Is there a way to protect yourself selling on Ebay?
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I think ebay is making it increasingly harder to protect your self while selling unfortunately. 
Ebay only focuses on protecting the buyer.
Ironic that without one the other can't exist. With all the scamming going on, soon it will be a site with nothing for sale!
c'mon Google, let's see what you're really made of......
D
Ironic that without one the other can't exist. With all the scamming going on, soon it will be a site with nothing for sale!
c'mon Google, let's see what you're really made of......
D
djklambake
Super Freak
Seems like ebay is trying to get rid of mom n' pop sellers, and making room for biz that can spend more money with them and cause less disputes... thereby shrinking the due diligence dept at ebay (who are probably the hardest working folks there...well...as hard as they wanna work). Its the homogenization of auctions. I mean... no bad feeback for buyers? I don't ever sell on ebay, but jeez, that's just stupid and unfair. Also makes all positive feedback essentially worthless. I'll do all my statue buying/trading either directly with Sideshow, a Sideshow dealer friend of mine in WI, or on the commerce page here.
Feck eBay. Feck 'em to hell.
Feck eBay. Feck 'em to hell.
Darth Madden
You Are A Tooooooy!!!
Thats pretty much what its turning into. I am glad I sold off most of what I want to get rid of over the last year or so.
The best you can do is get delivery comformation / tracking # and take pictures of what you are selling so you can prove there was no damage when it was sent out.
Take lots of pics, insure and track, don't sell to questionable buyers and cross your fingers. I won't sell on ebay any more.
The Craw
Super Freak
the best way is to join a collectibles forum, rack up 50 posts by necroposting all day, and then jump into the commerce section and ask for the most money you can get for a rare collectible that you may or may not have.
Mesa
Super Freak
Damn, I missed this whole thing happening. I kept seeing obscure posts, but missed the whole for sale post. Looks like it was a good one two, over 10 pages.
https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36580
Mesa
Super Freak
Just a comment on this; not all accidents that occur and result in an unsatisfied buyer are scams, as I'm sure everyone is aware. I just had to offer a partial refund for the Hellboy PF I sold. I guarantee that thing was in mint condition when it left, I taped the styrofoam halves, put in a box surrounded with sytrofoam peanuts, and then in another box. Shipped via UPS with "Fragile" marked on the outside. and the thing still arrived with a broken top knot.
I was able to work it out with the seller by offering a partial refund and he was able to repair the clean break. Fortunately, I was dealing with someone that sounded reasonable and was willing to work it out. It helps that I also had proof via pictures of condition before and the packing job as well.
But I've read enough threads on this board that whenever an item arrives damaged, the buyer think this was done intentionally to screw them over. And everyone sides with the buyer because they are a fellow board member and we're ready to hang the seller that had the unfortunate luck of having a disgruntled postal/UPS worker slam the box around during transit and then the buyer demanding a full refund completely unwilling to work it out. Then you get threads like this one asking how to protect yourself while selling on Ebay, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The two seem to contradict each other. My advice, as a seller, would be to pray that whatever you ship arrives undamaged to avoid a dissatisfied buyer, and take ALL precautions necessary to ensure safe shipping, even if it means another $10-$15 in shipping cost/weight/packing materials/time.
Some of those shipping boxes aren't good for multiple trips, especially the one with the styrofoam corners.
I was able to work it out with the seller by offering a partial refund and he was able to repair the clean break. Fortunately, I was dealing with someone that sounded reasonable and was willing to work it out. It helps that I also had proof via pictures of condition before and the packing job as well.
But I've read enough threads on this board that whenever an item arrives damaged, the buyer think this was done intentionally to screw them over. And everyone sides with the buyer because they are a fellow board member and we're ready to hang the seller that had the unfortunate luck of having a disgruntled postal/UPS worker slam the box around during transit and then the buyer demanding a full refund completely unwilling to work it out. Then you get threads like this one asking how to protect yourself while selling on Ebay, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The two seem to contradict each other. My advice, as a seller, would be to pray that whatever you ship arrives undamaged to avoid a dissatisfied buyer, and take ALL precautions necessary to ensure safe shipping, even if it means another $10-$15 in shipping cost/weight/packing materials/time.
Some of those shipping boxes aren't good for multiple trips, especially the one with the styrofoam corners.
Thats great you were able to work that out with your buyer. I know most transactions with issues can be worked out if their is communication and a willing to listen to each other.
What I was referring to when I started this thread was Hairlesswookie's situation where it seems the buyer has a different item than the one Hairlesswookie sent and hes trying to make a switch and get his money back from Paypal for the purchase. (It looked like a bad job of a paint touch up)
So far taking photos of the item's condition and sending them with the item seems to be the best bet. It shows the buyer what shape it was in when it left you and also gives you proof of what you sent.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone.
I think all thats been mentioned has to be done, just to protect yourself.
Its unfortunate that as a seller people have to go to these lengths but should a claim of any sort arise paypal tend to side with the buyer.
So take photos,package well,only send to confirmed paypal addresses,take full insurance and use a courier that gives you tracking with signatory at the destination.Also check buyer feedback, dont allow (insert preferred amount here) amount of negs or new bidders etc, thats another way to be careful.
I dont think really theres much else can be done.
You might not encounter any of the troublemakers on the 'Bay but with all the new rules it seems that more and more are joining so try to look after yourself.
Its such a shame because I think there are a heck of a lot of great sellers and buyers out there, but if you have to go to such extreme lengths to cover yourself it hardly seems worth all the hassle.
All the best
Shell
x
Its unfortunate that as a seller people have to go to these lengths but should a claim of any sort arise paypal tend to side with the buyer.
So take photos,package well,only send to confirmed paypal addresses,take full insurance and use a courier that gives you tracking with signatory at the destination.Also check buyer feedback, dont allow (insert preferred amount here) amount of negs or new bidders etc, thats another way to be careful.
I dont think really theres much else can be done.
You might not encounter any of the troublemakers on the 'Bay but with all the new rules it seems that more and more are joining so try to look after yourself.
Its such a shame because I think there are a heck of a lot of great sellers and buyers out there, but if you have to go to such extreme lengths to cover yourself it hardly seems worth all the hassle.
All the best
Shell
x
Mesa
Super Freak
I'm not suggesting that there aren't bad sellers and bad buyers, and we should be aware and very cautious when dropping $300+ on a statue, and you're correct, Ebay's new policy doesn't seem to do jack to protect from dishonest buyer's that try to pull a fast one.
If nothing else, regular flippers will have to deal with it on a daily basis.
galactiboy
OT Preferist
The problem is when you are trying to sell your item for a decent price, limiting new buyers is a real problem. If you restrict the bidding pool too much, you end-up with items not selling well.
Probably balances out in the long run, but increasingly I'm more and more tired of eBay. I still plan to buy, but as for selling I think I'll just offer stuff here instead. No guarantees here either, but as this is a much better community to do business with.
Probably balances out in the long run, but increasingly I'm more and more tired of eBay. I still plan to buy, but as for selling I think I'll just offer stuff here instead. No guarantees here either, but as this is a much better community to do business with.
