how can i cover myself properly incase of any issues?

skylight

I think I would be a little paranoid over £300 as well! If it were £20 or so then I wouldn't have a problem, but I couldn't afford to lose £300 and the iPad too - not sure I would have used Ebay as a selling place for it though. I think I would have posted it on my facebook page first to see if a friend/relative wanted one at that price.

roxy86_2

skylight wrote: »

I think I would be a little paranoid over £300 as well! If it were £20 or so then I wouldn't have a problem, but I couldn't afford to lose £300 and the iPad too - not sure I would have used Ebay as a selling place for it though. I think I would have posted it on my facebook page first to see if a friend/relative wanted one at that price.

yeah i think you may be right. I didnt really want to put it on ebay as i knew i would panick about it.

i did put it on fb first and no one really showed in interest. I was also selling it for less on fb due to not having any fees. was asking £300

sold it on ebay for about £336 after fees and postage etc. Even though its more money which is very much needed, i dont know if it is worth the stressing.

I may well message the buyer and say that i can no longer sell it and lose the final value fee. And maybe try to sell it in a local paper or something.

Invalidation

So you advertised it...sold it.............then freaked?
If I was the buyer I'd formally complain to Ebay and Paypal about you, possibly even sue you.
Youve entered into a contract to treat, there has been offer and acceptance. The buyer paid (By Paypal) now you are going to renege on the deal?, and you have the temerity to suggest the buyer may be dodgy ??

Good Grief.

roxy86_2

Invalidation wrote: »

So you advertised it...sold it.............then freaked?
If I was the buyer I'd formally complain to Ebay and Paypal about you, possibly even sue you.
Youve entered into a contract to treat, there has been offer and acceptance. The buyer paid (By Paypal) now you are going to renege on the deal?, and you have the temerity to suggest the buyer may be dodgy ??

Good Grief.

i see your point. but it all boils down to the fact that the buyer has very little feedback and has bought something for a fair amount of money without even reading the decription of it first.

You have to use a little wisdom in these types of situations so to protect yourself.

i dont want to lose out here and so im being extremely careful.

If the buyer had more feedback and didnt ask stupid questions that i have already answered then that would have been fine.

Crowqueen

roxy86 wrote: »

i see your point. but it all boils down to the fact that the buyer has very little feedback and has bought something for a fair amount of money without even reading the decription of it first.

You have to use a little wisdom in these types of situations so to protect yourself.

i dont want to lose out here and so im being extremely careful.

If the buyer had more feedback and didnt ask stupid questions that i have already answered then that would have been fine.

Unfortunately, you need to be able to trust someone to sell an item of this price on eBay. If you didn't trust your buyers, then you should not have listed it on eBay - you could have sold it to a friend. Your buyer may feel the same way about you and may be wondering whether it will turn up.

Stupid questions are always going to be asked. If you didn't want questions, you should have perhaps made the listing a little bit clearer. If the buyer is worried about accessories, then did you not put them in the listing? Did you not say "iPad only, no accessories"? I agree it's a little late to ask questions, but as he has paid, he has a legal right to the goods, and you need to send the item ASAP or refund him, rather than dither about asking us whether we approve of him.

You need to dispatch it ASAP or risk a neg and non-performance report, which would be a problem as then people who would otherwise buy from you might think twice about whether they will get what they paid for.

The guy has paid - so he's not a Nigerian scammer. If he has reasonable feedback for other gadget items, he's not necessarily a scammer.

If you delay too much longer, you will lose Paypal protection as the item needs to be posted within 7 days for it to qualify.

People here are too alarmist - most of these things go OK, you only hear about the transactions that go wrong.

roxy86_2

thanks crowqueen. he only won it last night and so i am planning on posting on mon via special del so he gets it tuesday.

the problem is like you say most things go ok but you only hear about the bad ones and i have heard from so many people about bad experiences.

I am just after the best way to protect myself from losing out. Everyone has been very helpful with answering most of that. I just want to know how best to mark the ipad in the case of it being returned as snad?

also if it got sent back snad and i received back the wrong ipad etc how i would i prove this to paypal? are pics enuf or does that not make any difference? i know payapl often side with buyers

Crowqueen

I know, but there's a lot of trust involved in selling things to a stranger, and trust cuts both ways. Part of the reason I won't buy things like this online is that I've bought in the past and the item has been on its last legs. Quite often items like this are underdescribed, in worse condition than the seller has listed them in, or go faulty after the buyer buys them. I've never sold anything like this for the same reason - I don't want to get £50 for something, then have to pay it back within a month because it stopped working. From a buyer's perspective this situation is equally fraught.

I'm glad you're thinking of posting it. There's nothing more you can really do. Do you really want to go back to the buyer, tell him you don't trust him so you're refunding his money? That's a definite neg, IMO. It would hurt you more than it does him.

Make sure you take down the serial numbers but don't tell that to the buyer - that also calls their honesty into question. Then if they do try a switcheroo, you've got proof that the item is not yours and you can take legal action against the buyer if necessary.

It pays to be safe, but there is a thing as being too safe. By listing on eBay in the first place, even though you'd heard bad things, you took the risk that the sale might not work out for the best. You can't choose your buyers, and you can't block people with low feedback. That means it's your responsibility to try and honour sales you make knowing you took the risk.

roxy86_2

i know what your saying and you are right. can you help with the best way to mark the ipad though etc? i have never had an issue like this an hopefully never will but i want to do all i can as this item is worth a lot. again has anyone ever had an issue where something had been returned but is different then the one sent?

Crowqueen

It should have a serial number on the back - all Apple products do.

That's a good way to make sure - it's independently verifiable.

Security markings with UV pen ... I'm not convinced, but you can get one today if you don't already have one and mark it with your postcode or something buyerproof like that (assuming buyer doesn't know your address) so they can't claim they wrote that on themselves.

roxy86_2

so just so i know. if i was to take a pic of the serial number and then s later down the line if buyer said item is not as described and sent it back, and i then realise it is not the correct item but a different ipad to the one i sold. If i provided pics of the serial number of the one i sent with the one i had now been sent back that would be enuf to put claim in my favour?

or no?