[sejarzo]

Though this pertains to a situation involving a laptop, it might as well be for a high-end amp or source:

Selling Your Laptop on eBay - Page1 -Â* MSN Tech & Gadgets - How To

Sure seems as if the deck is becoming more and more stacked against sellers on eBay, but I think the lesson is clear to all online sellers--if it smells the tiniest bit fishy, don't complete the deal.

 

[troymadison]

I don't mind accepting Western Union transactions to Nigeria...

 

[ericj]

I don't really see that the deck is stacked against sellers.

Guy's first buyer bailed on him. Sucks. Ebay deleted the listing so he could get all his listing fees back. Inconvenient, sure, but not that bad.

The later auction though? All he had to say was "No, I don't want to ship to Bali.".

Or simply refused to ship immediately and instead wait to be sure the money is good.

I've done both buying and selling on ebay. I've shipped items to indonesia, hong kong, and germany without issues. I've bought items from singapore, hong kong, japan, latvia, ukraine, russia, netherlands, austria, germany, and $diety knows where else. The biggest problem i ever had was an east-german seller who was terrified by the requirement to communicate with a non-native german speaker, but i eventually got the item anyway.

I've been using ebay for more than 10 years, and my worst experiences haven't been all that bad.

As the buyer, my entire responsibility is to fork over the money and provide you with a valid shipping address. I usually do this within minutes of the end of the auction. That's it. I'd like to hear arguments that I'm responsible for more than that.

I'm frequently amazed at how a seller can find a way to be dissatisfied with that, but it happens. Every negative feedback i have - all, what, 8 of 'em - is retaliatory negative feedback from a seller who screwed me in one way or another.

 

[jsmithepa]

I only sell to the lower-48 period. Dealing with who-knows what third country it not worth it to me.

Laptops are tricker in that (1)Usually high-price ticket item (2)Any little thing can lead to buyer dissatisfaction. Just spell out EVERYTHING including no return and pay a little shipping insurance for peace of mind.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I had a very similar experience when I listed my PS2 on Amazon.com. I received an email from amazon.com stating I had sold the PS2 with an international shipping address.

I then received an email from the buyer stating that he was buying this as a gift for his nephew and he needed it before his birthday and requested me to ship it asap. The english was terrible. I replied saying no problem, just let the final confirmation from amazon.com arrive and I will send it over.

I then got another email from amazon.com stating that the purchase was completed and I should ship the item immediately after which the funds would be deposited. This didnt make much sense to me, but at that time, since this was the first big product I was selling on amazon.com (the previous ones being cd's and books for a few bucks) I thought this was procedure and the payment will be transferred only after I ship the item and confirm it.

I received another email from the buyer stating that he had made the payment and I should ship the item. I was so glad I sold it for the price I had in mind, that I went home from work in the afternoon and cleaned it all up and packaged it like it were new and went to the post office. It cost me 40$ to ship and I came back to work feeling accomplished.

Something didnt feel right though so I just logged in on Amazon.com to see if I could see the funds on my account and if I needed to enter a shipping confirmation anywhere. Surprise Surprise, there was no such thing, the account balance showed zero, and my PS2 was still listed.

So I called amazon.com (oh and btw, calling amazon.com is not easy, first of all you have to google and find their customer support number and then there is no option to talk to someone unless u keep hitting the wrong number or wait for 20 minutes till the recorded message is complete)

I finally got through to someone and he checked my identity and then proceeded to tell me that there had been no activity related to my listing and it was still listed as available. I told him I got an email from amazon.com telling me that the sale was confirmed and he asked me the email address i received it from. I told him so-so@amazon.com and then he said thats not us, we don't send email from such an ID, and he told me that this was fraud.

I rushed to the post office only to find out that my package had already been put in a truck and sent away to Sacramento. I then called USPS support and told them the whole story and requested that they stop the package from leaving sacramento. They took down my number and called me the next day saying they found it and it has been brought back to my nearby P.O. I went and collected it, but didnt get a refund on postage since they had already sent it out and I cancelled it.

I then got another email from the buyer asking me if I had shipped it, to which I didnt bother replying, I simply forwarded all the emails from him and the bogus amazon.com emails to amazon.com fraud report agency. I didnt receive any further emails and I closed my listing. I still have my PS2 as a reminder of this horrible experience.

 

[regal]

When money is trasnferred to your paypal, how do you know when it is legit?

 

[jsmithepa]

Sheezee man... ship b4r u see money and doesn't speak english? Comeon, you gotta be smarter than that.

Any SPECIAL requests/rush to me is a red flag. I rather sell my things a little less money than deal with all the hassles. If u have the time and don't mind the "games" I guess go4it.

 

[evilking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Guy's first buyer bailed on him. Sucks. Ebay deleted the listing so he could get all his listing fees back. Inconvenient, sure, but not that bad.

Sometimes timing is everything. The bidders who lost usually have other items they were looking at and so are no longer interested. The message bidders get when they try to view a removed auction usually scares them off (it’s suggests something wrong on the sellers side).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Or simply refused to ship immediately and instead wait to be sure the money is good.

Heh! Delayed shipment is usually a sure-fire way of getting a negative and will only protect you some of the time (ever had a payment reversed a whole month after receiving it? Fraudulent credit card use.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif As the buyer, my entire responsibility is to fork over the money and provide you with a valid shipping address. I usually do this within minutes of the end of the auction. That's it. I'd like to hear arguments that I'm responsible for more than that.

Sometimes buyers like you are in the minority. I have four auctions that finished over a week ago and I’m just waiting for the UID timer to finish so I can get my fees back, no communication from two buyers and the other two were scammers (please ship to the moon, lets use super-escrow.com, etc).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't really see that the deck is stacked against sellers. I've been using ebay for more than 10 years, and my worst experiences haven't been all that bad.

That’s one hell of a lucky streak!

EK


EDIT: The fact is, under most conditions eBay isn't a serious business platform. That's why many sellers are using eBay almost exclusively as a promotional tool to advertise their webstore, where they have full control and aren't subject to eBay's monthly shakeups.

 

[jsmithepa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal /img/forum/go_quote.gif When money is trasnferred to your paypal, how do you know when it is legit?

When your paypal account is new (unconfirmed address?) u have to hit the ACCEPT button to make the transfer official.

But once that's done, buyer can not undo.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

So, once the buyer sends the money on Paypal, then the seller is safe if the money shows up in his account?

 

[evilking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrecked_porsche /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, once the buyer sends the money on Paypal, then the seller is safe if the money shows up in his account?

Theoretically, yes, unless the buyer is running a slightly different scam. There are three ways that money could disappear from your account. 1) Paypal dispute, where the buyer says they never recieved the goods or it was damaged/incorrect. 2) Credit card chargeback, where the buyer calls their bank and says you have defrauded them in some way. 3) Fraudulent credit card use, where a stolen credit card was used to pay you and the transaction was reversed.

So your never really safe, even when it seems like the money is yours.



EK

 

[wrecked_porsche]

What if, say you sold something, got the money in your paypal account, shipped out the item to the buyer and then used the money he paid you to buy something. Then later the buyer gets the thing you shipped to him then he decides to scam you in one of the three ways you listed? Lets say you used up all the money to buy something already. Then what happens?

I'd never leave any money in my paypal account, I'm too paranoid.

 

[evilking]

Your Paypal account would go into negative balance and any future monies recieved would go towards clearing the debt.

It sounds rare and implausible, until it happens, then it's a major pain in the A.



EK

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Whoa! I didn't even know that was possible!

 

[OverlordXenu]

That's why you get signature confirmation.

Kind of reverse in my case, bought a flash from Hawaii, the dude takes 3 days to ship, and sends me a lesser, damaged flash. He's been pretty unhelpful. I opened a Paypal case or whatever, and am giving him one more day to make it right before I raise it to a dispute. (I've already given him like 2/3 days to fix this.)