Any tips to put ebay scammers off?

Ruby789

Hi all,

I'm a new seller on ebay and I'm worried about being the target of scammers. I'm trying to sell my perfume collection, and I've read other posts warning that this can be risky because it's not covered by Royal Mail unless sent by special delivery (which is expensive), and products are opened so you cannot proove they are genuine if challenged.

I've read posts which suggest that new sellers are targetted by people looking for freebies, so I wanted to word the ad to suggest more seller experience and hopefully put people off trying it on.

What do you think of this text:

"Returns: If you are not happy with your purchase, please contact me within 3 days of delivery to arrange to return the item. The item must be returned in the same condition as at the time of dispatch (as photos). I'll then issue a refund when I've received it back.

Open to UK bidders only. Please ensure you have read the description and looked at the photos of the item before bidding.

All items will be sent by Royal Mail recorded delivery."

What do you think?
Is this off putting to genuine buyers as well?

I've also written 'genuine' after the name of each perfume and an indication of how much is left in the bottle (plus original bottle size) and a photo showing how much is in the bottle. I only have one of each perfume with various levels of use. All were bought from boots or airports and i've no doubts about any of them not being the real deal. Should I say this?

Any tips from experienced sellers? I have other items to sell to and want a wording to use across the board.

Thanks in advance

Crowqueen

Most sales go well - this is an eBay "Casualty" board - people come here when they have a problem.

The other side of the coin is that as a seller you have certain responsibilities. You can't just take the money and run - this is for the buyer's benefit as much, if not more, than it is for yours.

- If you can't insure something in the post, don't sell it online - take it to a carboot sale or advertise it in a shop window. Your buyers are entitled to refunds if something goes wrong but RM will not necessarily pay out if it wasn't properly covered, so think a bit before you list.

- RD is expensive, costs the buyer time to collect if they are not in to sign for it, and doesn't insure more than a standard proof of posting. It doesn't go separately to normal mail so has equal chance of getting lost. The best thing to do about INR is keep proof of posting and claim from RM if the item is worth less than £46, or send Special Delivery if it is worth more.

It puts me off unless the item is absolutely unavailable elsewhere (the time that I did recently buy something that came RD it was academic anyway, it just got put through my door without a signature). Since it costs a pound for no benefit to the buyer (and certain definite inconveniences), it could also damage your postage DSRs, which is something you don't want, or alternatively make your items look more expensive than the competition - and bear in mind that in most categories you are now up against businesses with large turnover and very advantageous posting rates.

The odd loss will also not be worth the additional pound you spend and charge your buyers for.

- Buyers have longer than 3 days to inspect items. They have up to 45 days under eBay policy to raise a dispute, so as a private seller, for faulty items at least, you need to leave the timescale relatively open-ended. Buyers have a right to what's described in the listing under the Sale of Goods Act, which covers private sellers.

If something arrives smashed, as you are possibly concerned about with perfume, it can't really be returned in the original condition - so saying that is likely to precipitate a lot of disputes.

I think you need to think things through from a buyers' perspective. Most of those terms are unenforceable or going to put people off (I can see where you're going with the UK bidders only so I won't comment on that - I sell overseas, but I don't sell perfume. Don't forget to set your preferences to block bidders in countries to which you don't ship.). Trying to protect yourself too much is going to leave people bidding on your competitors' items - if you are going to sell online at all (and I repeat what I put about not being sure about selling something by post that RM don't insure) then you need to trust your buyers to get the best results. They are the ones paying you - and they could just as easily pay someone else with better terms.

So as it stands, I don't think you are terribly competitive in terms of what you are offering and I'd go buy it from Boots.

DiiFMaritime

I wouldn't use Recorded Delivery - a lot of the time the status is not updated/ not tracked properly, so you are incurring more cost with no guaranteed benefits.

UK bidders only - if you set your buyer requirements to exclude all but UK locations and block non-UK bidders, this won't be an issue.

To be honest, I would be more concern with having an accurate description and good quality pictures. Inaccurate description could cause you major problems while poor quality pictures may attract lower bids.

If you choose to mention items was bought from Boots / airports then I wouldn't bother mentioning about being genuine.

Try to sell a few low value items to get a feel for how eBay works and don't worry about being a new seller - everyone had to start from somewhere.

martinthebandit

Best thing is to forget all that stitherem you have written. I assume your part bottles of perfume will be low value items, I would just look at each winning bidders feedback and go with your instincts.

Most of the scammers seem to go for higher value items and the vast majority of ebayers are honest folk.

All those conditions you have written says to me that if I do have a problem then you as a seller are likely to make it a bigger problem and I would buy elsewhere.

shaun_from_Africa

and I've read other posts warning that this can be risky because it's not covered by Royal Mail unless sent by special delivery (which is expensive)

You should also be aware that any perfume product that is flammable is prohibited by Royal mail and can't be sent through the post. (Some perfume products can be sent by RM tracked, but this is for business users only).

Ruby789

Thanks everyone!

Looks like it's unanimous. I'll just describe the items and keep my fingers and toes crossed.

soolin

Are you really going to get a lot for opened perfumes, is it worth the hassle?

Also remember that health And beauty is a category that carries restrictions, so you will only be able to,list a few a month. At Christmas I bought some cosmetic type items for resale and even on my TRS account was limited to a few at a time.

Crowqueen

Soo has a good point.

Sell them elsewhere. This is not an eBay-owned site - so it's fair game for me to say that between competition from big sellers and RM postal restrictions it just may not be worth the hassle.

I am clearing out my books and anything the big booksellers can list for less than my postal costs (never mind fees etc.) is just going to charity shops etc. Thankfully I do have some items that are worth me selling - quite a few, actually, I have 50+ items listed on Amazon and made £40 in sales in the last two weeks. But there are things that are simply not going to sell very well when you are head to head with the big boys.

sheenaread

Ruby789 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm a new seller on ebay and I'm worried about being the target of scammers. I'm trying to sell my perfume collection, and I've read other posts warning that this can be risky because it's not covered by Royal Mail unless sent by special delivery (which is expensive), and products are opened so you cannot proove they are genuine if challenged.

I've read posts which suggest that new sellers are targetted by people looking for freebies, so I wanted to word the ad to suggest more seller experience and hopefully put people off trying it on.

What do you think of this text:

"Returns: If you are not happy with your purchase, please contact me within 3 days of delivery to arrange to return the item. The item must be returned in the same condition as at the time of dispatch (as photos). I'll then issue a refund when I've received it back.

Open to UK bidders only. Please ensure you have read the description and looked at the photos of the item before bidding.

All items will be sent by Royal Mail recorded delivery."

What do you think?
Is this off putting to genuine buyers as well?

I've also written 'genuine' after the name of each perfume and an indication of how much is left in the bottle (plus original bottle size) and a photo showing how much is in the bottle. I only have one of each perfume with various levels of use. All were bought from boots or airports and i've no doubts about any of them not being the real deal. Should I say this?

Any tips from experienced sellers? I have other items to sell to and want a wording to use across the board.

Thanks in advance

I have been selling items on Ebay for a while now but I still feel like a newbie and the scammers target us all usually if you are selling a designer or quality item which your perfumes sounds like they will fall into that catergory.

Your right to only accept returns in the same condition you sent them. Returned any other way and no refund. Do not refund right away. Wait until you have the item back in your possession. Don't go on a say so that it is in the post. Be patient and wait. If not returned again no refund. The scam buyer will threaten you with giving negative feedback. Let them. Negative feedback can be removed by Ebay if it is untrue or derogatory to you.

Also don't refund right away if a buyer states the item never arrived in the post. Myself and several other sellers were caught out by one particular female whom I am not allowed to name. Well I think it was a female as her user name was female but that is no guarantee. Again tell the buyer you will put a claim into Royal Mail for the loss and then they will get their refund. Royal Mail do investigate normal mail losses/damage. You cannot put in a claim until 15 days after when the item was due to arrive and then they do take a while to settle. But if yours is a genuine claim then they do settle eventually.

Also never sell off of Ebay and only accept payment via PayPal. Always check your Ebay account to make sure the sale is genuine and check your PayPal account to make sure the payment is there before you post. There are very convincing fake emails out there purporting to be from Ebay and PayPal.

Hope this helps a bit.

soolin

sheenaread wrote: »

I have been selling items on Ebay for a while now but I still feel like a newbie and the scammers target us all usually if you are selling a designer or quality item which your perfumes sounds like they will fall into that catergory.

Your right to only accept returns in the same condition you sent them. Returned any other way and no refund. Do not refund right away. Wait until you have the item back in your possession. Don't go on a say so that it is in the post. Be patient and wait. If not returned again no refund. The scam buyer will threaten you with giving negative feedback. Let them. Negative feedback can be removed by Ebay if it is untrue or derogatory to you. It is very difficult to get negative feedback removed, being untrue is not a matter eBay will judge and they will not remove the feedback just because seller asks

Also don't refund right away if a buyer states the item never arrived in the post. Myself and several other sellers were caught out by one particular female whom I am not allowed to name. Well I think it was a female as her user name was female but that is no guarantee. Again tell the buyer you will put a claim into Royal Mail for the loss and then they will get their refund. Royal Mail do investigate normal mail losses/damage. You cannot put in a claim until 15 days after when the item was due to arrive and then they do take a while to settle. But if yours is a genuine claim then they do settle eventually.

Also never sell off of Ebay and only accept payment via PayPal. Always check your Ebay account to make sure the sale is genuine and check your PayPal account to make sure the payment is there before you post. There are very convincing fake emails out there purporting to be from Ebay and PayPal. There is nothing wrong with payments by cheque or bank transfer if you want , the dodgy ones like Western Union are not allowed on eBay anyway

Hope this helps a bit.

I've highlighted a couple of points where I think the advice is incorrect. However the main thing that concerns me with this advice is the 'don't refund until an Rm claim is opened.'This will almost certainly guarantee a seller a neg, it isn't the buyer that has the contract with RM it is the seller and the 15 working days is nothing at all to do with the buyer

in_the_Cotswolds

Also don't do a partial refund. I do either a full refund on return of the item or not at all.