Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[CNH1974]

So is this only happening on new items?

I have a couple of high value vintage items to list. A boxed 926 (rare) and a 928.

Also I am thinking of adding a proviso to the description. Along the lines of I will only send this item out if you verify you are genuine by message.
Of course the flaw in that, it could be the fraudsters sending the message.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

9 minutes ago, CNH1974 said:

So is this only happening on new items?

I have a couple of high value vintage items to list. A boxed 926 (rare) and a 928.

Also I am thinking of adding a proviso to the description. Along the lines of I will only send this item out if you verify you are genuine by message.
Of course the flaw in that, it could be the fraudsters sending the message.

Ask for a copy of a utility or tax bill with their name and address on it. I've never failed since asking for this for >£100 sales. Just make it very clear at the top of the listing that they MUST supply this information. Waiting 2 days won't help as chargebacks can happen at any time.

Edited November 15, 2017 by TabbyBoy

[trstnkn]

Need advice on a buying experience.

Purchased a large lot of Legos this week.  Communicated via e-mail with seller to validate weight and that most of the mini figures were there.  (Pictures showed a huge collection, but a lot of the sets had been broken down partially or fully.  They still had the manuals.  It was clearly not just random bulk.)

A few days pass and now the seller is negating some of what he told me.  He's telling me I need to cancel the purchase.

Bottom line - He told me he was selling his son's and grandson's collection.  I think they are mad at the price he took.  Classic scenario - I paid thousands of $ so should receive thousands - even though the pieces are jumbled and not guaranteed complete.  And the seller is an experienced seller and buyer on eBay.  I can tell he is likely lying because his story doesn't add up.

He's trying to push me into cancelling which I don't really want to do.  

So do I make him cancel and then I can leave negative feedback?  I think if I stuck to wanting to buy it; he'd follow through because he knows how eBay works.

Curious if anyone has had a similar situation and can offer advice.  Thank you.

Edited November 18, 2017 by trstnkn

[Migration]

Force the sale. He can cancel if he wants to and you can leave appropriate feedback. Also if the items ship and what arrives is not what you paid for SNAD.

[mizeur]

1 minute ago, Migration said:

Force the sale. He can cancel if he wants to and you can leave appropriate feedback. Also if the items ship and what arrives is not what you paid for SNAD.

Agree with this. Close your end of the communications by saying that you're looking forward to the lot being shipped as described in the listing and within the handling window.

[newbie77]

25 minutes ago, trstnkn said:

Need advice on a buying experience.

Purchased a large lot of Legos this week.  Communicated via e-mail with seller to validate weight and that most of the mini figures were there.  (Pictures showed a huge collection, but a lot of the sets had been broken down partially or fully.  They still had the manuals.  It was clearly not just random bulk.)

A few days pass and now the seller is negating some of what he told me.  He's telling me I need to cancel the purchase.

Bottom line - He told me he was selling his son's and grandson's collection.  I think they are mad at the price he took.  Classic scenario - I paid thousands of $ so should receive thousands - even though the pieces are jumbled and not guaranteed complete.  And the seller is an experienced seller and buyer on eBay.  I can tell he is likely lying because his story doesn't add up.

He's trying to push me into cancelling which I don't really want to do.  

So do I make him cancel and then I can leave negative feedback?  I think if I stuck to wanting to buy it; he'd follow through because he knows how eBay works.

Curious if anyone has had a similar situation and can offer advice.  Thank you.

That's very classic of some of eBay seller. One classic example I remember vividly is of seller with huge lot (about 74) of 76006. I offered him 24,99ea. This was in 2015 if I remember correctly. Considering it was on sale for $14,99 from TLG at the time. $10 within 2 months. I thought it was fair. He agreed sent invoice. I paid and he got cold feet. Wanted to raise price. I said no. Order was cancelled. Hope he got better deal :).

i got same number from someone else and moved on.

have had lot of those especially when they are desperate to sell because they been in buying binge and in a fix but can't get over the fact someone else is buying and could more  

I have exit price for each set and once they reach the price u really don't care who buys it off of me. Resellers fine as long as they don't try to play the scam.

my 0.02 if he got cold feet let him be. Leave. Unless it's one of those sweet really sweet deals I don't think it's worth it. Reason I say that is if that listing sat for days or weeks for that price there must be a reason for it.  but it's just me. Don't want to deal with people who want to change deal after they have agreed. 

Edited November 18, 2017 by newbie77

[trstnkn]

12 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

 

my 0.02 if he got cold feet let him be. Leave. Unless it's one of those sweet really sweet deals I don't think it's worth it. Reason I say that is if that listing sat for days or weeks for that price there must be a reason for it.  but it's just me. Don't want to deal with people who want to change deal after they have agreed. 

Purchased within 12 hours of it being posted.  Plus he lowered the price around 15%  by taking my best offer.

Thanks all.  Taking @mizeur & @Migration's advice.  Will see how it plays out.

[Migration]

It's a simple matter of professionalism. It was sold at an agreed upon price, the seller should follow through. 

[Lordoflego]

Just a week or so ago, friend of mine won an eBay auction for $130 for something that was constantly selling for well over $500. Seller made an excuse, said that it was damaged, just cancelled it. He will be leaving appropriate feedback soon but he waits to see in this particular situation if seller will have another listing of that item. He lists one after another for months so likely he will.

[LegoWalker4]

I realize this thread is about Ebay fruitcakes, but I need some advice from this awesome community.  Back on October 11 I received an order for a Star Wars polybag through BrickLink.  I sent multiple follow-up e-mails after not receiving payment and asked if anything was wrong, gave them a deadline to pay by November 1 and said I would file a non-paying buyer claim against them if I did not hear back from by then and if I did not receive payment.  There was no communication or payment from them.  A successful non-paying buyer claim was filed and the order was cancelled.  Their feedback was blocked by the administrator.

Today I get a message from the buyer though BrickLink e-mail with the message saying, “let’s do this” and I was paid.

This makes me very uncomfortable because this sale is now bypassing BrickLink (they did not re-order the item), they were given many chances to do the right thing and I should refund the payment.

What would you do?  My instinct is telling me “the heck with you and you had your chance!”
 

[trstnkn]

 

22 minutes ago, Lordoflego said:

Just a week or so ago, friend of mine won an eBay auction for $130 for something that was constantly selling for well over $500. Seller made an excuse, said that it was damaged, just cancelled it. He will be leaving appropriate feedback soon but he waits to see in this particular situation if seller will have another listing of that item. He lists one after another for months so likely he will.

I told him that if he sent what was pictured that I would take it.  Pictures show figures, animals, bricks.  He now states that he cannot guarantee the figures will be there.  So he either has seller's remorse.  Or someone removed a ton of items after taking the photos.  The guy is not a rookie seller, so I'm thinking the former.

He refunded my money to Paypal.  Now my purchase is listed as unpaid and my 8% bonus bucks gone.

Moving on, but I will be watching to see if he reposts it.  

[newbie77]

32 minutes ago, LegoWalker4 said:

I realize this thread is about Ebay fruitcakes, but I need some advice from this awesome community.  Back on October 11 I received an order for a Star Wars polybag through BrickLink.  I sent multiple follow-up e-mails after not receiving payment and asked if anything was wrong, gave them a deadline to pay by November 1 and said I would file a non-paying buyer claim against them if I did not hear back from by then and if I did not receive payment.  There was no communication or payment from them.  A successful non-paying buyer claim was filed and the order was cancelled.  Their feedback was blocked by the administrator.

Today I get a message from the buyer though BrickLink e-mail with the message saying, “let’s do this” and I was paid.

This makes me very uncomfortable because this sale is now bypassing BrickLink (they did not re-order the item), they were given many chances to do the right thing and I should refund the payment.

What would you do?  My instinct is telling me “the heck with you and you had your chance!”
 

no. better to leave NPB feedback block the buyer and move on. 

[Phil B]

I realize this thread is about Ebay fruitcakes, but I need some advice from this awesome community.  Back on October 11 I received an order for a Star Wars polybag through BrickLink.  I sent multiple follow-up e-mails after not receiving payment and asked if anything was wrong, gave them a deadline to pay by November 1 and said I would file a non-paying buyer claim against them if I did not hear back from by then and if I did not receive payment.  There was no communication or payment from them.  A successful non-paying buyer claim was filed and the order was cancelled.  Their feedback was blocked by the administrator.
Today I get a message from the buyer though BrickLink e-mail with the message saying, “let’s do this” and I was paid.
This makes me very uncomfortable because this sale is now bypassing BrickLink (they did not re-order the item), they were given many chances to do the right thing and I should refund the payment.
What would you do?  My instinct is telling me “the heck with you and you had your chance!”
 

I'd ignore the message and leave the funds on your account. Let the buyer sweat it out. You are under no obligation to do anything as there is no order.

[newbie77]

6 minutes ago, Phil B said:

I'd ignore the message and leave the funds on your account. Let the buyer sweat it out. You are under no obligation to do anything as there is no order.

btw, if they actually paid for the old order then the bricklink administrator might allow them then to repost the feedback.

[LegoWalker4]

19 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

btw, if they actually paid for the old order then the bricklink administrator might allow them then to repost the feedback.

Realized they paid for the actual cost of the item, but no shipping.  Refunding the payment and blocking the buyer.  Thanks newbie77 and Phil B!  Moving on.  Cost me $0.33 for the refund. 

 

[Dlpgordon24]

Beware....about six months ago, a seller posted a boatload of sdcc sets with no minimum bid. He had 100% feedback but all of his sales were low priced minifigures. You may remember him as the guy who shipped out empty envelopes with tracking numbers to business addresses — primarily golf clubs and country clubs— within the buyers zip code. A fellow bp’er was able to retrieve one of the envelopes.  Problem was that eBay kept siding with the seller and reversing the negative feedback.  I had to fill out one of those I whatever police forms to get my money back  

Well heeee’s back. With a new user name. Guess he doesn’t realize the sdcc sets are numbered. I’ve been watching for them. Beware of rocket raccoon #851. It’s been listed by a seller who’s been a member since 2017 and has the similar feedback as before. If he also lists batmobile 116 you should similarly run for the hills. 

[RunMan3]

We often talk about fruit cake buyers but what about fruit cake sellers???

I was thinking about listing a Gingerbread House Limited Edition set 40139 so was doing some research to see what they are selling for. So on eBay when I search for "Lego 40139" and then select: New, Buy It Now and then sort by lowest price first I pull up lots and lots of non-related sets. Can this all be by people just not paying attention to what they are doing or are they doing this on purpose. Lots of sets with wrong MPN and/or UPC code. Drives me nuts. Is there an easy way to report this to eBay without spending hours on the phone? Do they care?

Edited November 20, 2017 by RunMan3

[Val-E]

3 hours ago, RunMan3 said:

We often talk about fruit cake buyers but what about fruit cake sellers???

I was thinking about listing a Gingerbread House Limited Edition set 40139 so was doing some research to see what they are selling for. So on eBay when I search for "Lego 40139" and then select: New, Buy It Now and then sort by lowest price first I pull up lots and lots of non-related sets. Can this all be by people just not paying attention to what they are doing or are they doing this on purpose. Lots of sets with wrong MPN and/or UPC code. Drives me nuts. Is there an easy way to report this to eBay without spending hours on the phone? Do they care?

If you change an existing add e.g. swap it out to a UCS Falcon, then the search system still finds it under the old one. Another option is you can report them if they are key-word spamming (putting the wrong item data in the title or despcription to gain views). Eg "Lego Pet shop 10218 goes with town hall 10224"

[richieh69]

On 15/11/2017 at 2:44 PM, TabbyBoy said:

It's happened to me a lot of times and it's getting worse, especially with more expensive sets. The first thing I check is to make sure that eBay/PayPal details match and that they are verified. If there's a mis-match, I always send the scammer buyer a message to change their details so that they match. If I have no response, the sale is cancelled and I contact eBay on chat to let them know. You're unlikely to lose money since you shipped to the stated address, but it affects us all in the way of higher fees as it's becoming a big problem now. This is why anything that I sell on eBay of high value is strictly cash on collection (NOT from home!).

If you still have to ship something of value, always ask the buyer for a scan/photo of a utility or tax bill that shows the correct address. If they refuse, then there's a reason ;-)

Is the general consensus then that if the Paypal and Ebay account details match, its a genuine sale? In a "hacked ebay scenario" part mean the ebay address could be the wrong one, but the paypal account is the correct one, as they can update the eBay account to the wrong address, but they can't update the Paypal one?

I'm rather paranoid after the last 3 being hacked accounts, I sold one on Saturday. Paypal and Ebay account details match exactly, paypal address verified, I emailed the guy and he responded back fairly quickly confirming it was a genuine sale - although I did realise, asking someone to confirm that doesn't mean anything.

[Captain_chaos]

5 hours ago, RunMan3 said:

We often talk about fruit cake buyers but what about fruit cake sellers???

I was thinking about listing a Gingerbread House Limited Edition set 40139 so was doing some research to see what they are selling for. So on eBay when I search for "Lego 40139" and then select: New, Buy It Now and then sort by lowest price first I pull up lots and lots of non-related sets. Can this all be by people just not paying attention to what they are doing or are they doing this on purpose. Lots of sets with wrong MPN and/or UPC code. Drives me nuts. Is there an easy way to report this to eBay without spending hours on the phone? Do they care?

Could be spam or could be a mistake. I've listed a Star Wars set with 'Lego Harry Potter' in the title instead, when I used sell similar to save time. 

[Fenix_2k1]

26 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

Could be spam or could be a mistake. I've listed a Star Wars set with 'Lego Harry Potter' in the title instead, when I used sell similar to save time. 

I've noticed it a lot recently. Searching Lego 42041 returns mainly 42039's

[Captain_chaos]

10 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

I've noticed it a lot recently. Searching Lego 42041 returns mainly 42039's

Try a search for 10182 or 10185. Enough to make you want to scream.

[labfreak7]

I guess idiots like that are just the cost of doing business. Doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Got the exact same thing from an idiot on Amazon for a Lone Ranger Cavalry builder. Threatened an A-Z claim if I didn't approve the request. It will be interesting to see what condition it comes in.

[KShine]

Before you start reporting people, it is best to verify whether there is clear intent involved.

Sometimes ebay will fill in the blanks (incorrectly), other times they simply respond to searches with something that they find to be similar/related (often times wrong).

Yes, the bad ones should be reported/stopped/punished, but not the honest sellers that somehow fell into the same basket (without intent).

[Val-E]

2 hours ago, labfreak7 said:

Got the exact same thing from an idiot on Amazon for a Lone Ranger Cavalry builder. Threatened an A-Z claim if I didn't approve the request. It will be interesting to see what condition it comes in.

Probably MISB - they just realised it was Lone Ranger and decided not to touch it.