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Unsure of selling on eBay
 

We've all heard/been involved in the nightmare stories of buyers on eBay pretending they didn't receive an item, or switching/returning or playing the "significantly not as described" card. and so on. Can anyone suggest how to avoid these situations altogether? Has Paypal tweaked their policies that would accommodate the good, honest sellers out there?


Thank you

There are a lot of honest sellers out there, the problem is selling items that have potential to cause people to pull antics on sellers. The best way to cover yourself is to take a lot of pictures, make sure your listing describes your item in the best way possible. If an item is expensive...gotta use Signature and Tracking.

Do you sell expensive items?

If it worries you that much, dont use ebay/paypal.

Tell us what items you intend to sell AND what plans you already have made to be a wonderful seller.
Will give us an idea to give good help.
:peace:

Sellers on ebay don't get scammed that frequently. You hear all of these horror stories because no one ever makes a post about how they sold something to a buyer and it was a smooth transaction. That is what happens the majority of the time and therefore not worth discussing. If it was a frequent occurrence per seller, ebay would not survive because most of the sellers could not make a profit and would therefore stop selling on ebay.

Now I'm not saying it will never happen to you as a seller on ebay. If you sell anywhere long enough you are bound to run into a few thieves or scammers that may get away with it. You just have to factor it in as a cost of doing business. It is the same thing with retail stores that see theft, breakage, and expiration of their goods.

I usually start off by factoring in $.50 to a $1.00 of costs to anything I sell due to perceived lost, due to theft (scamming or 'lost in the mail'), among all other costs before determining a profit. As you sell more and more of the same item, you can get that cost down to a science. For example I found that when selling high end cell phones like Iphones, that cost should be factored in at $9.00 per phone sold.

Glad we are both thinking the same. I'd love it if the OP responded truthfully.

How does a "cost" of $9 cover an iPhone from anything?



OP - I've sold 200 items as an amateur eBay seller last year (several at $60 and several at around $200) and I was never really scammed. A chargeback was attempted once (which I argued against and won), and another time it was completely my fault (being too nice) when I added an extra item to the person's order before shipping out, only to have them never pay for it like they promised and I trusted.

Only troubles I have had really was chargebacks but those all have been taken care of by Paypal and I won each and every case. Out of 500 transactions, I only had about 3-5 chargebacks. All other transactions were perfectly smooth. I always use tracking number to insure that the items have been delivered in order not to have any customers play as if they never received the item. Further, I purchase insurance on items that are over $200. I also use Paypal shipping system, which makes everything a lot more easy. Good Luck!

Tracking.

Signature confirmation.

Risk analysis on potential losses.

Popularity of product.

Many factors to consider when shipping and potential for fraud.

If its too much, dont risk the game.

It is a cost of doing business that I factored out of the profit of every Iphone sold to cover each Iphone lost due to scamming and lost in the mail. I figured out I would loose 1 in 45 so:

45X9=$405=approximate cost of one iphone lost.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Much appreciated

I had to start to send ALL items signed for delivery as I was charged back on a few items even when had post office proof of postage but this was standered postage