Selling on ebay

[Crispybacon]

Re: Selling on ebay

Another little eBay horror story for you here Bill-K and one that shows how low some people will slink.

I sometimes sell reconditioned laptops on eBay. After a couple of bad experiences, whenever I do this, I now take a full inventory of not just the laptop but all the serial numbers of the components inside the laptops.

The reason - I have had a couple of laptops returned from winning bidders claiming that the laptop sent to them was 'broken' only to find the scamming scrotes had actually swapped out the components for faulty ones (because the serial numbers were recorded, I was able to prove it). You wouldn't believe some of the tricks that people try to pull on fleabay!

Best
Crispy

[wales01man]

Re: Selling on ebay

Having brought and sold on ebay my advice is seller beware and of course buyer beware most people are honest but you will get the ones who aint the advice about serial nos is excellent but from experience ebay tend to side with the buyer more than the seller

[alham]

Re: Selling on ebay

My pennys-worth - if possible get the buyer to organise courier but only once the cleared funds are in your account, that way if anything happens in transit it is for the buyer to resolve directly with couriers.

[Bill-K]

Re: Selling on ebay

Thanks again for the advice and stories, guys. More food for thought/rumination.

[A-Bit-Miffed]

Re: Selling on ebay

My pennys-worth - if possible get the buyer to organise courier but only once the cleared funds are in your account, that way if anything happens in transit it is for the buyer to resolve directly with couriers.

Good advice.
Another alternative is cash on collection, the potential buyer can try the guitar before handing over the readies. Once he/she makes the purchase get them to sign an invoice stating that they are happy with said purchase and everything is as described and fully functioning.

I've used this approach on quite a few larger/more expensive items and never had a comeback.

ABM

[Bill-K]

Re: Selling on ebay

Well, I advertised the guitar on Gumtree for £1K to see if it got any bites. Only one - so I guessed it wasn't gonna sell for a grand !!! I spoke with the guy who lives in London, and we eventually agreed on a price, but the problem was how to make the sale. After several long and very interesting convos, we became quite friendly, and the guy trusted me enough to send me a cheque for the full price, plus £25 toward the carriage costs, and wait for it to clear before I sent the axe. It cleared PDQ, and I had meanwhile found that our local music shop uses bicycle packing boxes when sending guitars away. I got one FOC from our local Halfords and it was ideal. Bikes are sent with the wheels, pedals and bars detached, so the boxes are just the right size for a guitar. I detached the neck from the body, and also removed control knobs etc., and packed those in a small box. Wrapped the body in bubble-wrap and put it in the original Fender box along with the box of bits, and a load of scrunged up newspaper. Wrapped this in bin-bags, and wrapped the neck in bubble-wrap and several 'jiffy-bag' envelopes. Got a load of polystyrene I had in the loft, and lined the bottom of the bike box with this. Placed the (triangular) Fender box on this, and then the neck resting on top of the Fender box. Polystyrene then packed all round and on top. Bike-box sealed with 2" parcel tape.

Sent it by ParcelForce via our local PO for £23.30 including insurance, and it arrived next day as promised in excellent nick. The guy was well pleased, and we are in constant contact.
So - a happy ending. Thanks to everybody for their advice on this. :billk:

[Guest]

Re: Selling on ebay

Well done, that man!
I have bought and sold violins through eBay and my own site, so can relate :tinysmile_kiss_t4:

(Sellers of violins might like to know PayPal can order the destruction of a violin said to be fraudulent/wrongly labelled. Since labelling is a notoriously dodgy business, don't accept PayPal, or don't use eBay unless you're prepared for this possibility).

[stevread1]

Re: Selling on ebay

It all goes to Ebay. If the item doesn't sell or you get mucked about and have to open an unpaid item case, you won't get your listing fees back.

The second part is not quite true. We sold a product and the buyer never payed or collected the item. We opened a dispute with ebay against the buyer and got all our charges credited back.

[Galahad]

Re: Selling on ebay

The second part is not quite true. We sold a product and the buyer never payed or collected the item. We opened a dispute with ebay against the buyer and got all our charges credited back.

This only happens if they actually remove the person from ebay itself, in ALL cases, if you look at the small print, you only get the final value fees back.