Sold a 600$ camera yesterday to a buyer who started account the same day...

[vip-marketplace]

Hey guys!

Before shipping the item I wanted to check if there's additional precaution I can take to protect myself.

The camera was ~600$ + tx = 700$ purchased by a Canadian living on Prince Edward Island and has a Chinese name. When I look up the address, the house looks horrible and it's hard to imagine what kind of people would live in there. I know it's not proof of anything but that doesn't help making me more safe.

The buyer account has 0 feedback and the account was made yesterday (same day he purchased the camera).

Now... Should I cancel this? Am I not protected as long as I have tracking showing the item was delivered? If you think he's most likely a scammer, how do you think he's going to do it and is there anything I can do before shipping to protect myself against that?

I called eBay and they told me the payment cleared and that I shouldn't worry at all and ship the item... Not sure if that's an objective advice which is why I'm asking here as well.

Thanks! 🙂

[esclyons · Accepted solution]

i can't say i have ever had a problem, after the purchase once the person paid. with a zero feedback buyer.. i have more problems with the ones who have been around, and know the ins and outs of scamming.. But for piece of mind i would be sure to have a signature required on the package as well.

[vip-marketplace]

Just curious (not saying this is a bad idea), in what circumstances will having a signature make a difference? I know it can't hurt but I was under the impression having the tracking showing delivered was all I needed on eBay.

[esclyons]

Tracking shows the item was delivered,   a signature shows the item was received.. For 1.25 it provides some extra piece of mind.

[cumos55 · Accepted solution]

This could be a guest buyer.....

Without new buyers with low feedback....  eBay would soon die, and sellers would not have new sales.

New buyers on eBay, means new sales. Old buyers usually have already bought what they want.

With a high priced items such as this I would always add a signature ... Buyer signs when item is delivered.  If the item gets delivered to a community mailbox, one can never be sure the buyer really got it..... 

and ......At $600   a seller must be absolutely sure the item was delivered to the buyer and not just to a community mailbox.

[vip-marketplace]

I'm reassured and shipped the item with signature! 🙂

BUT IF HE TRIES ANYTHING FUNNY I'LL COME BACK  HERE AND BE VERY UNHAPPY!!!!

Just kidding

Thanks guys! 😛

[momcqueen]

You've been given good advice. Adding Signature was smart because it's very close to the limit at which it's required anyway. 

[hlmacdon]

Insure, signature, and do not safe drop are always good ideas for anything of value. Note that those only protect you against non-delivery claims and shipping damage and that is their only value.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

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@vip-marketplace wrote:

Hey guys!

Before shipping the item I wanted to check if there's additional precaution I can take to protect myself.

The camera was ~600$ + tx = 700$ purchased by a Canadian living on Prince Edward Island and has a Chinese name. When I look up the address, the house looks horrible and it's hard to imagine what kind of people would live in there. I know it's not proof of anything but that doesn't help making me more safe.

The buyer account has 0 feedback and the account was made yesterday (same day he purchased the camera).

Now... Should I cancel this? Am I not protected as long as I have tracking showing the item was delivered? If you think he's most likely a scammer, how do you think he's going to do it and is there anything I can do before shipping to protect myself against that?

I called eBay and they told me the payment cleared and that I shouldn't worry at all and ship the item... Not sure if that's an objective advice which is why I'm asking here as well.

Thanks! 🙂

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Don't discriminate. Not all Chinese are bad. There're just so many Chinese out there, don't let a few bad beans spoil the whole batch.

As for the photo, it could be an old photo *shrugs*. Maybe a rich Chinese family bought the place, knocked it down and built a pretty house now lol. We moved out of our place 2.5 years ago but Google map street view still shows our old decorations on the house (I know they are not there anymore since I drove by there a couple months ago)... Sometimes it takes Google Map a few years to update. I moved to my current place new 2.5 years ago, google map still shows a construction site  

As long as you sent it with Tracking and Signature (for a $600 item I definitely would pay a little extra for signature) you're protected.

PS. I have had about 5 INR experiences, NONE of them had a Chinese-sounding name. 2 from the States, 3 from Europe. Also, none of my INR cases were from zero feedback buyers, and I'd say at least 10% of my sales are to zero feedback buyers. Even when I'm at work, the "customers" I had more trouble with weren't the Chinese ones. 

[momcqueen]

Good point.

It may instead be the wording at fault here. The OP may have flagged it because the name was written in Chinese characters but addressed to PEI.

Like, I’d wonder what gives if I had an order buyer name written in Cyrillic but addressed to a farm in Saskatchewan. Or one using the Korean alphabet but going to Quebec. Combined with zero feedback, it makes one wonder what circumstances may be at play. Not that it’s going to be a transaction that automatically ends badly because of the nationality of the person who purchased it.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

The OP said "Chinese name" though, not specifically name written in Chinese characters. My most recent sale is a book to a Toronto buyer, whose name is in Chinese PinYin. It's still a Chinese name but written in English alphabets. There are many Chinese people who didn't add their "English" name on to their legal documentations, so for their mailing address they'd still use their Chinese PinYin name.

I have a co-worker who said she moved here when she was in elementary school, but since her parents didn't put her English name on her passport application and citizenship paper, she still doesn't have her English name on her documents, and we all just call her by her English name lol.

Did more random google-mapping and saw more old photos! My workplace used to have a huge parking lot when I first started there 3 years ago, but 1.5 years ago they closed that parking lot to build a new building there. Google map still shows that parking lot with no construction in the area... Checked out a different place where they built a new mall last year and that indeed has updated photo. I guess Google Map focuses on updating photos for newly built places with more commercial traffic, instead of residential area. 

[femmefan1946]

@momcqueen

if I had an order buyer name written in Cyrillic but addressed to a farm in Saskatchewan.

Given the large number of Russian and Ukrainian Canadians in SK, that wouldn't be any shock.

@zee-chan-jpn-books

she still doesn't have her English name on her documents,

When I was a bank teller I had a loyal customer who was a Sino-Canadian actor.

She got cheques in her Chinese birth name from the old country, in her professional Chinese name for her work in Chinese theatre, in her professional English name for her work in English language theatre (and once from the CBC, we were really thrilled by that one), in her normal English name , and in her married name which was also English. I don't think it is usual for Chinese women to change their names on marriage.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Oh I'm not talking about "changing" names, but rather "adding" an English name to their documents. And she isn't married either (she's my age), I'm talking about how Chinese kids when they come to Canada, they usually acquire an English name to help fit into the English culture (and if the Chinese kids came at a very young age, they might lose their Chinese language skills as a result of trying to fit in). Or if they were from Hong Kong, they usually already have an English name as a child due to British influence. Usually their English name is added to their documents early so they'd have it on their driver's license etc when they're older. This particular colleague didn't have hers added, that's all.

Your customer with multiple names is a different but very interesting case. I'm surprised you can cash cheques written in "actor's name", though. I thought you can only cash cheques that matches your legal documents. Learned something new everyday, lol.

[a51split]

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@vip-marketplace wrote:

The buyer account has 0 feedback and the account was made yesterday (same day he purchased the camera).

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I have sold dozens of low $ items to 0 feedback buyers.  When the price is low, so is the risk.

However, on my two recent higher priced items ($700 & $2400), I stated that I will not sell to 0 feedback buyers or buyers not registered on ebay.  

If you have 0 feedback, you can buy some low $ items from anyone to build your feedback.  And if you're too lazy to create an account on ebay, go away.

I would gladly take a defect to avoid having a large $ item stolen by a thief.  Since ebay is unwilling to terminate the accounts of thieves, I have to protect myself:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Second-Scammer-this-month-getting-free-items-from-eBay/t...

[momcqueen]

I find the zero-feedback issue is a red herring.

Other online retailers do not discriminate. If you have money, they take it in exchange for goods, period. I am the same.

I don't give a hoot how many feedback a buyer might have or not have. If you want to boil it down to risk assessment, you're just as likely to be scammed by a buyer with 298 feedback as zero feedback because the former is more likely to be familiar with all the intricacies of ebay's MBG. A zero feedback buyer is probably someone's gramma looking to buy what they need for sonny boy's birthday and go. 

In short, the only drawback to zero feedback buyers is that they're less likely to leave feedback because they might be a Guest Checkout. And if you're a shady seller, this is a plus because they're not going to neg you.

I'm neither shady nor risk-tolerant. I have a much lower risk tolerance than many sellers here and I have no xenophobia where zero-feedback buyers are concerned. In fact, I'm pleased to be the first to serve them. It allows me to set a good example for other transactions to come. 

[femmefan1946]

I'm surprised you can cash cheques written in "actor's name", though. @zee-chan-jpn-books

This was in the 60s that I was a teller.

We were told that if the cheque didn't match the name exactly, the customer could write on the 'wrong ' name then countersign with the 'right' name.

I think the cheque then had to be deposited rather than cashed.

Even banks were more trusting in those days.

I can't even put a cheque made out to my husband into his account these days, because I don't know his PIN.

[snoopwiz]

Try 1, 2, 3, 4