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Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

Hey all!

I apologise in advance for quite a long post, however in my experience prevention is better than cure, so I would like to pick everyone's brains regarding staying away from getting scammed!

Ok. So my business is selling large bulky expensive items, mainly antiques. Nothing too interesting however they are worth a lot of money. I only sell a few items a month, but each one can sell for £400 - £800. Before I was doing collection only and asking for cash upon collection, however I have now realised that my market will be much larger if I ship my items. What I'm worried about is, as the buyer isn't inspecting the item before collecting it, what happens if they claim the item has something wrong with it after the courier has delivered their item? Delivery costs are around £100 which is very expensive. Will I have to pay for it to be returned to me? It states in my listings that the items are old and will have dents and scratches from age etc. will not be perfect. But I'm still worried someone will complain and I'll have to pay for delivery to get my item back :/.

Are there any other ways someone can scam me when shipping my items with a courier???

All and any advice is appreciated! :)

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

Best way to avoid this is to take lots and lots of pictures and describe your item in every detail.

You should also be able to find delivery costs for less than that if you search about

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

OP, in my description I make it clear that buyer pays return shipping.

I also have to figure into my cost of doing business is a return on my dime once in a while. I loose at least one item a month to unreasonable buyers.

JamesNorth101 gave you some good advice too.

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

With expensive items like this you need to use a courier who collects a signature on delivery and online tracking.

If a buyer initiates a "not as described" dispute with Paypal they have to send it back tracked at their expense before Paypal will release the funds to them.

I also sell vintage items and although they are not usually large or heavy they can be in the £300 upwards range. I send them either wirh Fedex for overseas packages or with Royal Mail Airsure which collects a signature on delivery.

Yes you can get scammers but if you strictly follow Paypals rules then you should be covered by seller protection.

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

Just FYI, AirSure does not collect signature on delivery. It does track it and mark it as delivered, but no signature.

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

if they do send it back, please record yourself opening the package to make sure they don't send you a ton of bricks

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

but can't they do NAD through ebay were the odds are on the buyers side. I have had them side with the buyer with no return of my item. Then ebay send a survey on how I feel the dispute process went.

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

There is no way to protect yourself 100% from scammers. HOWEVER: as it has already been mentioned, if your listings are honest about the condition, and photos taken of all areas of an item, that will reduce any complaints right there. You also MUST use delivery confirmation with signature and ONLY ship to the address given by eBay/PayPal. NEVER ship an expensive item to an address that is not PayPal verified.

Sometimes, right after someone buys an item from me, they will send a message saying something, like "I messed up the order, can you please send this to: with a different name and address". NEVER, EVER, EVER do this!

Since shipping is expensive, it makes sense to make the buyer ship the item back if they decide they don't like it. You could also negotiate at that point - like offer to knock off £50 or something. Sometimes buyers will go for that. Given what it costs to ship the item, you might be better off doing that than re-selling it.

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

Thanks guys some amazing advice here. The ton of bricks in the return package is one I have heard of before, as is the address not on paypal. I've heard of people doing this to shops like curries when they return a TV, putting bricks inside and revealing the box with the staples used in the factory. Saying it's unopened etc.

I already take photos that are very detailed etc and make it so that they know every tiny problem so I hope they won't open a NAD claim, those are the ones I truely worry about. Can they refuse to ship the item back to me and get a refund still though?

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

Very rarely. Sometimes PP will refund them out of their own pocket, but this does not often happen

Re: Don't want to get scammed. Advice please :)
 

That's good then. Let's hope no scamming occurs for a little while whilst I find my feet lol