Buyer opened multiple accounts to purchase items

[redterror117]

So this is a bit of a strange one. As I was checking my notifications this morning, I saw that I had three purchases from one of my variation listings from three 0 feedback accounts. Upon a quick inspection I found that all three were made today, have very similar usernames (two just use different numbers), and all three have the same shipping address. Two of the accounts list the same first and last name, while the third (which purchased the higher value item of the three) has a different first name (same last though).

The items in question are listed as having free shipping (sending them lettermail), and usually in the case of a buyer making a larger purchase I'll upgrade to tracked out of my pocket. My immediate concern is that this could be an attempt to make me send everything separately, where I'll receive INR / INAD claims.

I'll be calling CS later (I'm hesitant though as 90% of the feedback they ever give me is just "don't use lettermail shipping" without any further assistance), but I'm wondering what I should do as a seller, or if this is somehow not as strange as it seems to me.

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

You can upgrade shipping at your own expense anytime, you just can't downgrade without also consulting the buyer.

You now have the ability to contact the buyer, who, I agree is probably a "guest buyer".

So send him a Message asking if he wants you to send the three items together, which will be more efficient. Try to make it sound like you are doing him a favour and if your new shipping service includes tracking let him know you are adding that "for his protection".

Communication with the buyer is more useful in this case than the offshore customer service reps who work on the weekend.  They have more limits on what they can do than the US-based reps.

[pjcdn2005]

When a buyer doesn’t have an eBay account they can buy as a guest and eBay assigns them a different ID each time.  It’s not that uncommon.