E-bay bidder with 0 Feedback - Question -
 

I'm selling a Rickenbacker guitar and have it listed on e-bay with a reasonable reserve. There is a bidder that has bid on it (with almost no one bidding against him/her) right up to my reserve price. Here's my concern...this bidder has 0 Feedback yet has been an e-bay member since 2003.

I did receive one question from a potential bidder (don't know if it's this person) asking if I'd take a Postal Money Order instead of Paypal. I responded that I prefer Paypal but if a Postal MO was the only way, he'd have to wait until I've cashed the MO before I would ship. Again, I don't know if this is the same person.

Any reason for concern here? There's still a couple of days left, so hopefully he'll be outbid by someone with some history. So many scams these days, it's hard to know what's real and what's not.

Sounds fishy to me. BTW, my "dream guitar" is a Rickenbacker 4003 stereo bass. Someday, I'll have one!

I think feedback disappears over time. In other words, he/she may have been very active in 2003 and 2004, but hasn't purchased or sold anything through eBay in 2010 or 2011 and have zero positive feedback.

I think only sellers get feedback on ebay now? Am I wrong?

I just sold an amp to a 0 FB bidder. No problems. Everybody has to start somewhere. If he no pays, use the other bidder as back up.

Buyers also receive feedback. I would sell to him with a postal money order. Get your cash then ship it.

If he was the only bidder, I wouldn't worry about it as much. If there are others involved, I would consider sending him some email about his intentions and if you don't feel comfortable, block his bid. I've has idiots outbid serious bidder and then dissapear. The second offer thing generally never works and the next highest bidder isn't interested because they think its a scam.

You can set up your auctions to disallow bids from zero or negative feedback bidders

Isn't there a risk to checks in the US , coming back even after they have been cashed?
heard some stories bout that on this very forum...

I have not used eBay since '07 and my transactions are listed along with ratings. However, I'm 0% due to no activity in 12 mos.

I'd look at the buyer's profile to see if they ever bought, sold or had another name. I take USPS MO's eagerly. My bank cashes them.

Contact the bidder directly, tell 'em he's got a zero feedback and ask him when he intends to pay.

He'll understand if he's not a flake.

rjp

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that a Postal Money Order is your safest bet. Let him know that you will ship only after the MO clears and you have cash in hand. No risk of a bogus "certified check" bouncing back weeks after it is deposited.

If you get a postal money order you can take it to the post office and cash it. Much better than getting a random bank MO - taking it to your bank to deposit it and finding a charge back a month later when it comes back bogus.

postal money order is safe. a personal or even certified bank check is something to stay away from. i remember certain credit unions had their certified checks stolen. postal money orders are backed by USPS.

Walk out of the post office with cash before you ship it.