Am I Unreasonable?

[dusred]

I have a policy in my eBay terms that says that if you have less than 3 feedbacks you must call me before bidding on my items. This is because scammers are usually disguised as nooberts that don't know what their doing.

So I get this bid on one of my items and it's an exceptionally high bid for the item and I look at the bidders and both of them are noobs within the last 2 days. Sounds fishy right? So I send them both emails worded professionally and nicely to contact me via the phone (I included my cell number in the email) as my policy states or I was going to cancel their bids. I also mentioned that I was just doing it to protect myself as a seller and to make sure they had a PayPal account and were setup to pay - basically I just answer any eBay questions noob's have and make sure they understand the policy's. One responded with this:

"Thats fine I will withdraw my bids and buy from another dealer. This is my first time on Ebay but my wife has been a long time customer. Seems pretty fishey that you would ask me to contact you!"

And the other responded with this:

"the price is now higher than I am willing to pay for used rims so don't worry about it"

On the second one I responded and told them that the other bidders bid may be canceled so they still may be able to get the rims if they wanted to.

This is the general attitude of eBay noobs and I've dealt with it from time to time. So the question is am I being unreasonable to ask noobs to contact me before bidding?

[Jesda]

For every 3 idiots on ebay, Amazon has 20.

[brandonDavid]

I don't really think so, but what's the difference if you talk to a scammer over the phone or not?

[dusred]

AHHHHHHH! That makes me feel so much better.

[AppleBonker]

Nope, completely reasonable in my eyes. Since you're selling, it's well within your rights to protect yourself. If they were legit buyers they shouldn't have any problem contacting you to straighten it out. I understand that all eBayers have to start somewhere, but a little precaution can't hurt. Plus, if the one guy's wife has been on eBay for a while, why not buy using her account? I buy stuff for my family all the time since they don't have accounts and I've got at least some feedback for sellers to gauge my authenticity. Don't change it and good luck with the sale.

[Ozzie]

Not unreasonable at all.

You list it in your auction, but they don't contact you anyway.Paypal tends to protect the buyer, so as a seller, you REALLY need to cover your a$$.

If guy No.1 has a wife who is an experienced buyer... get her to buy it on her account then! (Nice fake line anyway, SCAMMER!)

[dusred]

I don't really think so, but what's the difference if you talk to a scammer over the phone or not?

Well, for one thing you can usually tell if they are an American or not. And second many nooberts don't know how to use eBay and bid not knowing what they're doing. For example a noobert will bid on an item and win it and then never pay because he doesn't know how and never contacts me cause he doesn't know how. So I can talk to them and explain how the system works and let them know they can call me with any questions than I may be able to save the deal from falling through and therefore save me time and money.

If a scammer is determined to scam me I guess they will be able to figure it out. The main reason I want buyers to call me is so they understand the policy's.

[dusred]

Not unreasonable at all.

You list it in your auction, but they don't contact you anyway.Paypal tends to protect the buyer, so as a seller, you REALLY need to cover your a$$.

Amen brotha!

I've lost more money from PayPal siding with buyers than I have from scammers.

[JustinStrife]

Sure beats the scammers and low-ballers you have to deal with on craigslist....

[simmode1]

I'd be elated if a seller gave me the option to call and personally talk to them about an item I'm about to buy off ebay. Everytime I've bought something off ebay, I've always have some reservations or questions that could easily be resolved with a simple call. It's just plain luck that I had as few problems as I've had so far...

But... I am currently disputing an ebay purchase problem that could have easily be resolved if the seller had responded to my email or gave me the option to call..

[dusred]

I have my Skype number in all my listings which is forwarded to my cell phone. I get several calls a day from customers. Many people call just for reassurance that they aren't dealing with some Nigerian. LOL

[Veriest1]

I'd be elated if a seller gave me the option to call and personally talk to them about an item I'm about to buy off ebay. Everytime I've bought something off ebay, I've always have some reservations or questions that could easily be resolved with a simple call. It's just plain luck that I had as few problems as I've had so far...

But... I am currently disputing an ebay purchase problem that could have easily be resolved if the seller had responded to my email or gave me the option to call..

That would be a deal closer for me. I'd probably even pay a bit more for the better service.

I have my Skype number in all my listings which is forwarded to my cell phone. I get several calls a day from customers. Many people call just for reassurance that they aren't dealing with some Nigerian. LOL

See, apparently the legit people think it's great.

[numbnuts240]

i see disclaimers similar to yours all the time, and they are completely not unreasonable, especially with higher valued items.