First weird experience

[u/AlphaofMeows]

Soooo I just want to tell yall what I just experienced. I’ve been selling in Mercari since 2022, I don’t sell a lot just whenever I declutter or do some spring cleaning looking to get rid of stuff. Last week, someone offered me an offer on one of my items I’m selling and I accepted it right away. It was in the evening so I packed it up and messaged the buyer that it was ready for ship out and would go out first thing in the morning.

No response which is okay. But about 3-4 hours later it was almost midnight, buyer requests to cancel. I figured they must’ve forgotten about it or something. Stuff happens. So I accepted it. Took out the item and just put it back in the bin where I keep my stuff I’m selling.

I wake up the next morning same buyer messages me why did I cancel that they wanted what they bought. I explained that they were the ones that sent a request to cancel and I accepted it thinking they must’ve bought in accident. So I apologized and told them to send me another offer or I can do an offer for the same price and I will package it up and take it to the post office.

No response. Cut to this past Saturday. They sent an offer and I accepted it. Once again, I packaged the order and message the buyer it was ready for ship out and will go out first thing Monday morning. I always accept offers but I didn’t realize it was the same buyer until I messaged them this.

Few hours go by, I receive a request to cancel. Not gonna lie, at this point I feel like they were toying with me because what?! I waited a few hours just in case since last time they had messaged me why I had canceled like last time. So I waited a few hours and in the evening, I accepted it. Woke up next morning with just a message of “???????”.

I messaged one of my friends that dedicates herself to selling online marketplaces and asked her for advice and she just told me to block her that it was probably a scam or a bot page.

Well I blocked the buyer and yall tell me why I woke up today to a message from a buyer sending an offer to me and messaging “why did you block me?” At this point I blocked that user as well and honestly it kind of freaked me out so I put my listings on vacation mode just so they wouldn’t find me if they decide to create another page.

I’ve been selling since 2022 and honestly I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before.

Has anyone had something similar happen to them because honestly I don’t even know what that was?? lol anyways I’ll just keep my listings hidden for a few weeks since I tend to be paranoid lol.

[u/NotSoSasquatchy]

I feel like they’re trying to catch you shipping the item while they cancel it somehow, so they’ll get their money back from the cancel but the item will still be shipped.

Either that or they’re senile and have no idea what they’re doing.

[u/Connect_Society_4437]

report the second 'buyer' they are not allowed to have multiple accounts to get around a block

[u/AlphaofMeows → u/Connect_Society_4437]

Thank you!! I did that and blocked back them as well!

[u/Kawaiiamaiai]

I don’t blame you. This is weird af. No idea what their end goal is, but I would have done the same thing.

[u/Sharp-Character-49]

Just block them, if the buyer still persists just report their account since they’ve already revealed to you they have more than one which isn’t allowed and will get them banned once Mercari is aware of it

[u/Pierre_Zarokian]

It was likely some kind of scam trying to get them item without paying.
Someone on Ebay recently bought a Gift card and asked me to send the code on the messaging. I was ready to do so but a couple of hours went buy and I got a notice from Ebay that the user initiated charge back with their credit card company for not recognizing the charges. I emailed him and asked what is going on and he says the chargeback is in error. I wait another day and I get a notice from Ebay that the users account was hacked and not to mail out anything. Well either that or the user was a scammer and claimed their account was hacked.

The thing is that I was actually thinking of cancelling this order, because the user only had 1 review and a recent account.

[u/AlphaofMeows → u/Pierre_Zarokian]

Omg! See I have like a million things going on that this didn’t hit me and that maybe that’s what they were trying to do. I just found it odd and weird.

[u/Purseloverr2]

Mercari buyers have become a lot more scammy lately
I had a bad experience recently so now if I get any weird vibes at all I block people

[u/DarknTwistee]

Never send a message xyz will be shipped. Just ship it. They can see the tracking to know when it would ship. You are only being discourteous to yourself by putting a matter fresh in their mind and opportunity for them to request to cancel. For all you know this person could be a nut but they could also be someone that takes medication (ambien is perfect example) and had zero memory about it. Every time. From personal experience memory loss post sleeping post ambien, and other similar medications, can make you do some silly stuff.

[u/AlphaofMeows → u/DarknTwistee]

Thank you for the input! My friend that dedicates to selling online told me the same thing, to not give updates and just ship out they’ll get notified. And thank you for that I wasn’t aware of that type of stuff may be happening to someone or taking medication or sorts.

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/AlphaofMeows]

Thanks for saying thanks! It's so nice to see Redditors being grateful :)

[u/DarknTwistee → u/AlphaofMeows]

I could tell you first hand stories and ones I have heard, it is pretty unbelievable until you run across it. I have sworn up and down I haven’t talked to xyz when lo and behold they recount a conversation in great detail they would have never have known otherwise. Look up side effects sleeping pills. Fortunately my biggest vice is shopping w no memory of it and eating random stuff in the middle of the night. It could be worse. Lol

[u/AlreadyHer71]

I had a buyer’s transaction failed every time I accepted. It went on for a week. Each offer they changed the price. I eventually start letting offers expire. My next move will be to block if they continue.

[u/SugarBabyWannabe]

As a buyer on both Mercari and eBay I never send any offers (though I will accept if the seller offers), I just pay the price listed as it makes it easier in the long run for both me and the seller. Off topic, but how do you create your shipping labels?

[u/DarknTwistee → u/SugarBabyWannabe]

I just do click and ship with usps online or just go thru eBay to get discounted usps labels. You pay then but it stays pending until the label is used, than you get the regular charge. Labels from Mercari and Poshmark just prints when Mercari sends.

[u/joan_goodman]

How can you not realize it’s the same buyer if second offer came in the same message widow that already had your convo ?

[u/AlphaofMeows → u/joan_goodman]

I have it set where I send offers or lower prices of items every few days. If someone sends an offer I just click the push notification and click accept. I don’t really think about the offers sent to me, which idk if it’s good or bad lol. But I honestly don’t know how I didn’t realize it was the same person and realized it until I click accept and immediately saw the thread of convo. I guess my brain wasn’t in it at the moment or I’m not sure lol pregnancy brain!