thinking of bidding for an item on ebay but the seller has no feedback although he has told me he has already sold one of these items before, do you think i should give it a wide birth or bid.
all sounds a bit dodgy to me
advice please

If you go for it, lowest risk is to pick it up in person: go with cash. If its bent/scam/misadvertised, these are all above-board reasons for walking away with yer dosh still in yer pocket.

Yep, he'll probably neg you, but if Ebay dont want to intervene, just neg him back!

Ed.

[Edited on 6/11/06 by ed_crouch]

Everyones gotta start somewhere mate. If he sounds genuine go for it.

Ask if you can pick it up in person. Even if you have no intention to. If you live a long way away, say you are around the area visting a relative to make it sound believable.

If they are happy for you to pick it up in person and pay cash then go for it and if you win, say you arnt going to be around his way anymore and get them them to post it.

If he isnt happy for you to pick up in person, he might be genuine, but is it worth the risk?

You can post a link and let people have a look and see if they think its genuine, some times you can tell if its dodgy by looking at the auction. Unless you want to keep the auction to yourself if its a bargain.

I have risked it before, but I have always made sure the risk was as low as possible before paying.

He may have just sold it and is waiting for feedback - I don't leave feedback for anyone until I've recieved the goods and they're in good order.

You can check his previously sold items.

Go to other items for sale from seller, then click completed items on the left.

I use paypal.
For items under £500 you will get your money back if goods do not arrive.
This has happened twice to me and paypal have refunded my money.
You just have to go through a 10 day wait from when you file the claim (if the seller does not reply) or 30 days if they do.
Paypal normally favours the buyer in most cases

As always with eBay, don't bid more than you'd be happy to lose.

quote:

---

Originally posted by nitram38
I use paypal.
For items under £500 you will get your money back if goods do not arrive.
This has happened twice to me and paypal have refunded my money.
You just have to go through a 10 day wait from when you file the claim (if the seller does not reply) or 30 days if they do.
Paypal normally favours the buyer in most cases

---

If you're collecting an expensive item from an individual rather than a shop or business premise, arrange to meet somewhere near a cash point so you can get the cash out when you've seen the goods.

Don't do the following:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/29/ebay_scam_robbery/

I thimk anyone of us who has sold on flea-bay has had some of this http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/26/ebay_email_trauma/