Help with selling expensive item - iphone 5s

mark55man

Hi

I am quite experienced ebayer, but normally for lower value items. My brother has asked me for advice, he is an Ebayer newbie and has put a brand new (sealed) iphone 5s up for sale. He has zero feedback and I am worried that will attract people looking to game/scam him.

To his credit he has already fended off an "end it early for cash" and I have advised him to make sure he is eligible for seller protection by wrapping it properly sending it by trackable courier.

Is there any thing else he should do to prevent loss or unpleasantness.

Flyonthewall

End it early for cash? If that's cash on collection then surely that would be better? It would be sold as seen. Obviously a low cash option is someone just trying their luck, but far from a scam.

He needs to make sure he's noted down serial and IMEI numbers of the phone and he needs to package it very well and send it via a tracked method.

Aside from that he needs to make sure he's blocking bad buyers (e.g. anyone with non-payment strikes), that he's described the phone properly and that he's taken photos.

If he has no feedback at all he would be best off buying something to gain some positive feedback and if possible selling something else first. However, even with loads of feedback you can still get people trying to scam you.

simpywimpy

I have the same thing for sale but am reluctant to put it on ebay after my recent experience. I sold some v festival tickets and sent them by special delivery. Two days after the event, the buyer said the envelope did not contain the tickets and ebay decided in their favour. Im an experienced ebayer so cant understand where I went wrong other than losing over £400

nodiscount

Tell your brother this: don't.

Ebay is notorious (IMO) for allowing scammers to get away with scamming with items like iPads and iPhones. Common scams are the 'box was empty' or the 'phone is damaged/faulty' stories. With the latter you ask for item to be returned and find the item is not the one you sent out.

Use gumtree or preloved instead.

Flyonthewall

simpywimpy wrote: »

I have the same thing for sale but am reluctant to put it on ebay after my recent experience. I sold some v festival tickets and sent them by special delivery. Two days after the event, the buyer said the envelope did not contain the tickets and ebay decided in their favour. Im an experienced ebayer so cant understand where I went wrong other than losing over £400

You can appeal decisions when things like that happen, although the problem is proving it.

Always make sure you keep proof of postage. It will have the weight on and that should prove that, should a similar thing to above happen, the iphone was in the box and it wasn't an empty box.

Cash on collection is generally best for more expensive items as they are sold as seen.

If you have someone collecting it be sure to accept cash only. If they pay by Paypal refund and insist on cash only.

mark55man

wow - thank you - it seems my advice was wrong. whats to stop the cash buyer raising a dispute and claiming the money back

How do you do £600 cash safely - exchange it in the bank - or have a big friend come down

chancesare_2

mark88man wrote: »

wow - thank you - it seems my advice was wrong. whats to stop the cash buyer raising a dispute and claiming the money back

Big clue. Cash.

mark55man

Fair enough - & true - I guess I was thinking about the buyer trying it on small claims etc afterwards - he has enough sh1te to deal with in his life

Flyonthewall

mark88man wrote: »

wow - thank you - it seems my advice was wrong. whats to stop the cash buyer raising a dispute and claiming the money back

How do you do £600 cash safely - exchange it in the bank - or have a big friend come down

Ebay side with sellers when it comes to collections. Buyers can see the item and decide whether or not to pay, therefore cannot claim the item is not as described. If there were any issues they shouldn't have paid.

Just be sure to double check the cash. Most people are not trying to scam anyone. You can get pens that show whether notes are real if you want to be certain.

spacey2012

Is it his phone to sell ?
Is it on contract ?
If so I would read the contract.

mark55man

Yes it is his to sell and is not on contract - my brother has the receipts it was a replacement for a broken one, but he decided that he would sell it and use the cash on a high end Android for half the price