DELETE

[Rylo]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Call Ebay (Speak with someone on the phone) and tell them your concerns. Have them check the two IDs. Tell them you feel as though you're being set up; they will investigate. When this guy dings your feedback probably twice you're in a much better position to have it removed. Sell to your third place guy with the peace of mind in knowing at least your feedback is protected. That is, if they find something dubious going on with your high bidder(s)

Funny. I did that. It's a very modest looking apartment complex.

 

[Mr. Nagata]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Can you actually call an ebay representative on the phone?

Anyway, I finally asked the guy nicely to level with me and he came clean that the top two bidding accounts are indeed his. So that's a fact, no surprise there. I asked him why did he create two accounts and why did he unnecessarily jack up his bid so high? His response was that he created the second account because his first account had negative feedback and he wanted to use the account with all positive feedback to win the auction. As if that was somehow better. His first account had 1 negative out of 371 positive, so that makes very little sense to me. The winning account has 2 positive. I wouldn't have cared if the winner had 1 negative. What he ended up doing was so incredibly more suspicious than having 1 negative feedback that I find this explanation bizarre. On to question 2, why did he jack the bid up so high? His response was that he's followed my work and genuinely believed it was worth that much. That is pretty crazy, but what's truly crazy is that even if he did genuinely believe it was worth that much, why would he bid twice to ensure he was paying the maximum amount? I've asked him for clarification on that. I've also asked him how he can afford to pay so much for a collectible doll.

I've notified ebay that the top two accounts are the same person. However, I don't think they will do anything. Ebay allows you to have more than 1 account, so he hasn't broken any rules.

Through it all, he maintains that he has called his bank and will we able to pay on March 29th. Of course, that's never really been the issue for me. The issue is whether or not this is an attempt at a chargeback scam. The guy's obviously dishonest and I don't want to deal with him. But you have to admit, that double bid thing is totally unnecessary for a chargeback scam and just plain weird.

FOR THE EBAY EXPERTS: Can I do a second chance offer for bidder #3, then cancel the transaction with bidder #1 by choosing the option "I sold the item to someone else"? What is the correct order of operations here? I just don't want to cancel the entire auction and lose all my bidders.

 

[Rylo]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Yes. Go to Ebay customer service and follow the links to 'trust and saefty." You can request a one time code and then call the number. You should tell them all of this. I mean, you're gonna be charged for that transaction! Ebay will indeed take issue with someone surreptitiously bidding on your item. They'll agree it's shady...I've taken numerous issues to Ebay's "Trust and safety" via the phone and never had a problem with them failing to remedy a situation. Never tolerate someone ****ing with your auctions, man!

NOTE: You may have to follow the links through the resolution center and then go to report a problem with a bidder. There are some hoops to jump through to get to that # but it's in there. Check your inbox.

Can you actually call an ebay representative on the phone?

Anyway, I finally asked the guy nicely to level with me and he came clean that the top two bidding accounts are indeed his. So that's a fact, no surprise there. I asked him why did he create two accounts and why did he unnecessarily jack up his bid so high? His response was that he created the second account because his first account had negative feedback and he wanted to use the account with all positive feedback to win the auction. As if that was somehow better. His first account had 1 negative out of 371 positive, so that makes very little sense to me. The winning account has 2 positive. I wouldn't have cared if the winner had 1 negative. What he ended up doing was so incredibly more suspicious than having 1 negative feedback that I find this explanation bizarre. On to question 2, why did he jack the bid up so high? His response was that he's followed my work and genuinely believed it was worth that much. That is pretty crazy, but what's truly crazy is that even if he did genuinely believe it was worth that much, why would he bid twice to ensure he was paying the maximum amount? I've asked him for clarification on that. I've also asked him how he can afford to pay so much for a collectible doll.

I've notified ebay that the top two accounts are the same person. However, I don't think they will do anything. Ebay allows you to have more than 1 account, so he hasn't broken any rules.

Through it all, he maintains that he has called his bank and will we able to pay on March 29th. Of course, that's never really been the issue for me. The issue is whether or not this is an attempt at a chargeback scam. The guy's obviously dishonest and I don't want to deal with him. But you have to admit, that double bid thing is totally unnecessary for a chargeback scam and just plain weird.

FOR THE EBAY EXPERTS: Can I do a second chance offer for bidder #3, then cancel the transaction with bidder #1 by choosing the option "I sold the item to someone else"? What is the correct order of operations here? I just don't want to cancel the entire auction and lose all my bidders.

 

[theopella]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

I may be new here, but looking at it from a noob's perspective. I would go to lengths at cancelling the $17k bid with Ebay so it's legit and you don't get charged for it. Sell to the guy in Japan for $6k. Negotiate with the Crazy French guy if he really really wants one of your dolls about commissioning your work. Work out a deal with money upfront for your parts and labor and you get paid and he gets a doll a few months later. If he was willing to pay $17k for one, maybe he gives you $12k upfront to build one for him.

If the going price for one of these is $5-6k and that is a good price for one that you have sold before. I don't see why this guy would be willing to spend 3x that amount, but if he is? Make him commission one from you with money up front or at least paying for costs as you go? If then he stiffs you at the end for final payment... you have another doll, materials paid for and you can sell that one for another $6,000.

I'd personally walk away quickly from the crazy Frenchman...

 

[Apollo]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Well there you have it.

I would have NOTHING to do with that con man from France

 

[MattMunson]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Guys. Seriously. This is a no brainer.

Though the discussion has been interesting and provided some good info on how to avoid fraud, PLEASE DON'T SEND THAT GUY THE DOLL.

This is SO CLEARLY a scam that it's comical. SO clear. PAINFULLY clear. You are being blinded by dollar signs. WE DO NOT LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE SOMEONE PAYS TWO OR THREE TIMES WHAT AN ITEM IS WORTH WHEN THEY CAN GET IT FOR HALF OR A THIRD AS MUCH.


USE YOUR BRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[laellee]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

...Now if it was an advacnded action suit, that'd be another story...

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Was the one negative very recent?

Maybe he built up a high positive feedback, made a few high dollar transactions at the same time, and is looking to cut-and-run everyone at the same time.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

As a friend I think you should cancel the sale to bidder #1&2 and second chance bidder #3.

If you don't I'm afraid you're going to have no cash and no doll by the time all the dust settles.

 

[Birdie]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

My guess would be the buyer is a kid who is screwing you around for kicks. Probably saw the doll, knew he couldn't afford it, and decided to F up your sale. When the 'pay day' comes around, he'll either make another delaying excuse, or you'll never hear from him again.

I doubt it's a chargeback scam, no-one has that kind of money to throw at something that isn't 100% sure to pay off. Like everyone else, I'd say cut the flake out of the loop right now and go with the Japanese guy through second chance. If you go outside Ebay you could get hit with with the high offer fees.

 

[Irken Tech]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

I am finding this thread very interesting.

Looks Too Good To be True - Types of Fraud

 

[Jintosh]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

I sell on eBay. Small stuff mostly. Sometimes I put my "The Lost Room" keys there. This is certainly a good thread to read in case I ever sell something major. Signature confirmation is a good idea. Then at least he can't claim he didn't get it.

 

[Andymac84]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Wow, that's a lot of money for a haunted doll
I hope your work will be honored and rated due to the biddings. I am with the guys above..give the 2nd, 3rd, 4th bidder a chance to pay instantly. Everything else is a mess, unfortunately. I'm looking forward to hear how that ends.
If anything went wrong, u can still cast the heads and make a run over here

 

[OzDean]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Guys. Seriously. This is a no brainer.

Though the discussion has been interesting and provided some good info on how to avoid fraud, PLEASE DON'T SEND THAT GUY THE DOLL.

This is SO CLEARLY a scam that it's comical. SO clear. PAINFULLY clear. You are being blinded by dollar signs. WE DO NOT LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE SOMEONE PAYS TWO OR THREE TIMES WHAT AN ITEM IS WORTH WHEN THEY CAN GET IT FOR HALF OR A THIRD AS MUCH.


USE YOUR BRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

I'm with Matt - don't see how this issue is up for debate....

 

[cavx]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

$18K sounds sweet but I would walk away from this deal.

 

[zorg]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

contact ebay on the phone and get them to cancel the top 2 bids.

you need to protect yourself from the 18k final value fees.

 

[cratercritter]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

Don't worry about the final value fees for this. They are capped at $250 per sale by ebay policy. Plenty of time to get your fees refunded or credited back to your account.
Getting 18K is a long shot as discussed, but so what?..... Just wait to see if you get the cash. The buyer could be a rich eccentric or something:darnkids.
If the 18K falls through you know you are going to sell this Chucky to someone sooner rather than later anyway.
Just make sure for any high priced stuff, as you know already, take films or pics of the shipping process and cover yourself by contacting relevant parties like Paypal, ebay etc. so it is all recorded along the way. You can also phone the buyer direct...according to ebay policy, they release contact phone numbers to sellers using their information request procedure which takes two shakes of a lamb's tail to do.
Would be cool to get 18K....you never know...low probability but could come through...the curse of Chucky's evilness at work here....muahahhhahhhaahahaha:devil

 

[Mr. Nagata]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

That I did not know, but I just researched it and it's true. The cap is $250, which makes me feel a heck of a lot better than $1.8K. I just confirmed this by checking my bill from the last doll I sold, which went for $5K. The fee was capped off. I didn't know this because I sold some other stuff and the fees were all lumped together. But when I divide it out, they did charge me less than $500 (which the fee would have been if it were a flat 10%)

I plan on writing a very detailed post about the process I'm going through when this is all done. Because I guarantee no one here has been in a situation exactly like this before and it's been very educational. This thread is CHOCK FULL of misinformation about what one can and cannot do on ebay. I've heard things like "just cancel the top bids," "call ebay and get them to straighten it out," "demand that he pay in 1 day or move on," or my personal favorite "get him to pay a non-refundable deposit." For the record, I did talk to a representive on the phone today. It was not particularly helpful, but he did confirm everything I was able to research on my own about the process. There are horror stories about buyers and sellers alike being scammed, but the fact is there are a lot of rules in place to prevent either party from abusing the system. They are protecting both of us. In this particular situation, I happen to be the honest party and the other is suspect, but the shoe could easily be on the other foot. I've been buying and selling on ebay for 14 years now. I have been scammed once (in 2002) and in that situation I was the buyer.

I have several theories about what is going on here, but I'll post them after it's all over.

 

[Jedifyfe]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

updates?

 

[Emmet]

Re: My Chucky Doll sold for $18K, advice needed!

This thread is CHOCK FULL of misinformation about what one can and cannot do on ebay. I've heard things like "just cancel the top bids," "call ebay and get them to straighten it out," "demand that he pay in 1 day or move on," or my personal favorite "get him to pay a non-refundable deposit." For the record, I did talk to a representive on the phone today. It was not particularly helpful, but he did confirm everything I was able to research on my own about the process.

Even though I don't feel concerned by your latest post, I think what you said is a strange way of saying "thank you" to all these people trying to help you out.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your transaction.