BEWARE! - Thinking of selling something on Ebay?

Lazydayz71

In my opinion, it is NOT safe to sell anything on Ebay and they should make it clear to people before they list anything for sale.

Unfortunately due to Ebay's return policy it is extremely easy for Buyers to purchase items, claim a refund for 'missing items' or 'not as described', they are refunded and keep the items. The Seller can lose everything and even receive Negative Feedback, there is little or nothing they can do about it.

I'm not scaremongering, this is a very real problem and unfortunately becoming more common.

I was recently scammed in this way and and lost a considerable amount of money. I consider myself to be pretty savvy, I honestly thought I had done everything to protect myself such as photographing items during packing, photographing items at the Post Office with the labels attached, sending by expensive Royal Mail Special Delivery, etc. But none of it made any difference. I lost my property, my money and got Negative Feedback. 

soolin

You are not scaremongering......right ho then, so all of us managing to sell with very few issues are somehow geniuses then? .

i do not believe that online selling suits everyone, not just on eBay but online generally, we are all different. However I don’t think a knee jerk reaction to selling online as being somehow dangerous is at all helpful. 

Lazydayz71

soolin said:

You are not scaremongering......right ho then, so all of us managing to sell with very few issues are somehow geniuses then?

Hi Soolin, if you're a business seller selling hundreds or thousands of items every month, I'm sure you can absorb the loss of the odd scammer ripping you off here and there.

However, imagine you're an occasional seller maybe just listing a few items a year, you list an expensive camera worth several hundred pounds and lose it to this type of scam, it can be tough to accept.

At the very least, Ebay should make it clear to people there's a risk. I've no doubt it's in the small print somewhere but I don't believe that's enough.

Flyonthewall

Lazydayz71 said:

In my opinion, it is NOT safe to sell anything on Ebay and they should make it clear to people before they list anything for sale.

Unfortunately due to Ebay's return policy it is extremely easy for Buyers to purchase items, claim a refund for 'missing items' or 'not as described', they are refunded and keep the items. The Seller can lose everything and even receive Negative Feedback, there is little or nothing they can do about it.

I'm not scaremongering, this is a very real problem and unfortunately becoming more common.

I was recently scammed in this way and and lost a considerable amount of money. I consider myself to be pretty savvy, I honestly thought I had done everything to protect myself such as photographing items during packing, photographing items at the Post Office with the labels attached, sending by expensive Royal Mail Special Delivery, etc. But none of it made any difference. I lost my property, my money and got Negative Feedback. 

Ebay are hardly going to say "hey, this isn't safe. Wanna list still?" before going to the listings page. 

Photographing during packing or at the Post Office doesn't prove anything and isn't what is asked for in a dispute. Sometimes couriers do leave parcels in stupid places or at wrong addresses so not every claim will be a scam, even if tracking states they have it. However, sending signed for or tracked protects you from item not received. You just add the tracking number on ebay/paypal.

For item not as described, ask for the item to be returned and then refund upon receiving it back. If you refuse a return and won't just refund then the case will be escalated and yes, you will lose the item, your money and gain negative feedback. You need to communicate with the buyer before it gets to that point.

Items not as described starts with the listing of the item though. No use saying "look at your item I'm packing up", "look your item is at the post office", "look you got your item, there's the tracking" if you listed it as new other, took one blurry photo of the item from the front and only stated what the item is and didn't bother mentioning the scratches or the massive hole in the back of it! 

You need to take clear photos of the entire item (or items) and give a full and honest description about the item(s) and the condition. That alone will massively reduce the buyer possibly being unhappy and stating the item is not as described. 

I get fed up of going through listings where the seller has stated new or new other and the description reads "only used a few times." Used...clue is right there, it's not new! As a buyer, I carefully check the photos and description, but not all buyers do so something as simple as listing the condition correctly could save problems later on.

Yes, some people are out to scam others, not just on ebay but various sites, and some people are idiots who can be harder to deal with, but a buyer telling you they don't have it or it's not as described doesn't mean you're dealing with a scammer. It's not just buyers either, sellers can be bad too. It doesn't mean ebay is unsafe, it just means you need to understand how it works and protect yourself as much as possible.

[Deleted User]

Sometimes you have to be your own detective and also at the same time use common sense if your listing something expensive. In no way am I saying your didn't use common sense but examples could be simply stating in listing that only buyers with good feedback or above a certain amount of feedback can bid on an auction. I'm not sure on the circumstances in which you sold your listing whether it was Bin or auction. Last month I had a rare model car for sale and requested sellers with more than 10 positive feedback be allowed to bid. Of course this doesn't mean anything and your still going to get those that try. I had a bidder that placed multiple bids and when randomly looking at their account noticed they were time wasters that had a history of messing up people's listing and more often than not didn't pay. Had they won then you have to also assume if they had paid then maybe they were likely to cause problems so I retracted their bid and banned them from my listing. Whilst being overly cautious the item sold and I was paid with no problems. In other situations where I've sold something expensive I've contacted the seller after sale just to get an idea of whether I feel I might expect problems. It doesn't always work but I'm a fairly good judge of character and sometimes you can gain a little bit more detail about someone just through a couple of messages. Maybe even do a bit of google research on their name and address, who knows they could be a serial scammer. Obviously there will always be occasions when someone's slips through the net and unfortunately that is the gamble with selling through the likes of eBay but generally it does work for most of us. 

Lazydayz71

Flyonthewall said:

Ebay are hardly going to say "hey, this isn't safe. Wanna list still?" before going to the listings page.

Hi Flyonthewall

Thanks for all the detailed information, however it dosen't change the fact that it's very easy for a dishonest Buyer to take your goods and money.

Before buying investments, people are warned that the value can go down as well as up, people still buy investments.

I'm not saying that everyone should stop selling on Ebay, I'm saying people need to be aware of the risks involved.

Because Ebay is such a big name nowadays, it can give people a false sense of security, they may go ahead listing high value items without giving it too much thought, then end up losing out.

Lazydayz71

Daveym79 said:

...unfortunately that is the gamble with selling through the likes of eBay but generally it does work for most of us. 

Hi Davey, yes as you say it's a gamble (although generally it works OK) and that's what people should be informed of.

Once they've been informed they can decide for themselves how careful they think they need to be.

Flyonthewall

Lazydayz71 said:

Flyonthewall said:

Ebay are hardly going to say "hey, this isn't safe. Wanna list still?" before going to the listings page.

Hi Flyonthewall

Thanks for all the detailed information, however it dosen't change the fact that it's very easy for a dishonest Buyer to take your goods and money.

Before buying investments, people are warned that the value can go down as well as up, people still buy investments.

I'm not saying that everyone should stop selling on Ebay, I'm saying people need to be aware of the risks involved.

Because Ebay is such a big name nowadays, it can give people a false sense of security, they may go ahead listing high value items without giving it too much thought, then end up losing out.

It's very easy for dishonest people to do many things, a lot of which you can't do anything about. With ebay, you have to go through a case. A buyer can't open a case and instantly get a refund and have the item.

I'd also say a scammer is less likely to leave negative feedback than a genuine buyer. Constant negatives to sellers makes it obvious that it's the buyer in the wrong/doing something dodgy. No buyer would be that unlucky that they almost only dealt with bad sellers.

You may have been unlucky and had a scammer, but as you haven't given any details nobody knows. Instead of showing people where the risk may be and potentially saving people from the same happening to them, you're giving a general warning about a massive, popular site that most people will ignore because it's meaningless without any actual details. People aren't going to stop using a site they like based on a random forum post. So perhaps you should post what happened. It may help others either to avoid a scam or see what needs to be done in that situation to avoid the same happening to them.

Lazydayz71

Flyonthewall said:

People aren't going to stop using a site they like based on a random forum post.

I'm not expecting people to stop using it, I'm hoping to make people aware of the risks and thus be able to make their own mind up as to whether theyre willing to take the risk.

Actually, I really enjoy using Ebay and have done for many years. I will still continue to use it but only for buying not for selling, as I've decided I'm not willing to take the risk.

I had 5 more items lined up to sell on Ebay, all worth between £100 to £300 each. Having just been scammed and losing an item/money, I'm not willing to take the gamble.

[Deleted User]

You have mentioned you have more items to list but are wary of listing these. Are they all cameras or electronic items? What have you done since being scammed? Have you even looked at the buyers feedback? Did they seem a trusting buyer or was there feedback from sellers relating to them trying the same thing on... Any kind of pattern? What was their feedback like and how long have they been a member? Does feedback show any previous purchases and if so have you contacted any other sellers that this individual has purchased from to see if they had been scammed. Have you contacted the police or Action Fraud? Have you contacted trading standard with the sellers address? Have you even contacted the seller and if so what did you say? Your initial message doesn't really give much scope to the steps you have taken against this person and what if anything has come of it. 

sham63

Come on, let’s hear exactly how you were ‘scammed’.............
Otherwise stop wasting everyone’s time.