I just sold a Gingerbread house on Ebay for $50 plus shipping to someone with 0 feedback who signed up for Ebay today. They paid instantly through paypal and it was not a check. How protected am I in this transaction and would you allow it to go through?

Everyone started out at 0 at some point.  For a promo set, I wouldn't worry about it.  A $1000 set on the other hand, I might be a little concerned.  

Yeah I realize that, just makes me nervous because Ebay will side with them if they say they didn't receive it usually.

 

7 minutes ago, rastascoob said:

Yeah I realize that, just makes me nervous because Ebay will side with them if they say they didn't receive it usually.

 

It can happen with someone with 100 feedback.  I really don't think someone will try to scam a $50 set.  I'm sure it has happened, but your chances are pretty good that the deal will go through OK IMO.

10 minutes ago, rastascoob said:

Yeah I realize that, just makes me nervous because Ebay will side with them if they say they didn't receive it usually.

 

Bad things can always happen, but thankfully they rarely ever do. Just make certain to pack it safely, and get tracking (print the label through ebay), etc.

what he said

5 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

It can happen with someone with 100 feedback.  I really don't think someone will try to scam a $50 set.  I'm sure it has happened, but your chances are pretty good that the deal will go through OK IMO.

Agreed. There really isn't anything that you can do about it. You can't cancel the order just because the buyer is at (0). If you are really worried about it, take lots of pictures. Put it on the scale, and take pictures. Load yourself up with some proof incase things go bad. Add a $4 signature confirmation as well (which hurts on a $50 set). FWIW, the last couple of (0) feedback items I sold worked out just fine.

Seeing as how its a promotional item, and the buyer may not want to spend $100 to get it; their first thought would likely to be to check ebay. Maybe they are someone who has never used ebay before, but for this item they created an account just to get this item alone due to its promotional status and such.

This seems like the likely scenario to me. If really skeptical though you can pay for signature capture/insure it (if available from your shipper).

I think some of these accounts are checkout as guest.  The usernames are consistently cryptic in a throwaway manner.  I haven't had trouble with these types of transactions.  If its a human readable username, it's probably a person that signed up for an actual eBay account.  And in any case, like everyone stated above, you have start somewhere.  Be glad its not a $1,000 set.  That would make me nervous.  Maybe they heard about the Gingerbread set, saw the price on Amazon, and decided to check out eBay for a discount. Very likely IMO.

The only 100% guaranteed way to avoid 0 feedback buyers on eBay is to never list anything on eBay