Currently Im dealing with a clown who lives in a US/Mexico border town (US side, Cali) who was the winning bidder for my minty MEK ($850 inc ship/ins.) Guy had 100% feedback on 14 transactions but never asked any questions WHILE the item was listed. Anyway, I require all winning bidders to contact me within 72 hours after auction's end, and despite me sending him the invoice and reminder right at about hour 70 I finally heard from him.
So completely cluelless, was talking about when he could get his money into PP, wanted to know about alternate payments (NO!) and said he'd have the $$ in my PP account yesterday. Well yesterday no $$, more lame broken English excuses as to why not, and gave me his phone # to ask about "deals" on shipping and other questions--stuff he shouldve asked me WHILE the auction was still active.
Since I dont deal over the phone--I keep it all in email so there's a written record--I told him if he wishes to withdraw I will agree to do so as well. I have a gut feeling that this is some kind of scam; US/Mexico border towns are full of them, and when I saw his location a HUGE red flag went up.
But what gets me is eBay's policy re unpaid strikes against buyers who renig or fail to agree to their legal obligations as auction/BIN winners. Is there a way to tell if a bidder has unpaid item strikes on his or her record? Also, can scammers forge their feedback scores to give the impresssion they are on the up and up? And, an unpaying winner who does NOT meet contractural obligations can leave negative feedback on the seller? WTF is with that??
Out of nearly 20 pricey transactions, this is the second to create problems after auction's end; I once had a Cuban guy in Florida agree to BIN, but bypassed PP and send me third-party traveller checks that were obvious forgeries. I reported him to USPS fraud officials.
Ya know I generally have good luck with eBay, but this kind of lame bullshit makes me rethink as to whether I should continue, and maybe advertise my stuff here or Craigslist. I also hate to do so, but Im thinking of refusing all bids from the smaller US/Mexico border towns.
Any advice is welcomed and appreciated.