eBay question

[belgian]

Am I doing something horribly wrong? I've listed an old laptop on eBay 3 times now and everytime it gets sniped at the end by a hacked account and I get fake fucking emails from "paypal" directing me that I've been paid in full and I need to immediately ship my shit to bumfuck nowhere Nigeria.

How the fuck do I avoid this?! Its infuriating, especially since I get real bids as well. And don't tell me to second chance offer, I try but eBay closes the whole listing once they get wind of the hacked account and I can't even second chance it to someone.

Any help would be fantastic.

[khakis]

set buyer feedback requirements?

[belgian]

set buyer feedback requirements?

The last winning bid came from an account with 25 all positive feedback. And yet it was a hacked account.

That said, how would you set said requirements?

[khakis]

I would have set it more like ten, so it wouldn't have helped. Isn't there an option to require bidders to be approved by you prior to them placing a bid? Like they send you a message asking to be allowed to bid?

[belgian]

I would have set it more like ten, so it wouldn't have helped. Isn't there an option to require bidders to be approved by you prior to them placing a bid? Like they send you a message asking to be allowed to bid?

No clue, I'm a total eBay jong. I'll look into it though, thanks.

[khakis]

looks like I'm wrong
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html
sucks that's happening to you. I guess Nigerians are running short on laptops lately?

I would say that you could just put a sentence in your ad saying that if they don't send you a message you'll cancel their bid, but since they're sniping that wouldn't help?

Perhaps repost it with that blurb, and as soon as the auction ends, send a second chance offer to the last non-snipe bidder and explain the situation?

[karpiel]

People still use egay?

Last few times I tried to buy shit from ebay the seller was using a new account to bump the price up, I sat there and watched as the same person with zero feedback bid till theirs was higher, retracted the bid then placed a new one a couple dollars below my highest...

[utsnowgirl]

I would have set it more like ten, so it wouldn't have helped. Isn't there an option to require bidders to be approved by you prior to them placing a bid? Like they send you a message asking to be allowed to bid?

eBay used to offer this as an option to all sellers (Pre-Approved Bidding), but too many fraudsters used it - lured buyers into sending wire transfer payments, and never sent the item. Because of that, eBay did away with that feature.

Do you know how much you want to get for the item? List it in a fixed price format or with a Buy It Now and require Immediate Payment through PayPal. The listing won't end unless the PayPal payment is made.

[Keegan]

Try throwing it on Craigslist maybe?

[lobstahmeatwad]

What laptop is it decent? I need one. How much?

[RShea]

I too was going to say list it on here. I sold a laptop to someone on this forum before. List up the description and your asking price (since you know what it is fetching fraudulently on Ebay.

[belgian]

I would list it on here, but its not that great. Well... its an ok laptop for a 3-or-so year old laptop but the power connection at the back of the unit is pretty messed up and I didn't want to put it up here and risk a member of this community getting a DOA laptop (it works ok now, but shipping could ruin the cable and I'm not sure if it is a fixable issue). Almost the same reason for not putting it on Craigslist, but that was more because I didn't want to have to explain to a bunch of strangers what was wrong and/or deal with a ton of lowball offers. That said, if there is indeed interest in a slightly messed up laptop I will throw it up in gear swap.

Otherwise, thanks for the advice.