Questions and Concerns Selling Electronics I.E Apple iPhones

[satori8311]

Hi, obviously i'm a new user, and perhaps i have not dwelled into the threads enough. But I felt compelled to create this thread for answer to some of my questions, and perhaps many others have the same concerns or have dealt with the same issues... That being said.. I'd like to share my E-bay/PayPal Horror Story.. Perhaps people can learn from my mistakes, discuss, and share techniques to avoid the problems I encountered.. We ALL want to continue our business on E-bay, selling the products we are rightfullly allowed to sell!! And make A *$%^ ton of money......

My main choice of sales on Ebay WAS Apple iPhones...Specifically iPhone 4 32gb.. That's what I had been selling,for nearly a year now.. 10 a month or more, sometimes i'd get krafty and do a couple second chance offers, so sneak in a few more. Last december I ran into a few "buyer" problems 3 opened cases, and a escalation... THEN BAM... Light a hot lightning bolt from zues, they fired down on me..

I had over $6 grand in my PayPal account, and 4 items in transit... Problem was I slacked on the shipping so they were able to open cases.. We'll... Two items were "Lost" in customs, box empty.. TWO apple iPhone 4's GONE... Bam, out $1500.00 x 2, then add to that re-pay the BIG RED Negative balance...

So then they dropped me down to 6 a month for nearly a year now.. Year came up, DSR's improved, then 1 open case gone bad, that was esclated ruled in the buyers favor.. BAM they slammed me... Suspended indefinably...

I rambled, I misspelled, and this thread may have nothing to do with any thing.. I just thought i'd share my story and vent to the one place that would listen..

I hope i'm speaking for many people here when I say that I for one really appreciate this Forum, advice, and all the help that is so willingly available for the greater good! SCREW E-BAY AND PAYPAL!! They have done it to us, it's our turn to fight the system, and take back our fair share!! Thousands spent in fee's and that is how they repay us... Nazi's I tell ya.....


1 Question, Any advice for selling electronics, specifically apple iPhone 4 32gb.. That I now have a STOCKPILE of.. I'm looking to sell.. Need to know all details for avoiding problems with ScamBay...

Love ya guys!

Thanks for All the Help, Moderators, Vendors, and Members.. We Do Appreciate it..

[newjerseymax]

My advice is very little so I hope others share...

I would one re-think business model. The old one is not working for you. Low DSR, open cases, negative balance, etc, etc..

Next find a better niche product and stay away from Apple all together.

[WasTopRatedThenBanned]

Hello,

I enjoyed your story. I been in a similar position as you. My name says it all lol.

Here is what i would do: 1) Open another eBay account after reading the stealth guide. Find some electronics that you can sell fast. I would not want to sell a single iphone until you know your account is running smooth and have made feedback along with pay pa l sending you money to your bank. After a month i would list a single iphone and see how it goes.

In all honesty, you cant sell 2 with a brand new stealth account without getting banned again.

2) Open up an Amazon as well. I was 100% for eBay and against everything else until i meet Amazon. Great income stream.

3) Look for other items to sell. Sell an iphone when you can and use the profit to buy other products.

4) Consider getting a webpage for your iphones. I know a lot of work. Im just telling you being soley on the iphone is a risky game, that i am sure you are aware of by now. However none the less they are great products.

Hope any of this helps. Let me know

[satori8311]

Thanks for the suggestions, Dooley noted. As for Amazon, I have yet to utilize any selling potential on that website.(Only Purchased) Is Amazon connected to E-bay/PayPal in any way shape or form? Should we be concerned about "Linking"?

I mainly deal in high end electronics.(Apple iPhones)..That is MY Niche, not to say im closed to new avenues, just found my path in color conversions, repairing cracked,broken iPhones with brand new white front and backs..Etc Looked like brand new..Fully functional....

And before today, never thought I had any thing to worry about, figured this was "part of the process" "working" my way back up to the top.. REACHING really really reaching, for the notorious Power Seller Status, in hopes of reduced fee's and better recognition.. But nope.. Slammed shut, fast, and cold like a jail cell bar.. Cold oatmeal for breakfast ..

As a result, I have purchased the Stealth Book, AMAZED and VERY VERY HAPPY! I must say!! Extremely thorough, Aspkin,his team, and everyone else apart of this long but well worth it journey has done an excellent job in informing us.. I thought I was crafty my self with techniques I used, always yearned and knew more knowledge was out there.. That's the key folks, never stop learning and researching! In all areas of life.. ;-)

@WasTopRatedThenBanned

To me it was perfect timing reading your suggestions, all of which I had considered in my mind many times.. I hope everyone enjoys reading all of the posts.. Together we can learn a lot, and solve these problems...


"All with a little help from my friends"

Namaste good people..

[rsot]

Welcome to the forums.

Am az on is not related to eb/pp in any form so that`s a plus. A negative is that Az is very strict.

[MichaelW]

- Set buyer requirement on eBay
- No International shipping (less profit but better than get burn)
- Insurance, Signature required
- Prompt ship
- Communication (this is a must)

[slapped]

I also sell High end electronics on Ebay, and have been for for nearly 10 years, so I Learned the hard way,,now the 3 MAIN things that Ebay TRULY concerns themselves with in this catagory are if the Items are Stolen, if they are Truly as described (New, Used, ect) and their FAILURE Rate,,

Authenticity is also important,,but lets face it , if you sell a Counterfeit iphone EVERY one of your buyers will KNOW Instantly so you wont last long at all, all it, and 1 Counterfeit IPhone is all it will take for Ebay (or Amazon) to boot you,,,

Now by your own admission you talk about a Bunch of claims filed against you, well You never mentioned what they were for but giving you the benefit of the doubt I assumming that these cases were NOT concerns about Authenticity,,,

If it was because your buyers could NOT register their product with Apple on their website that would indicate that they were stolen it would only take 1 such complaint to get you suspended,,other complaints maybe considered equipment failure and ebay will not allow you to have more that a 2% equipment failure rate, Ebay will NEVER tell you that but believe me that is what it is, and even LESS for Amazon.

Take this information for whatever it is worth

[WasTopRatedThenBanned]

Amazon and eBay are completely different. You can spread your business and if eBay fails again you have Amazon making you money etc. If you have any questions drop me a pm. TC

[satori8311]

Originally Posted by slapped

I also sell High end electronics on Ebay, and have been for for nearly 10 years, so I Learned the hard way,,now the 3 MAIN things that Ebay TRULY concerns themselves with in this catagory are if the Items are Stolen, if they are Truly as described (New, Used, ect) and their FAILURE Rate,,

Authenticity is also important,,but lets face it , if you sell a Counterfeit iphone EVERY one of your buyers will KNOW Instantly so you wont last long at all, all it, and 1 Counterfeit IPhone is all it will take for Ebay (or Amazon) to boot you,,,

Now by your own admission you talk about a Bunch of claims filed against you, well You never mentioned what they were for but giving you the benefit of the doubt I assumming that these cases were NOT concerns about Authenticity,,,

If it was because your buyers could NOT register their product with Apple on their website that would indicate that they were stolen it would only take 1 such complaint to get you suspended,,other complaints maybe considered equipment failure and ebay will not allow you to have more that a 2% equipment failure rate, Ebay will NEVER tell you that but believe me that is what it is, and even LESS for Amazon.

Take this information for whatever it is worth

Hello, and thank you ALL for your input.. MUCH appreciated!

I should have clarified why the cases were open to begin with. As the Texan would say "Oops"

I've had an account with E-bay since 2008... Purchased a few items here and there nothing special and very sporadic (10 items in total as of Aug 2011)

First sales began in Sept of 2011 a few small items, then worked my way up to a few antique Herman Miller chairs I had in the barn.. Went flawless no problems, sold 4, each of which sold from $250-500.. Again No PROBLEMS.. No cases.. Nothing...

Came up on a Apple iPhone 3gs 16gb for $150 (broken screen) replaced it for $30, sold it for $400.00 (Sept "2011") - I was HOOKED!!

Continued doing that, 3 months passed, again no problems, opened cases, nothing.. Prompt Shipping time, 5 stars accross the board ( When feedback was left, half the time it wasn't, another bummer) started to work my way up to iPhone 4 32gb and color conversions.. Sales REALLY BOOMED..

Always had impeccable communication before and after sales.. Made all partys well aware of shipping times, and solved ANY and ALL problems peacefully without ebays help. I have 50 recorded sales as of this point.. All flawless...


One day in December ( The height of xmas season) I had sold an iPhone to a buyer in Russia, shipped the item, tracked the item, suddenly item was re-routed, being sent back to my home.. No one could give any reason.. Low and behold, packaged arrived, EMPTY with Russian tape all over a tampered box. Kaboooooom, open case, item not received, yada yada yada... Made PayPal, and E-bay WELL aware of what had happened, including photographs and proof... Even insured the item and had the USPS side with me, full documentation.. Well, DIDN'T matter, I uploaded, I faxed, I copied, and I called repeatedly to explain my side.. It was a charge back, from the buyers cc company.. PayPal, said there was nothing they could do... Mind you at this point, not only am I out $500 for the sale, but now I have no iPhone to re-sell and a big red negative in my account.. Immediately paid that off, to get my account up and running again while waiting for the insurance check.. 3 months btw....

That one incident caused them to restrict my selling amount, based on low dsr ratings... Boom 6 items a month or 2500, whatever comes first? BS... Almost an entire year now, I have worked very very hard to raise those DSRS, having most of the time only 1 person a month leaving positive feedback, sometimes even going two months with no feedback.. How can you raise DSR with no feedback? Impossible... Like I said, always great communication, left notes in the packages indicating the importance of feedback.. Yada Yada....

So Last month (November "2011") same thing happens, package returned empty handed and tampered with... Here we go again, open case, escalate case, long long wait for insurance refund..Big Red Negative in PayPal. (My fault I guess for already spending the money before item arrived to buyer)

PayPal sides with buyer, case closed... Out another $1000.00 (Phone + Sale)

Brush it off, wait for the 1st to come around to begin selling, it's now November 29th.. Next day, says my account as been suspended.. 3 WEEKS i was on the phone with e-bay, explaining my side of the story.. They said looks like it was sent into secondary appeal, I should hear something within 72 hours.. Well another week goes by, I get on the phone with trust and safety, very foreign to U.S sounding women answers, very broken English.. I explained again, my side, and all she kept saying was, she write a note, there was nothing more she could do..

Next day, BOOM.. Suspended indefinably..


I'm amazed if any one was able to read that and not laugh at the improper grammar and punctuation... Just felt it would be better to explain in further detail, how I arrived at the position i'm in with e-bay... Hence the thread creation for tips and advice of selling high end electronics, particularly Apple iPhones, more then 6 a month, while flying under the radar and making the same amount of cash or more as previous months...

Thanks again everyone for your help and support.. Especially Aspkin for creating such a wonderful site and guide book......

[oge]

that's quite a hell of a story only problem/mistake i see that could of saved you was not selling high end electronics outside of the US .....maybe you could get your stealth accounts going and plan everything out and get to that point again who knows good luck!

[satori8311]

Originally Posted by oge

that's quite a hell of a story only problem/mistake i see that could of saved you was not selling high end electronics outside of the US .....maybe you could get your stealth accounts going and plan everything out and get to that point again who knows good luck!

@oge - Why thank you..I'm not the best at making a long story short, obviously ;-) .... Odd thing is, I had been dealing with international sales with ONLY apple iPhone 4 32gb for nearly a year.. Sometimes setting up package deals on e-bay.. Offering two iPhones, with box and accessories.. I even through in Beats By Dre for a while there, just to entice people further.. Often times auctions would end at $1000.00 + for two iPhones that I would only pay $300 a piece for (Color Conversions Are Awesome).

I do appreciate the feedback.

@MichaelW - less profit was = $100-150 on average.. Big chunk difference between international and domestic.. I understand what your saying though. Difficult to give up, but e-bay sales are far superior for a long term business then any other job in my home town of 300.. lol

[newjerseymax]

It sounds like you could get back into it. I would advise though in addition selling some low price product that mostly will satisfy every customer. You might even lose some small dollars in the process, however it should raise your DSR. Do not rely on the Iphones as your primary feedback.

[MichaelW]

If international is a must, don't ship to Italy, Russia, Indonesia, and all country in Africa.

Originally Posted by satori8311

@oge - Why thank you..I'm not the best at making a long story short, obviously ;-) .... Odd thing is, I had been dealing with international sales with ONLY apple iPhone 4 32gb for nearly a year.. Sometimes setting up package deals on e-bay.. Offering two iPhones, with box and accessories.. I even through in Beats By Dre for a while there, just to entice people further.. Often times auctions would end at $1000.00 + for two iPhones that I would only pay $300 a piece for (Color Conversions Are Awesome).

I do appreciate the feedback.

@MichaelW - less profit was = $100-150 on average.. Big chunk difference between international and domestic.. I understand what your saying though. Difficult to give up, but e-bay sales are far superior for a long term business then any other job in my home town of 300.. lol

[WasTopRatedThenBanned]

If done right and with time, your sales will get big again. But when you create another account, you must go slow. If you try and dump your stock on eBay, they will ban you after your item sales and hold your money. Requesting Docs etc.

Also, i advise not selling in Russia. I sell electronics as well, Russia shipping is UN-reliable and so are the people....no offense.

[slapped]

Originally Posted by WasTopRatedThenBanned

If done right and with time, your sales will get big again. But when you create another account, you must go slow. If you try and dump your stock on eBay, they will ban you after your item sales and hold your money. Requesting Docs etc.

Also, i advise not selling in Russia. I sell electronics as well, Russia shipping is UN-reliable and so are the people....no offense.

There are a LOT of items shipped in packages that Russian Customs will NOT allow to be shipped to a Residential address, Electronics, Media are just a few Examples..so as a Seller unless you 100% Familiar with these Restrictions, in terms of shipping to Russia, I suggest that you do NOT ship there,at all. These restrictions By the Way also holds true for Many other Eastern Block Countries