Blocking Suspicious Buyers

[theeclecticcat]

Is it possible to block a suspicious potential buyer, and if so, how does one do that?
Thank you!

[maggiethehousecat]

No because buyers don't have accounts here. They fill out the info required to check out but they have to do that every time.

[cosmicray]

If you see an order from someone you don't feel comfortable selling to, refund the payment and refuse the order. Some sellers might disagree with this policy, but after all I just went thru, you have to careful with some orders.

[viewfinders]

If you are referring to incomplete orders with nonsense buyer info, just delete them. Those are generally people testing the checkout procedure. But if you have a completed paid order and the buyer is making demands or acting like an a$$ then just cancel and refund.

However if it is just someone who may not have a good command of English or may be new to shopping on line, it might be worth your while to try to assist them or at least find out if you can help.

[theeclecticcat]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. The buyer has not purchased an item yet but are asking strange questions and questions, to which the answers are easily found in the listing. They first asked if the item was for sale, which of course it is. Pasted below are more of their questions and a reference to picking up the item. A long time ago I had a scammer on Craigslist who wanted me to arrange pick up of his item by a third party shipping company and he sent a couple of bogus money orders for way over the cost of the item and misspellings, etc. on the money orders and this feels a lot like that.

"Hello seller,
Thanks for your respond, I'm seriously interested in purchasing this
your item and am ready for immediate purchase,Do you Accept pay-pal as
method of payment? Whats your final asking price? what's the present
condition?, I will be glad to hear back from you ASAP. I have a
private pick up agent that will come down to you place for the pick up
of the item, so you don't need to bother your self about the shipping
of the item.
Best Regards."

I did take PayPal but have disabled it because their new policies of the 180 day "rental system" and other issues make it the best choice for fraudsters.

Thank you

[cosmicray]

[theeclecticcat]

"That's a scam. Don't even reply to them. Paying with PayPal combined with no tracking is going to be an instant dispute you will not win. Ignore them."

That's what I thought and I would never ship without tracking. I wanted to block them before it even became a hassle. I will not reply but I hope they don't buy anything. Sad, huh?

Thanks!

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

That used to be a common scam. Then it seemed to die out. Someone seems to have revived it. I just got one. Whenever they start out formally and say your item and not say a specific product, you can be sure they are just using a form to spam everyone.

[MoonwishesStore]

Bored people with not enough in life to truly interest them in an honest day's work. They are sad and to be pitied that they can only think of scamming people instead of doing something worthwhile.

[cosmicray]

@theeclecticcat

The only alternative is to tell them to bring cash. Lots of small bills. No other payment form accepted for direct pickups.

[elpereles]

Was an e-mail? Nothing to fear. It is just good for the "ignore" or delete button.

[centerofthewebb]

[MoonwishesStore]

I saw a listing the other day that the seller said he would take COD. Cash on Delivery when the person came and picked up the item! COD at this point has become archaic.

[tigercreekgifts]

I have received like 3 of these emails while selling on ecrater, none recently, they all seemed to stop when I sold out of the modern gently used electronics I was getting rid of a few years back. I was not reselling electronics I just had a few things of my own I wanted to get rid of like a crashed laptop that I sold for repairs, and my Nook ebook reader and Ipod were no longer needed when I realized the ipad I purchased several months later had both of those already pre-installed. Just things like that, but I had a handful of those items that I realized were just space hoggers.

But I did have a few of those scam attempts. I just wrote them back and said:

"I'm sorry but I don't make transactions with scammers. It's not very good for business And besides, if you would have actually read the description and looked at the photos on that listing you would already know what payments I accept, what color the item is, what condition it's in, and so on. Seriously, you were going to try and scam me without even looking at the item first? Not a very good scammer are you?"

LOL, I imagine they type those emails to make it sound like they are asking all those questions out of genuine interest for the product, to lower your suspiscions, with you thinking they are just another interested buyer but they are going about it all wrong. Because for one thing, a truly interested buyer would have at least clicked on the item and read at least some of the description, checked into the various payment methods you offer. A very serious buyer may occasionally ask one or two questions to clear up confusion but normally does not ask you 6 questions that have already been made obvious as day in the listing, why? Because they actually read the listing. I think people that send those emails either get your contact info from google or click on the listing just long enough to access the ASAQ form and don't read a thing.

[MoonwishesStore]

I never reply to those dingbats that work harder at trying to scam than if they worked at a real job. I do entertain myself at times with a letter open in the junk email pile. Those 'Nigerian' ones crack me up.they are so filled with tragedy and drama! Why would anyone with $14.8 million think I'm the person who can rescue her money for her or why would she want to leave it to me when she dies of her ovarian cancer. I bet they could teach university level classes on creative writing, the humorous short story, etc. just using those letters alone.

Of course if anyone actually wanted to leave me that much money I could handle it and most would go to good causes, once I made sure I could afford a full time housekeeper and cook for the rest of my life. This RA is really effecting my house even with a lady coming in every 2 weeks.