Expert: Rob James - 10/30/2007

Question
QUESTION: During the auction the bidder [now winner of my auction] e-mailed me and said the high bidder has 0 feedback, I smell fraud, I cancelled the bidder after giving them 24hrs to respond with more information, they then contacted me and I allowed them to rebid.

The winner of my auction then paid through paypal using an unconfirmed address, I refused the payment.

He then sent me many messages challenging what confirmed on paypal means and threatening to sue me, I finally told him I was not going to sell to him.

Since them he has threatened to sue me for this and for damages and also he has reported me to ebay claiming fraudeland bidders.

I dont want to sell to this person, I feel threatened by his behaviour.

What are my rights as a seller

ANSWER: Hello,

I'm a bit confused as to who informed you of the zero feedback rating. Was it the same bidder who won the item? Or was it another bidder?

In any event you did make contact with the bidder and then gave him the opportunity to rebid. The assumption on his end would be that if he wins it is good with you.

As far as the unconfirmed address goes, that is common in PayPal and I, for one, will send to unconfirmed addresses. It is your choice whether or not you wish to do so. However, most sellers who do not ship to unconfirmed addresses will state that in their auction listing to alert potential bidders before they place a bid. If you did not have that information in your listing then the buyer had no knowledge of your unwillingness to ship the item to him.

You do have rights as  a seller. However, in this case, I think that eBay would side with the buyer. Only because he won the auction fairly and paid you via an accepted method. He had completed his obligation of the sale. When you declined to sell it to him after he had paid he got frustrated, which is understandable since he fulfilled his part of the transaction.

If you feel threatened, or can prove that this buyer was intent on committing fraud, I would suggest you contact the Trust and Safety department of eBay. Explain the situation to them and see what they say. You may have to complete the sale if they do not agree with you but that will be their call.

You can get to them by clicking the Live Help link on eBay's main home page.

Good Luck

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Buyer to pay Fedex shipping costs, paypal [confirmed & verified ONLY] or postal money order.
This is what I had listed in my auciton, and it was the high bidder that informed me of the bidder with 0 feedback, does this change your opinion, also I received the following e-mail this evening_____
i dont know why your being such a b----, im giving u a thousand
dollars and your ruining a sweet 16. thanks alot! i should come to
wherever it is u live and b----slap u


Answer
Well, I've had some dealings like this as well. Since you did state in the listing that you will only ship to confirmed PayPal addresses then I think you should be OK. Still, I would run it by Trust and Safety to get their take on it. I had reported a threatening bidder to them and they were helpful. Eventually the guy just went away.

One thing you may want to clarify with them is if the buyer gives you negative feedback, which could happen since the auction closed with him winning. See if they can get it removed under the circumstances.

I hope you get it all worked out.

Rob