eBay digital code selling - advice

aileth

Hi all,

My husband recently purchased an Xbox One that came with a free digital code for Fifa 14. He hates football, so has whacked it on eBay. Someone has bought the code for a decent price on buy it now, but I have read horror stories around the web about people selling digital 'goods', codes etc, and the buyer disputing with PayPal, PayPal siding with the buyer and sellers have been left with a code that no longer works and no money.

The buyer has asked him to email the code, which I would expect as seems daft to mail the piece of cardboard with the code on.

Is there anything extra we can do to protect ourselves before emailing him it or is it really playing Russian Roulette with whether the buyer is legit?
Thanks.

reason2

my advice would be to print the code off on paper and post it to them as "signed for" delivery.

that way you have proof of delivery and a signature to confirm receipt.

jon81uk

If you have a piece of cardboard then mail it out, make sure if there is a scratch off to reveal code that it hasn't been scratched and take a photo of that. Physical proof of the goods is much better than email.

aileth

Against my advice he's sent the code through eBay message centre, after taking pictures of sealed and unsealed code.

The buyer was sending angry emails about not receiving it two hours after winning it, so the sceptic in me thinks we might be in for a bumpy ride

Whiner

aileth wrote: »

Against my advice he's sent the code through eBay message centre, after taking pictures of sealed and unsealed code.

The buyer was sending angry emails about not receiving it two hours after winning it, so the sceptic in me thinks we might be in for a bumpy ride

I'd have just cancelled the sale, refunded the buyers money, told them to get stuffed, and blocked them.

WelshPaul

Why? Just email the code and send it via the post recorded after.

aileth

The guy has now left a positive saying speedy delivery, after sending four emails in four hours demanding to know where his code was, that he was going to go to ebay to get his money back, and making sarcastic comments about my OH's feedback (He only has 11 - all positives - as he's just started selling odd-bits from our spareroom).

Bizarre...

shaun_from_Africa

WelshPaul wrote: »

Why? Just email the code and send it via the post recorded after.

Possibly the worst thing to do.
If the buyer is a scammer, all they have to do is to get the code via e-mail then refuse to accept the delivery of the signed for letter.
Then they can use the code and get a full paypal refund by claiming non delivery.