

[Loves2spoon]

Here is the thing, Let's say that 1-star guy put in $200... however eBay will show the highest bid 1+10, so if the bid started at $50, you'll see something along $51 current. That means you'll put in at least $61 to make a bid (because you are bidding in $10 increments). Well, since that 1-star guy bided $200 max, then eBay's systems automatically out-bid you at $73 or $83 (I can't remember the right algorithm) and lest you are outbided in 1 second. Sneaky. You won't out-bid the 1-star guy until you pass his max bid.

Also, in all that bidding and outbidding eBay always pumps the price by 10% to further up the price more than what it has too just to make extra profit from the higher price.

Thx for the info. It was 3 different 1 star people bidding. I outbid all the max bids, I smell bologna!

 

[jav6454]

Thx for the info. It was 3 different 1 star people bidding. I outbid all the max bids, I smell bologna!

Most likely the same seller trying to auto-outbid actual users in order to get a higher profit. People do that all the time.

 

[Huntn]

Should we give these people a chance? I found a couple items I want, 0 rating but the seller listed in USA.

I've always bought from trusted sellers, and paypal will help get my money back if I get scammed correct?

Thoughts?



(items are xbox 360 games and headphones)

I have quite a bit of experience buying and selling on ebay. From a buyer perspective a lot depends on what is being sold. You should always be suspicious of any designer item due to the relative high percentage of fraudulent designer items out there. In fact ebay, the last time I was looking for a purse, had abundant knockoffs for sale, which just happens to be against ebay policy. I reported several purses and the within a day or two they had been yanked. Other things are easier because they are more straight forward, a book, dishes, a movie, a video game (unless they come from asia unless you don't care if it might be a bootleg).

Paypal will reimburse you if you are scammed. That being said, I've saw a case (a friend) where a laptop computer was sold and it did not have the video card in it as advertised. It was a different card, 124MB VRAM vs 512MB VRAM. In the dispute, ebay sided with the seller saying the difference was negligible.. Now this was several years ago and I think ebay and paypal since then have moved decisively into the buyers corner.

I frequently purchase on ebay because my experience and impression is that most sellers are honest. Use a little common sense, be suspicious, and read all of the fine print in the add.

One thing I don't like is that ebay policy today is that as the seller, you no longer have the option of shipping without insurance. You, the seller are responsible for the item getting to the buyer in one piece. ebay no longer allows the seller to specify insurance costs. If it arrives broken, paypal will reimburse the buyer and take it out of your account. The way around this is to add on what you estimate is the insurance cost into the price of the item/auction. Maybe it is not that big of a deal, but it takes away some pricing flexibility imo.

Good luck! And if anyone wants quick tips to buying strategy on ebay, give me a shout in this thread or by pm.