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Virtual items: are they a risk?
 

I sell a virutal item on ebay currently. It costs under 50$.

My ebay is a year old, attached to a verified confirmed business paypal with two credit cards and a bank account. I sold vintage audio gear on ebay for a bit, generating over 4000$ in gross revenue and getting 100% positive feedback.

Then they account sat for a bit, I spent a few hundred on various items and now I am selling a virtual product. It is not video game currency, it's more of a subscription type service.

Currently I sell about 9-10 of these per day I can list 10 per BIN auction and list 1 auction a day. I have 100% customer feedback but not all customers leave feedback.

am I taking a risk by doing this? This is not a vero product.

You should be fine, just don't all of a sudden generate to much money in a month, take it slowly then build it up.

If it works then it works, and it sounds like it's working great for you.
I'm jealous!

eBay views sending virtual items as a risk. If you state in the listing you are sending them by email then they will take the item down. Don't mention how you are going to send them on the listing and put delivery method as 'other courier'.

I used to sell virtual items, like you they were subscription, I made a bit of money. I might go back to it, but don't want to draw any attention to my accounts at the moment.

Good luck.

Virtual items are always high risk - especially to PP.

Hence, my first question - have you tried any withdrawals since selling this item? Hope you are ok but that will be the kicker on your project....pp might limit you and ask for supporting doc then ban you - just a heads up.

Secondly, to avoid this potential problem, you need to make new accounts asap and build them up.

All the best. Report back as you go about your business.

Thanks for the replies. I have done a few withdraws, about 1000$ in the last week 200$ at a time. I also purchased a laptop computer with funds from my paypal account.

I'm hoping this account can last a while, i've got 100 feedback and a good record of selling perfectly legit however expensive items (auto parts, audio equipment, computer)

so you are delivering the items through email?
have you run into any buyers who do item not received since you dont have a tracking number?
do you have problem with that?
keep us updated..thanks.

I have talked to ebay about digitally delivered items.. they dont allow it :(

why ?

because the item is digital and ebay can't cover the "eBay Buyer Protection"

so normally, all digital items will be removed in the end.. :(

i used to do it years ago earnt a reasonable bit of doe think i was only about 16 or 17 all went well

as you say ebay dont like that sort of thing fullstop

I sell virtual items as well, the best thing that you can do is mail ALL buyers something in the mail so that you can add tracking numbers. Send a "thank you" note or something to your buyers and you should be fine for the next few months.

so are you guys thinking that I should just give it up then? I can't really send anything in the mail because tracked mail from canada to us costs about 10$ which is the profit I make on each item. No complaints so far, I intend just to refund anybody who complains.

RIght now I've got a guy who says the product is invalid, so I checked it out and everythign works 100% fine. so I made a video for him on how to use it and also showed his origional product working, then sent him a new copy. Hopefully he can figure it out this time!

I swear I spend more time on tech support with people who dont know how to use a computer then I do actually listing and delivering the products.

What $10 profit on virtual item ? then really you should give up for that item, because its not worth to risk with your account for $10 per item.

I usually sell virtual items with $30-$40 profit.

Recently I sold 4 virtual items in 5hr and made $140 then ebay removed my listing and so I didnt even needed to pay fees :heh:

If refund people who complain your account will last longer. I never understand why people moan about refunding people a few dollars (I can understand if it's high value)... Why risk a perfectly good account.

Anyway back on topic... virtual items like I said are risky, I do think however you can sell them on eBay classified without a problem.

what is the cheapest domestic mail in the us? to just send for tracking??