Advice For Selling Mobile Phone on Ebay

thor

I want to sell a brand new mobile phone(sim free) on ebay but need quite of bit of advice about what to be wary of.

1. The only no-no I am sure about is to not accept overseas bids but how can this be done? Can you cancel a bid you don't like the look of?

2. I have a paypal account but have only used it to make purchases and Iam reluctant to offer paypal as aa means of payment for the phone as I believe there are extra fees involved. Is this true? If so then I will probably only accept personal(UK) cheques and postal orders. I hope this won't cut down the number of bidders too much.

3. Is there anything else I should be thinking about?

MarkyMark_2

You can set up preferences in my ebay page when you sell plus you have options when you set up your auction to sell only to uk ebayers.

Paypal do charge a % for each sale on ebay, the paypal help page will tell you how much and i can guarantee if you dont offer paypal as a payment you will get hardly get any buyers sadly so it is recommended.

Ive sold many phones on ebay and all went well, so if you make sure you setup your auction properly you should have a trouble free sale.

thor

Looks like I'm going to have to do quite a bit of reading then.
The phone I have is brand new and the box has not even been opened(this should increase it's value yes?). I was wondering what would you do if you sell it as unopened and then buyer comes back saying that it does not work? You would be unable to deny it as you have never seen it working yourself.

Cat72

The phone I have is brand new and the box has not even been opened(this should increase it's value yes?).

If you are selling an electronic item is is always best to check it fully works before posting,if not just for your own piece of mind incase of a chargeback. My OH bought a brand new phone from 02 yet when he got it it never worked. So just because it is new does not mean it works.
I would sell the phone as brand new , listing that it comes with box & its accessoires. I wouldnt bother about mentioning the box being sealed as many people are only intereasted in the " new " fact .( If you buy from a shop they will take it out an demonstrate it first to let you know its ok ).
ALso I recommend taking actual photos of the phone you have rather than using the bog standard ones copied from a website. It lets people know you genuinely have the phone and are not a scammer.And too me also makes your listing stand out ( I add my name on the bottom of my photo so people will remeber mylisting when flicking through )
Paypal payments are a must but tighten up your selling preferances to only accept from people with a paypal account and who have a feedback score, and no negatives. ( this can be done from your main ebay page before you start the listing ).
Also only send by specail delivery. Mention this on your listing and price for this. It will give you protection against a chargeback and also offers a fast, reassurinance to the seller.Only post to the address on the paypal payment.

Road_Hog

thor wrote:

2. I have a paypal account but have only used it to make purchases and Iam reluctant to offer paypal as aa means of payment for the phone as I believe there are extra fees involved.

Well life's tough, you like to use paypal to purchase but you don't want to pay the fees as a seller. Have a think about that next time you purchase something and the poor seller has to pay the fees.

If you want to sell your phone, especially as it is new, you're going to have to accept paypal (so the buyer has some comeback) or let it go for a very cheap price.

bleugh

please ensure you keep a note of the phones serial and IMEI numbers,

this'll assist in stopping people doing a swapsie on you and claiming it never worked, then sending back their own broken phone

soolin

Be careful on your description. You say it is sim free, do you mean by that that it is unlocked and can be used by any network or that it is without a sim. If it is fully unlocked to any network then it is worth more than a phone that is locked.

Soo

ben500

And don't put it on "buy it now" as it will be snapped up by a scammer within minutes, you won't get your money and will have to relist if your smart enough not to part with the phone.

Mobiles attract the scammers lke a rotting corpse attracts flies! You need to be wary when selling them, never ship to an alternative address and steer clear of anyone asking you to accept Western Union payment.

orlwaysbroke

ben500 - if i have a BIN with immediate payment this should help , shouldn't it.

anterminator

If you have a BIN, anyone could just click the button and not pay, so you'll have to relist and it's a lot of hassle.

Btw, I'm thinking of selling a new phone too on ebay. I haven't got an account yet, and am going to make one soon. What feedback rating do you recommend me to have before I attempt to sell the phone; I doubt I'll have many bids when I have 0 rating.
Also, the phone is currently sealed. Should I open it and test if whether it works, and then advertise it as new, instead of sealed, since cat72 says it doesn't really matter whether the phone is sealed or not.

Cheers

M

thor

Road_Hog wrote:

Well life's tough, you like to use paypal to purchase but you don't want to pay the fees as a seller. Have a think about that next time you purchase something and the poor seller has to pay the fees.

If you want to sell your phone, especially as it is new, you're going to have to accept paypal (so the buyer has some comeback) or let it go for a very cheap price.

It's not just the fees that worry me but the fact that paypal has a rep for being very unreliable for both buyer & seller. Btw I only use paypal to buy when there are no options to use personal cheques. 75% of my purchases are paid by methods other than paypal. If it can be avoided I would spare the seller the extra costs whenever possible.