Listing high value item - don't want to be conned!

mooomin

Hi,

I have a relatively high value electronics item that I'm looking to sell on Ebay (RRP is around £400) It's new and unused.

What is the best way to do this and avoid Ebay scams? I need the extra cash and don't want to worry about being out of pocket. I plan to sell only within the UK and to send via a point to point trackable courier (recommendations welcome!)

All advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

alistair.long

It can be risky as ebay will only allow you to recover £150 under the seller protection poliy.

This means that if someone has bought the item using fraudulent means, then ebay/paypal will only give £150 back to you. and the fraudster will have a £400 item.

soolin

alistair.long wrote: »

It can be risky as ebay will only allow you to recover £150 under the seller protection poliy.

This means that if someone has bought the item using fraudulent means, then ebay/paypal will only give £150 back to you. and the fraudster will have a £400 item.

I'm not at all sure what you mean.

Sellers on ebay have full paypal protection if they follow the rules and that basically means sending via a tracked means to the address that paypal say is 'OK to send to'. The only reference to a figure of £150 is that items over that require the signature to be seen online.

macfly

flying_fresian wrote: »

Hi,

I have a relatively high value electronics item that I'm looking to sell on Ebay (RRP is around £400) It's new and unused.

What is the best way to do this and avoid Ebay scams? I need the extra cash and don't want to worry about being out of pocket. I plan to sell only within the UK and to send via a point to point trackable courier (recommendations welcome!)

All advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What's the weight and size?

mooomin

It's about the weight of a boxed Xbox or similar, slightly larger dimensions though.

Oliver14

alistair.long wrote: »

It can be risky as ebay will only allow you to recover £150 under the seller protection poliy.

This means that if someone has bought the item using fraudulent means, then ebay/paypal will only give £150 back to you. and the fraudster will have a £400 item.

.

As Soolin said you are totally incorrect. I suggest you take a look at paypal seller protection as if you believe this you may have other misunderstandings that could leave yourself open to being scammed yourself. Understanding the requirements of seller and buyer protection can save you a lot of pproblems in the longterm.

macfly wrote: »

What's the weight and size?

flying_fresian wrote: »

It's about the weight of a boxed Xbox or similar, slightly larger dimensions though.

I'm pretty sure macfly was after something a wee bit more specific. You need the full weight and dimensions to be able to get any quote

bris

It's always a small risk selling a valuable item on ebay. Even if you do follow all the correct procedures it doesn't stop the SNAD brigade who swap them, strip parts off them etc. I would use Gumtree or similar for an item like this.
I do agree though that there is only a small percentage of scammers out there, but they are out there and this is why I wouldn't and don't take the chance any more, once bitten springs to mind.

Hammyman

I've been selling hundreds of high value items over the last couple of years - laptops. Not had any problems yet. I've taken cash on collection, bank transfer and paypal. Some stuff I've dropped off locally, some people have collected, the rest has gone by tracked courier. I've shipped to this country and the EU.

One thing I do do is only ship to Paypal registered addresses. The auction has photos of that item, not library pictures, and I try to have an identifiable mark on the photos. I also note down serial numbers and put them on the receipt and in addition, mark easily removable items such as batteries and hard drives with an oddball colour marker pen - not just a blue or black one.

mooomin

Oliver14 wrote: »

.

I'm pretty sure macfly was after something a wee bit more specific. You need the full weight and dimensions to be able to get any quote

Weight is 15lbs (my scales don't seem to have kilos for some reason...!)

The dimensions are 20 inches high, 6 wide and 16 long.

Thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate it.

I have tried Gumtree in the past but got my time wasted by an eejit who wanted me to deliver to him personally - over 300 miles away!

techspec

Soolins right, you just need a signature over £150.

If you use a courier service like parcel2go (get £4 cashback on first order if using quidco/topcashback) - then make sure you pay for extra cover - as only £50 of insurance is given free.

Set your seller preferences as tight as possible (blocking bidders from overseas, lots of npb strikes, etc).

I'm always nervous selling high value items with paypal, but i've not come unstuck since sending overseas 10 years ago. A buyer tried it on before christmas - claiming an untracked item had not arrived (HDNL delivered without tracking during the bad weather). But when i told her she needed to sign a declaration so that HDNL could investigate fully - she said it had arrived after all - and she did not know her husband had signed for it 2 weeks earlier. I recieved a £25 credit from the delivery agent too - for the hassle and phone calls i had to make chasing it up.

Taking down serial numbers like Hammyman said, is also a must. Maybe mark with security pen. Some sellers say no bids if your feedback is, say below 10 - but i never do this and i'm note sure Ebay would actually approve.

Biggest scams are hacked paypal accounts, false paypal claim after item recieved, chargebacks and returing a DIFFERENT item. All you can do is make sure you do everything right - to minimise the risk.

macfly

As tech says - a reseller using a courier is the way to go. Plenty of them out there. and should cost around a tenner at that weight.
I've also sold loads of high value stuff on ebay. Make sure seller protection says eligible, and post tracked with online confirmation. Most couriers do this.