Help! I need major advice.

creznor · #1 12-27-2009

Hi guys. Let me briefly explain my little situation. I have recently decided to sell a few copies of certain computer programs and a few copies of some old books on eBay. The problem is that the computer program disks and some of the books are in crappy condition (the disks are all scratched and book pages are torn out). Since they are in crappy condition, I have been offering buyers a choice of receiving the damaged physical computer programs/books, or a "digital" copy of the computer programs/books that I downloaded off the internet, sent directly to the buyer's e-mail address. Most people obviously choose to receive the "digital" versions because they receive it immediately after they download it and they don't want damaged goods.

Yesterday, Paypal limited my account and they said in order to have it put in place again I needed to 1) provide proof of shipping, and 2) provide supplier contact information.

How should I get through this? I cannot provide shipping info. because I have sent the computer programs/books "digitally" through e-mail. This means that I never actually "shipped" anything physical and therefore cannot provide tracking numbers. And I can't provide supplier info. because I don't have a supplier! I am not being supplied by anyone. I bought the books and programs in bulk at a Goodwill Thrift Shop last week.

I don't know what I should do. I was technicallyselling unauthorized copies of the programs and books but I haven't sold more than the number I bought at Goodwill. I just decided, "hey what if I offer a substitute to these damaged programs and offer a digital verison so that the buyers would get their money's worth and so they won't receive damaged disks and books?" Do you get where I am coming from. What do you guys recommend?

captainjack1980 · #2 12-27-2009

Bad move - it is a breach of Ebays T&Cs and selling junk just leads to bad feedback....

To get around 1. you could either ship the physical items. Or tell PP you don't have tracking in which case you would need to encourage your buyers to leave feedback.

For 2. you could provide a scan of the receipt if you have one, or tell PP it is stuff from around the house.

I suspect it may be a case of flogging a dead horse though.

CaptainJack

creznor · #3 12-27-2009

captainjack: I'm going to come out and be completely honest now. I don't actually have the physical versions of the books and computer programs, I just said I did in the eBay description so that I wouldn't have to sell under the "classified ads" category and so that people wouldn't think my intentions were to make money off selling unauthorized copies only (they were though). In the description I said that the physical copies were damaged and that they had a choice to get a digital copy instead as a substitute. 95% of the people wanted the digital. So after they bought and sent the money, I sent them the digital versions of the programs and books attached in an e-mail, and all was well -- they even left good feedback. I never actually had anything physical, it's just that in the description I made it sound like it was worthless to receive the physical versions because they were damaged, so people automatically chose the digital versions instead. By selling this way I bypassed eBay's "no digital items" rule because I gave the impression that I actually had something physical to sell, even though I really didn't. Does it make sense?

It was very clever on my part and I did manage to make over $600.00 in two weeks selling Rosetta Stone programs and various e-books, but I never plan to do this ever again.

I do however want to keep the money but Paypal says I have to provide shipping info. and supplier contact info. -- two things I can't supply because 1) I never shipped anything physical, so I have no tracking numbers, and 2) I didn't have a supplier, I downloaded the programs off of torrent sites and was basically re-selling them on eBay (illegal I know).

So I don't know. They only want me to provide shipping info. for 4 transactions. Do you think I should send these 4 people a plain box with some random junk inside and then tell these people I made a mistake shipping (just so I could provide some tracking numbers to Paypal?). Or just be honest with Paypal and say I sent the items digitally so I can't provide tracking numbers?

-p.s., I will seriously send $30.00 to whoever helps me get through this!

komang · #4 01-06-2010

maybe you can send gift card to them, it's new year right. and suplier info, i don't know about it, did you sell same title softwere, if not, just say you have bought it last year and the invoice have been gone

DogFacedBoy · #5 07-06-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by creznor

captainjack: I'm going to come out and be completely honest now. I don't actually have the physical versions of the books and computer programs, I just said I did in the eBay description so that I wouldn't have to sell under the "classified ads" category and so that people wouldn't think my intentions were to make money off selling unauthorized copies only (they were though). In the description I said that the physical copies were damaged and that they had a choice to get a digital copy instead as a substitute. 95% of the people wanted the digital. So after they bought and sent the money, I sent them the digital versions of the programs and books attached in an e-mail, and all was well -- they even left good feedback. I never actually had anything physical, it's just that in the description I made it sound like it was worthless to receive the physical versions because they were damaged, so people automatically chose the digital versions instead. By selling this way I bypassed eBay's "no digital items" rule because I gave the impression that I actually had something physical to sell, even though I really didn't. Does it make sense?

It was very clever on my part and I did manage to make over $600.00 in two weeks selling Rosetta Stone programs and various e-books, but I never plan to do this ever again.

I do however want to keep the money but Paypal says I have to provide shipping info. and supplier contact info. -- two things I can't supply because 1) I never shipped anything physical, so I have no tracking numbers, and 2) I didn't have a supplier, I downloaded the programs off of torrent sites and was basically re-selling them on eBay (illegal I know).

So I don't know. They only want me to provide shipping info. for 4 transactions. Do you think I should send these 4 people a plain box with some random junk inside and then tell these people I made a mistake shipping (just so I could provide some tracking numbers to Paypal?). Or just be honest with Paypal and say I sent the items digitally so I can't provide tracking numbers?

-p.s., I will seriously send $30.00 to whoever helps me get through this!

Just saw this post and was wondering how things ended up turning out?
As komang said, you could always buy a gift card ($10-20), mail it with a tracking number to satisfy that requirement...or you could just buy a thank you card and send it in a Priority Mail envelope which includes free tracking.

There a lots of invoice templates for MS Office for free (legally too!) online that you could make something up...just make it look like you bought it at a Mom and Pop store and not a Big Box store that every one recognizes.

You might even want to go to a store that will take returns if unopened and actually buy one, scan in the receipt (so you'll always have it vs. a photocopy) and then bring it back.

these are actually 2 of the easiest to get past