Ebay buyer threatens to hurt my business

[hyperdunker]

Long story short, i am selling a specific item on ebay i use multiple stealth accounts all with low feedback. I had a buyer who was interested in my items like business wise. We talked on skype seemed ok fella. Now we did not proceed to any cooperation for my own reasons as im too much involved in other stuff and now all of a sudden he threatens me to close my ebay business.

Note that he has a power seller account with more than 1k feedback and he can pretty easily find all my items that i sell because there are like 20 of them always on ebay from other people and if you write the terms on search he will find them no matter how many accounts i use so i cant hide. Can he really hurt my business?

I cannot take this leggaly because i am in europe he is in USA and i sell non original products. I need some expert advice on how to handle this. He threatens me that if i dont send him an extra item for free he will hurt my business, what should i do send the item or? What if he keeps blackmailing me?

[Play]

I cannot take this leggaly because i am in europe he is in USA and i sell non original products

You can't pursue this, not because your on a different continent, but rather your selling unoriginal goods.

I'm surprised he's acting like a bully, given you could potentially hurt his business more, and since he's a powerseller etc., he's got more to lose.

Just try to come to terms with him, that's the better way out of such disagreements.

[hyperdunker]

Originally Posted by Play

You can't pursue this, not because your on a different continent, but rather your selling unoriginal goods.

I'm surprised he's acting like a bully, given you could potentially hurt his business more, and since he's a powerseller etc., he's got more to lose.

Just try to come to terms with him, that's the better way out of such disagreements.

I was surprised too because he never showed any negativity towards me and its not about the items that are not original he know that but he just sent me this message that got me thinking and i wanted to ask bluntly and if its not possible to answer this publicly then at least in private message,

1. Can he as a powerseller really shut down my listing and all my stealth accounts with low feedback? If i create fresh accounts and i make the first listing is it possible he can **** them down?

2. How to "hurt" his biz? I know you might not answer to that but i have to try to ask

I will try to reason with him and i could even give in to his demand and send him an item for free but what if he comes back and blackmails me again? Thats what im afraid of

[Play]

Originally Posted by hyperdunker

I was surprised too because he never showed any negativity towards me and its not about the items that are not original he know that but he just sent me this message that got me thinking and i wanted to ask bluntly and if its not possible to answer this publicly then at least in private message,

1. Can he as a powerseller really shut down my listing and all my stealth accounts with low feedback? If i create fresh accounts and i make the first listing is it possible he can **** them down?

2. How to "hurt" his biz? I know you might not answer to that but i have to try to ask

I will try to reason with him and i could even give in to his demand and send him an item for free but what if he comes back and blackmails me again? Thats what im afraid of

1. He as a seller has no authority to do anything to you. But he can use underhanded tactics to make life a misery for you.

2. You can do the same to him... but it's really not worth it.

Just figure it out and come to a solution.

[hyperdunker]

Originally Posted by Play

1. He as a seller has no authority to do anything to you. But he can use underhanded tactics to make life a misery for you.

2. You can do the same to him... but it's really not worth it.

Just figure it out and come to a solution.

Yes exactly thats the issue like you say the underhanded tactics which im assuming could be like he makes fresh stealth accounts and reports my accounts along with his powerseller account? Or he bids on my items using new stealth accounts and never pays? Thats all i can think of really and i understand why it really shouldnt be spoken in public because of the character of these tactics but im trying to figure out what he actually can do to measure the threat and then to act accordingly taking the best decision

[Sunspot144]

Sounds like he thinks he can take advantage of you from your skype interaction. Threaten him back and make it a stalemate. You'd be surprised how people (and animals) back off when they conclude that the reward is not worth the effort.

[hyperdunker]

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

Sounds like he thinks he can take advantage of you from your skype interaction. Threaten him back and make it a stalemate. You'd be surprised how people (and animals) back off when they conclude that the reward is not worth the effort.

I understand your strategy trust me if i were though to jump on the gun and threaten back everyime a tough situation comes in life it would hurt me more...thats why im saying i need to weigh his threat how doable is it? Then act accordingly on that so how real these threats to be done are actually?

[Play]

Originally Posted by hyperdunker

I understand your strategy trust me if i were though to jump on the gun and threaten back everyime a tough situation comes in life it would hurt me more...thats why im saying i need to weigh his threat how doable is it? Then act accordingly on that so how real these threats to be done are actually?

If he wants to sabotage every account you open, he can. But he'll end up having to invest a lot of time, effort and money into doing it... and vice versa should you decide to go down that route.

As I said, from the sounds of it, his got more to lose. So a stern warning should suffice.

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by hyperdunker

I understand your strategy trust me if i were though to jump on the gun and threaten back everyime a tough situation comes in life it would hurt me more...thats why im saying i need to weigh his threat how doable is it? Then act accordingly on that so how real these threats to be done are actually?

Does he sell phake crap as well? I'd tell him that if your listings are reported you plan to make a call to ebay too. Pretty sure he's using the 'power sellers are untouchable' play, and regardless of status phake items are phake. He could be too busy to even bother given his sales volume. If you're worried about him making new accounts, in your account settings you can up the minimum feedback requirement of buyers before they can bid/buy your items. Something like 5+ minimum feedback would be a real pain for each new account.

[rsot]

Good on Play for walking the OP through this skype on

[hyperdunker]

thank you guys for all the advice and support

[dealagreeproceed]

stop bein a b*tch... man up... and defend your territory!!!

[greakf3eak]

Attack always is the best defence method ....

[newjerseymax]

Ignore and block on all accounts... Never ever communicate with him again

[noskillnoway]

All those powersellers pushing phake **** do that.
The questions you get from alfalfa_filuza0(7) are powersellers trying to weed your presence out before you get started.
I forget the name of the article I can't find it on google but in a major newspaper a few years ago a Columbia Professor and private investigator investigated 20 power sellers based in the USA. They found 4 similarities.
1. Most were hidden behind a VPN and their details were always ⊗⊗⊗⊗.
2. They almost always found that their number one item was fufu
3. The item had a profit margin of over 800%
4. the rest of their items they sold bore little if any profit.

[noskillnoway]

Gotta watch out for the big boy phakers

[dallis]

Why the heck did you skype with this guy in the first place? That was foolish.

If you allow him to blackmail you'll, he'll be back for seconds... and thirds... and fourths... and each time the cost will get higher.

Tell him you'll completely destroy him if he messes with you.

As online sellers we're amazingly vulnerable to bad actors. You could open 100 accounts and buy stuff from him then open SNAD's and send him back bricks, or turn him over to the VERO folks, even turn him in to his local authorities because he probably doesn't have a business license and is working from his home. Maybe his local taxing authorities would like to know he's charging/not charging taxes. The possibilities for mayhem are endless...

Warn him he's messing with the wrong dude, if he doesn't straighten up send a couple of warning shots across his bow.

Then cease any further communication.

[grampastang]

Don't take any crap. If i find out it's a seller who's messing with me. I'll tell them straight up. I have 20+ accounts and I will F$#k with you big time. It's worked for me.

[noskillnoway]

Originally Posted by dallis

Why the heck did you skype with this guy in the first place? That was foolish.

If you allow him to blackmail you'll, he'll be back for seconds... and thirds... and fourths... and each time the cost will get higher.

Tell him you'll completely destroy him if he messes with you.

As online sellers we're amazingly vulnerable to bad actors. You could open 100 accounts and buy stuff from him then open SNAD's and send him back bricks, or turn him over to the VERO folks, even turn him in to his local authorities because he probably doesn't have a business license and is working from his home. Maybe his local taxing authorities would like to know he's charging/not charging taxes. The possibilities for mayhem are endless...

Warn him he's messing with the wrong dude, if he doesn't straighten up send a couple of warning shots across his bow.

Then cease any further communication.

Exactly right! They were chit chatting about phakes on skype which was beyond stupid to begin with. Precisely why I chase the paper and Idgaf about talking to competitors on skype.

[vidim]

Don't antagonize the *******. In these cases one should generally just stop communicating.

[applebaum]

Yes just as newjerseymax stated - block this person from all of your current accounts and new accounts.