Thinking of selling on Ebay

[tortillasoup]

Paypal recently made a change where the buyer can state that they never got the item, and they get an instant refund from the seller's pockets. I would not chance it. Try selling to local classifieds or something.

If you have signature confirmation, that's how you can you protect yourself. Delivery confirmation is worthless but signature confirmation, different story. When I sold my smart watches on amazon/ebay, I did signature confirmation every time. Now if you do fulfilled by amazon, then you don't have to worry about shipping costs or any of that nonsense.

 

[Nebor]

I made a thread about trying to sell a video card on ebay a couple weeks ago. I'm now on my 5th attempt at selling the video card. Every winner so far has either been someone with 1 feedback who never paid or replied, someone who said they couldn't pay because of X reasons, or someone who said they lived in Bangladesh despite being registered in the US, or some combination of those things.

It's been a nightmare. The month prior I sold about a dozen lower value items (Surface Pro, Sony Dash alarm clock, etc.) and had no problems at all! Something about a video card just seems to cause the worst people to bid on your item.

 

[Sonikku]

Man the internet sure was nice back when it was just us geeks before the government and the criminals and the low lives came in droves to ruin it.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Between the eBay fees and PayPal fees, be expected to lose 10% of whatever the selling price is.

 

[smackababy]

Man the internet sure was nice back when it was just us geeks before the government and the criminals and the low lives came in droves to ruin it.

Think of it this way: if scamming on eBay was so easy and prevalent, legitimate sellers wouldn't exist. They can't just write 30% off as slippage.

With a friend, I've sold probably around 150 pairs of Jordans and other limited release shoes on eBay. I've yet to be scammed. I've had a few attempts, but if you're careful, there is little issue.

The scamming isn't as bad as you hear. Sure, it exists, and the internet makes it sound bad. With tens of thousands of transactions a day, I'm sure a lot of scams do happen. And everyone knows a friend that something happened to; and ofc, they have no problem crying about eBay and retelling that story every time a thread comes up.


For your items, there is very little possibility someone will scam you simply due to the limited market and low price.

Between the eBay fees and PayPal fees, be expected to lose 10% of whatever the selling price is.

Closer to 20%. With no upgrades you're getting over 10% from eBay alone plus PayPal.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

The one time I tried selling something on ebay, the buyer put in a claim the day he got it and kept threatening to "fuck me up" and stuff if I didn't refund him. In the end I ended up losing nothing (just out my time), but that put me off selling from ebay ever again. Just not worth the hassle to me, since I don't do volume sales or anything. I stick to forums or Craigslist if I need to sell (and I second whoever said to try an online vintage gaming forum above).

Oh, and the feedback he left? Positive - "good communication." lol

 

[BUTCH1]

Specifically state the exact condition and cancel all low feedback buyer's bids (put that in your ad as well). Always only ship to PayPal verified address and get signature confirmation required (no leave at door BS). It also is worth it to ask for a phone number on expensive items and require a phone call before buying. Never do any contact (except phone) outside of the eBay messaging system.

I've yet to be scammed when I resell the odd pair of sneakers. I've heard some real horror stories though (selling a pair for a few thousand, only to have the buyer claim they are fake and send you back fakes rather than the real things AND get a full refund plus keeping the real pair).

Wow, never even thought of that possibility, amazing to what lengths scumbags will go through to steal. I wonder if there was any someone could have a third party observe the items being boxed for shipment so if the buyer tried that crap you would have a fall-back.

 

[BUTCH1]

The one time I tried selling something on ebay, the buyer put in a claim the day he got it and kept threatening to "fuck me up" and stuff if I didn't refund him. In the end I ended up losing nothing (just out my time), but that put me off selling from ebay ever again. Just not worth the hassle to me, since I don't do volume sales or anything. I stick to forums or Craigslist if I need to sell (and I second whoever said to try an online vintage gaming forum above).

Oh, and the feedback he left? Positive - "good communication." lol

There have been some CL robberies reported around here, what the dirtbag(s) usually do is list something desirable and set a bargain price, say a lappy that would normally fetch $2,500 used would be offered for $1,600. What happens then is the person showing up to make the purchase simply gets robbed at gunpoint, the dirtbag is gonna know you will have at least $1,600 in cash on you.

 

[BUTCH1]

Think of it this way: if scamming on eBay was so easy and prevalent, legitimate sellers wouldn't exist. They can't just write 30% off as slippage.

With a friend, I've sold probably around 150 pairs of Jordans and other limited release shoes on eBay. I've yet to be scammed. I've had a few attempts, but if you're careful, there is little issue.

The scamming isn't as bad as you hear. Sure, it exists, and the internet makes it sound bad. With tens of thousands of transactions a day, I'm sure a lot of scams do happen. And everyone knows a friend that something happened to; and ofc, they have no problem crying about eBay and retelling that story every time a thread comes up.


For your items, there is very little possibility someone will scam you simply due to the limited market and low price.



Closer to 20%. With no upgrades you're getting over 10% from eBay alone plus PayPal.

How did you avoid the "fake" scam you mentioned earlier?.

 

[Aikouka]

Closer to 20%. With no upgrades you're getting over 10% from eBay alone plus PayPal.

It should just be 12%. eBay has a 10% Final Value Fee and PayPal takes 2% for their usual transaction fee. Of course, if you want to do things like set a reserve or whatever, that costs extra ( per listing ).

 

[motsm]

http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html

You can calculate Ebay and Paypal's combined fees here. This calculator has more options than some, but the defaults should be fine, just fill in the info under "SET PRICES". If you are selling as a buy it now listing, you can change the calculator to "Fixed Price" at the top left. For example, if you sell your game for $100 with $5 shipping, and the shipping costs you $5, you will net 86.15.

You could also look at other sites, like the selling sub forum of collectorsedition.org/forums/index.php, or gametz.com. Though in my experience, selling on sites like those to avoid fees ends up evening out, as items often go for less money, or languish because of their limited traffic.

Not sure if it's been said already, but make you ship the games in sturdy boxes with plenty of packing. I built up much of my big box PC game collection from Ebay and Amazon sellers, and learned that people have no idea how to ship collectibles. Remember it is your responsibility if the item is damaged in shipping. Lastly, take as many pictures as you can, and make sure they are well lit and clear. I am much more likely to buy a collectible like your selling if I can see exactly what I'm going to get.

 

[JMapleton]

I sold over $40k worth of stuff last year, all without a problem.

Your mileage may vary however. You can get ripped off by buyers. Also, the fees are high, but a lot lower than the marketing costs if you owned your own online retail store. A 12% fee on revenue actually isn't that bad compared to other businesses.

 

[smackababy]

How did you avoid the "fake" scam you mentioned earlier?.

It used to be easy, because we sold on release day. Now, though, you just have to sell to good buyers, but the potential is still there. It used to be fakes weren't available before retail (they needed a real sample to reproduce), but it's gotten so rampant they can reproduce fakes off early photos to extremely close detail. We only do the big releases (no point reselling a $200 pair for $300 at this point) and only accept bids from buyers with 10+ feedback. If the bid gets over $1,000 we require a valid phone number (that alone deters a lot of scammers).

We also did everything we could. Pictures of us boxing the item (the shoe box is almost always a giveaway, as the fakes are like 90% of the time with a beat as hell box), provided actual receipt from official store, picture of what was being shipped and such. Plus, I have your address. If you scam me out of $3,000 on some Yeezys, I'm coming to your fucking house.

 

[Ichinisan]

It used to be easy, because we sold on release day. Now, though, you just have to sell to good buyers, but the potential is still there. It used to be fakes weren't available before retail (they needed a real sample to reproduce), but it's gotten so rampant they can reproduce fakes off early photos to extremely close detail. We only do the big releases (no point reselling a $200 pair for $300 at this point) and only accept bids from buyers with 10+ feedback. If the bid gets over $1,000 we require a valid phone number (that alone deters a lot of scammers).

We also did everything we could. Pictures of us boxing the item (the shoe box is almost always a giveaway, as the fakes are like 90% of the time with a beat as hell box), provided actual receipt from official store, picture of what was being shipped and such. Plus, I have your address. If you scam me out of $3,000 on some Yeezys, I'm coming to your fucking house.

Strange. I bought 2 pair of Sketchers sneakers about 1 month ago from Rack Room Shoes. Both boxes were tattered and severely messed-up.

 

[smackababy]

Strange. I bought 2 pair of Sketchers sneakers about 1 month ago from Rack Room Shoes. Both boxes were tattered and severely messed-up.

I've never bought a pair of Jordans from Footlocker that were in a banged up box. The fake shoes from China always come in a beat up box (which is generally just a bit off as well). If it is for something not a huge resale shoe or from a reputable retailer, it is likely alright. But, if you're paying 2-5x retail and the box is beat to shit when you unbox it, you better pay extra close attention when inspecting it.

 

[pcslookout]

Thanks for the spam.

 

[Jeff7]

I promised myself I never would...

Just try to think back and remember why you told yourself this. There may have been a good reason for it.

 

[bradley]

My friend used to brag how difficult it was for him as a seller to get scammed on eBay. Then he was scammed twice in the same month on two very expensive items. Not too smart scammer when someone now knows your full name and address. Although getting the police involved is difficult as they view it as a petty crime. Maybe we'll pay him a little visit some day.

Thankfully I was only scammed once by a seller, back when eBay had minimal buyer protections, but never scammed by a buyer.

 

[John Connor]

Been an active ebayer for a long time. Almost got screwed (made a thread about it) but I terminated him.

In your ebay account settings there are options to prevent users with less than so many feedback score, etc. Also in PayPal you can set up settings. I would comb through all those options.

One thing I see people do is list something broken, but no one reads the damn description it seems, buy it and then latter claim it was broken! Ebay sides with the buyer and you get screwed. So if I were to sell something broken I would add the word BROKEN to the title description that way they will see it. For me I would go as far as adding HTML5 audio to the auction with an AT&T voice saying it's broken. LOL


Edit, well shit looks like you can't use their voices?
http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

2. No Broadcast, Publication, or Distribution of Audio.
This website is intended only for demonstration purposes. Audio clips created here may not be broadcast, published, or distributed. It doesn't matter if the use if non-commercial. Any such use requires licensing, so please contact Wizzard Speech LLC.

I have somewhere several voices. I guess I could use those or just my own voice.

Anyway... I thought about this for a broken laptop I was going to list for parts for my sister.

 

[SlickSnake]

I usually try to use Ebay for more locally oriented sales from a shipping perspective like on bulk or larger items because it's cheaper shipping nearby. And I use Amazon for more collectable types of items, including medias. Overall, Amazon is a better buying and selling platform to eBay in my opinion. You just have to be a lot more careful with your item descriptions on Amazon versus Ebay, not to mention that inaccurate descriptions are usually where a lot of inexperienced sellers mess up a lot and get sanctioned on both sites.