Ebay woes . . .

Ebay selling is easy. You don't ship until the money clears your account however they send it. I'll sell to anyone. But I DO NOT Ship until I have the CASH in hand. If they want to use PayPal, that is fine, I still do not ship until I have transferred it to my bank AND it clears my bank.

I'm definitely interested. I actually sold a few things even before my current I.D., but then there was a big gap and I couldn't remember the account. I sold several Hagen-Renaker china horses that I had picked up at an estate sale to help buy myself a new flute - about 10 years ago. As I said, I haven't sold much, but never had a problem before - everyone I bought from and sold to was a "real" person. I just wonder if this is getting to be more of a problem now.

Alisande said:

I wouldn't call it a hijack.......I'm sure the OP is interested in all this.

I didn't mean to sound like doom and gloom. I've bought and sold a lot of stuff on eBay (my feedback rating is 630), and my negative experiences have been so few that I honestly can't recall them right now. I know I never lost out on a purchase or a payment.

I used to accept personal checks, and I even shipped items (usually books at that time) before the checks cleared. But they were all good. Checks are not accepted as payment anymore, and I think the Paypal rule further protects both parties in the transaction.

--
Susan
1 old farmhouse, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 3 computers

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How long does that take? I didn't keep track last time. Actually, I think I bought some camera stuff with the money I made from selling the used apparel, so I don't think I transferred the money . . .

Paul W Moore said:

Ebay selling is easy. You don't ship until the money clears your account however they send it. I'll sell to anyone. But I DO NOT Ship until I have the CASH in hand. If they want to use PayPal, that is fine, I still do not ship until I have transferred it to my bank AND it clears my bank.

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John Fleming said:

Fail Safe out for eBay -

For this type of situition, one way around it is to have a friend bid on the > camera.
We he wins, you can mutually cancel the dea in eBay with no cost to anyone.
This is not being dishonest, just a way to get out of a bad situation...

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Sorry but it is dishonest - it's known as 'shill bidding'. All Ebay bids are to be made in good faith to actually purchase the item. You can cancel the auction before it ends if you think you aren't going to get enough for the item but believe me I have sold numerous things and the price did not get anywhere near where it should have. Sometimes in the last few minutes you get your real bidders and a good price after all.

John Fleming said:

I have a friend who's had to do this a couple of time to prevent a loss to him for > items he was selling.

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Life ain't fair, there's no guarantees, and I have near 600 100% positive feedbacks. I've both bought and sold items that went far cheaper than anyone thought they should have, but in all cases, the bids were made and accepted in good faith and the sale was completed - even if at a loss.

For the original poster, you can reject any bid if the buyer does not meet your standards or ship-to locations, if they want to pull some sort of 'creative' payment deal instead of exactly what you specify, or if you get communications from them that you don't like. I was recently selling an expensive item, a Valentine One radar locator, and one buyer kept insisting that I should give her the serial number so she could verify my claim that it was the latest version and didn't need an upgrade. Anyone who gives out serial numbers for an item like that would have to have rocks in their head - someone could then take the number and go to Ebay and say 'I had this unit stolen and XX seller has it listed.' So when I wouldn't give her the s/n she got snotty and said 'maybe I should go to Ebay and tell them you are selling stolen merchandise'. I responded that I had the original bill of sale in my name, that I was not about to give out the serial number except to the winner of the auction, and that I had blocked her from bidding on any auction of mine, ever. You can do that, and I didn't want to deal with her anymore.

A seller can block bids from countries they don't ship to; I put in my auctions that I reserve the right to reject any bid at any time for any reason including but not limited to low feedback numbers or excessive negative FB's.

redfoxdogs said:

How long does that take? I didn't keep track last time. Actually, I think I bought some camera stuff with the money I made from selling the used apparel, so I don't think I transferred the money . . .

Paul W Moore said:

Ebay selling is easy. You don't ship until the money clears your account however they send it. I'll sell to anyone. But I DO NOT Ship until I have the CASH in hand. If they want to use PayPal, that is fine, I still do not ship until I have transferred it to my bank AND it clears my bank.

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I've never had a buyer go to PayPal to get their money back out of my account after they had sent a payment, but I understand that there are some people who do that and PayPal may actually return their money. Your approach seems like being overcautious, but I have heard of cases where what you are doing would have been the wise way to go.

...by never dealing through Ebay. I buy, sell and trade at a local shop, KEH.com, B&H, and Adorama. They are all reliable and stand behind their products. Dealing with unknown parties through Ebay just scares me silly.
--
Jerry

I've sold lots & lots of (my own) camera & photo equipment on Ebay over the years. The only problem I've had is when a buyer did not come through with the payment. That caused a big delay until all the procedures were followed & I could relist. But it was worth it because ultimately everything did sell & I never got cheated on.

You have to be patient & you have to make sure that all payments have cleared before you ship the item. You also must make sure that all your conditions are clearly stated in your auction & are met (e.g. no overseas sales, no 0 feedback, etc).

I've sold to buyers all over the globe. Most people are trustworthy, but it's up to you to be clear & firm. Ebay & Paypal will back you up if you follow the (common sense) rules.

Best of luck.

--
I like making pictures.

Thanks. I didn't know that!

Clancyboy said:

You can go to your MY EBAY summary page and click on seller preferences. There you can enter what countries you will sell/ship to. Then you can choose to "BLOCK BIDDERS IN COUNTRIES THAT I DO NOT SHIP TO". That helps to eliminate most of the scam artists like the one you just finished (not) dealing with. Hope this helps.
Clancyboy

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That sounds like a good idea too.

Midwest said:

A seller can block bids from countries they don't ship to; I put in my auctions that I reserve the right to reject any bid at any time for any reason including but not limited to low feedback numbers or excessive negative FB's.

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Agree with Midwest, shill bidding is a big no no and if eBay finds out you lose your account as well as the friend. Plus you never know you may outbid a legit good bid and lose a sale. I always bid late in the auction, like less than a few seconds to go and I am not alone.

If you do not set a reserve you cannot really get upset if it doesn't sell for what you think it should.

Personally I have had well over 1000 successful eBay transactions. I had one Korean customer who claimed money had been sent for a Contax camera and lenses, but after a reasonable time I canceled it for non payment and re-listed and promptly sold for even more money to a buyer in the US who paid instantly and paid overnight shipping.

One other thing, state clearly your return policy, how many days inspection if any and who pays for return postage.
--
Oll an gwella,
Jim



[LX1]

[FZ30] * IS/L B-300 * IS/L B-Macro * Minolta No. 0, No. 1 & No. 2 * Sunpak 383 * Benbo Trekker

[L1] * Olympus 25mm 2.8 * Hexanon 40mm 1.8 * Vivitar Series 1 135mm 2.3 * Tokina 500mm 8.0 *

I say, don't start your auction any lower than the least amount you're willing to sell it for. I recently sold a couple of used cell phones for relatives on ebay. Saw that they had been selling in the neighborhood of $100, so that's where I started them (also used Buy It Now). Both were sold within a few hours.

From a lot of the answers here it still seems too risky, especially if the item is expensive (define expensive?). People who regularly deal on eBay have obviously added to their auctioning prowess by many transactions. I may only want to sell something very rarely and still find the hassle too much.

PS

I did bid successfully for a graphics card once. When it turned up a few days later it was not what I bid for and the seller had disappeared. It was not expensive, about £20, but the way I was conned by the seller into the deal put me off for life.

I use only Craigslist for the numerous reasons listed here. I've used fredmiranda with success before, and I think dgrin.com still has a buy/sell forum. The ebay scam stories outweigh stories with a happy ending, it seems like.

GeraldW said:

...by never dealing through Ebay. I buy, sell and trade at a local shop, KEH.com, B&H, and Adorama. They are all reliable and stand behind their products. Dealing with unknown parties through Ebay just scares me silly.
--
Jerry

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Did you ever sell through Ebay? The reason I ask is I'd like a comparison from you of selling through Ebay as opposed to your current preference of selling through the stores you mentioned. I've bought many items on Ebay, only had 2 problems but now have a bunch of camera stuff to sell. If selling this stuff the way you sell your stuff is indeed more foolproof, why not? I buy mostly from Adorama, BTW.

and related accessories without problem. I clearly state that I use Paypal only, that the payment must be made within a certain time from the close, that the bidders must have been eBay members for a certain amount of time with a # of positive ratings, and that I only ship to the US or Canada. I have made exceptions to the shipping in the past. Within a day or two of being paid, I ship the item via UPS and email the tracking number to the buyer. I have been doing this for ten years without any trouble and I have 100% positive ratings.

I'd like to add that we sold a popup camper on Craigslist and bought a drumset. Those were the only two times we used that site and we had no problems. In both cases, the other person was local and the actual sale was face to face.

Corkcampbell said:

I have been doing this for ten years without any trouble and I have 100% positive ratings.

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Me too, although not quite for that length of time. Has ebay been around that long? I've been using it since (I think) 2003 or so.

I think a little forethought goes a long way; let someone else deal with the zero feedback buyers - the decent ones will soon become positive and the others will never become your problem. As you rightly said, lay down ground rules and never, ever deviate from them. Don't accept offers of payment outside of the ebay system (or requests to make them if you're a buyer), never ship to countries outside your comfort zone, use only paypal.

Cutting corners to "save" a little cash usually results in the opposite.

--
John Bean [BST ('British Stupid Time' - GMT+1)]

I even sold this to a chap in another country on eBay.





Turned out nice.



--
Oll an gwella,
Jim



[LX1]

[FZ30] * IS/L B-300 * IS/L B-Macro * Minolta No. 0, No. 1 & No. 2 * Sunpak 383 * Benbo Trekker

[L1] * Olympus 25mm 2.8 * Hexanon 40mm 1.8 * Vivitar Series 1 135mm 2.3 * Tokina 500mm 8.0 *

I love Craigslist because it's free and because it gives me a venue to sell items I don't want to (or can't) ship. I've done this on eBay, too (sold a piano on eBay once), but Craigslist is a nice option.

The caveat is that Craigslist brings scammers out of the woodwork in droves. I place an ad on Craigslist and stand back, waiting for the onslaught of emails. They're easy to spot........they're almost uniformly poorly written, and they refer to my "item," rarely naming the item because they're all form notes, often computer generated. They want my email address. So even though I might have said, "This pile driver is brand new and is in perfect working condition," their email will say, "Write back to me and tell me the condition of your item." Duh......

I almost always hand over the item to the buyer in a public place, not my house.

--
Susan
1 old farmhouse, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 3 computers

--
Susan
1 old farmhouse, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 3 computers