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Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

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Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#111

Post by rorrr »

Spooky23 wrote: post #32

That's a variant of one of the oldest scams in the book on EBay. Removing seller feedback actually fixed the issue, at least for buyers. Back in the day, the formula for an EBay sell-side scammer was to: 1 - Setup a phony account, or network of accounts. 2 - start selling small value things to each other. (Postcards, keychains, digital pictures, etc) Leave positive feedback, including nonsensical feedback (ie. My lap…

Ebay works great for buyers now, it just sucks for sellers.

I buy on Ebay all the time, you can find all kinds of things there really cheap.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#112

Post by ZoFreX »

brk wrote: post #11

I stopped selling things like this on eBay a long time ago because I do not sell things frequently enough to keep up with the scams du jour. My local craigslist is where my for-sale items now go. Sure, I may get a little less than top-dollar for an item, or it might take a little longer to sell, but I'm never left with some after-the-fact dispute where I have no control (note: I'll only accept cash). eBay was fun whi…

> A true "amateur to amateur" auction type sales website is an area begging for competition...

Really? Because this is the area eBay started in, and they pivoted to more "online retail" than "online yard sale" because (surprise!) there is a lot more money in retail. Really, eBay is more today's Viaweb than an evolution of either p2p sales or auctions.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#113

Post by lsllc »

Since you shipped via USPS, the buyer has committed mail fraud. Call the US Postal Inspection Service, they are federal agents with no jurisdiction issues as the local police will have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspection...

Edit: USPIS Wikipedia link

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#114

Post by ericdykstra »

Unfortunately, buyer protection is just as bad!

I recently bought an item on Ebay from an Ebay shop in China and paid extra for EMS shipping because I needed it fairly quickly (less than 2 weeks). The seller sent using a non-EMS method that barely got to my door in time, and it was the wrong item completely! When escalated to Ebay, they would only refund the item and original shipping fee and only if I sent back the item and paid for my own shipping to send it back.

I later learned that the seller was out of stock for the item, and figure that they must have sent the wrong item purposefully (since you're not supposed to be selling something you don't actually have).

But there's no way to actually contact Ebay support, so there was nothing I could do. Really going to avoid Ebay from now on because of that poor experience. No protection on any side.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#115

Post by ZoFreX »

rorrr wrote: post #111
Spooky23 wrote: post #32

That's a variant of one of the oldest scams in the book on EBay. Removing seller feedback actually fixed the issue, at least for buyers. Back in the day, the formula for an EBay sell-side scammer was to: 1 - Setup a phony account, or network of accounts. 2 - start selling small value things to each other. (Postcards, keychains, digital pictures, etc) Leave positive feedback, including nonsensical feedback (ie. My lap…

Ebay works great for buyers now, it just sucks for sellers. I buy on Ebay all the time, you can find all kinds of things there really cheap.

Have you ever tried to get your money back after getting scammed as a buyer?

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#116

Post by dangrossman »

amalag wrote: post #68

The limiting factor is the buyer's reputation with his credit card company. If he is repeatedly doing chargebacks people hopefully a credit card company will notice and not take his side or better yet, not issue him credit. The idea is that credit card companies also do not want to have this person as a customer, and probably this is a new scam he dreamed up, not an ongoing one.

Why would the credit card issuer not want that customer? Each time he issues a chargeback, they're getting paid a chargeback fee by the merchant (PayPal). It could even be profitable for the bank.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#117

Post by throwaway54-762 »

kerryfalk wrote: post #55
jaredsohn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the value prop for "make shipping less painless"? :)

Because we're targeting consumers, they're less familiar with shipping than businesses. Our system provides buyers with accurate shipping costs and prepares labels for sellers when their parts have been purchased. All they have to do is put it in a box and drop the package off. This also means that we can eventually grow each seller's addressable market within our system as we'll handle cross-border shipping on their…

I think grandfather comment is poking fun at your (presumed) typo: your earlier comment should probably say "making shipping less painful" rather than "making shipping less painless."

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#118

Post by Kliment »

headShrinker wrote: post #7

Being the grinch that I am, I stopped giving any feedback at all for buying or selling on eBay. The principal being if anything ever goes wrong, feedback is your only weapon.

After a seller started harrassing me by telephone after I gave them neutral feedback for shipping crap (not negative because they did refund me after I sent it back) I stopped giving feedback altogether. Never again. I avoid ebay altogether now for anything of value, and avoid paypal for everything.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#119

Post by Vivtek »

lsllc wrote: post #113

Since you shipped via USPS, the buyer has committed mail fraud. Call the US Postal Inspection Service, they are federal agents with no jurisdiction issues as the local police will have. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspection... Edit: USPIS Wikipedia link

This is an excellent idea. The USPS really doesn't look kindly on mail fraud.

Re: Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

#120

Post by Anechoic »

Osmium wrote: post #33

This would only work in major cities, but I always thought there was a business in having a physical escrow service aimed specifically at selling small, high-value items. You sell an item online, deposit it with the company (who takes a small cut; you could even mail it to them), who then pass it on to the buyer when payment is confirmed. The company can confirm it's in working order, and take some photographs for pr…

This would be a great value-added service option for the Post Office. Deposit money in an account, have it shipped to a local post office, postal worker witnesses the acceptance and opening of the package, if everything is kosher, the buyer signs a release and the money is leased to the seller.

USPS already provide "witness" services for packages that are picked (for free!), just add an escrow account for 1 to 5%.

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