Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again • Hacker News Board

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

#361

Post by Nursie » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 5:37 PM UTC

alextingle wrote: post #360

Nursie wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used gumtree in Australia to great effect a little while ago. You may not get quite the same price you could through ebay, but you don't have any fees so I'm pretty sure I cam out ahead. That and transactions were completed in person for cash. When one of my items (WiMAX router) didn't work correctly for the new buyer I offered to go round and help and give a full refund if I couldn't get it working (it started wor…

Read the comment text. Checked the userid. Was not disappointed.

All is discovered! Flee at once!

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

#362

Post by cupcake-unicorn » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 5:46 PM UTC

I sell things very rarely on eBay - recently I got an old Laptop at a garage sale that I realized I had no use for and went ahead and sold it.

Thankfully everything went well (I think the period for chargebacks has expired), but I had this awful feeling for a long time after the auction that something dodgy would happen. Every time I sell, I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette.

Like a lot of the other commenters, I'm not sure why more hasn't been done to help the sellers out. Shouldn't it be clear that it's a scam if a buyer does a CC chargeback, given that it's easy enough to file with Paypal? Also, wouldn't giving sellers the option to only accept payment via a bank account help?

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

#363

Post by arikrak » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 6:00 PM UTC

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…

Last time I checked, I don't think craigslist was the place to go to avoid scams.

eBay has a fairly reliable system in place, even if there's occasional issues. craigslist is filled with scammers.

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

#364

Post by repiret » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 6:01 PM UTC

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #349

codenerdz wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thousand times this. Their buyer filtering options are laughable. If they were to let me limit sales to people with certain types of addresses, purchases of certain value, a reasonable number of feedback, etc, that would be very helpful in reducing a chance of being defrauded

If they allowed that, almost all sellers would do it for security, and then there would be no ways for buyers to get any feedback. In fact, when I was placing my first bids on eBay, some buyers would cancel the auction or retract the bids because they didn't trust me. I understand their position, but how are you supposed to get feedback if sellers won't sell you anything?

Right, which is why they should only allow non-professional/low-volume sellers to make this restriction, that way new users can still buy from pro sellers to get some reputation, or people selling in odd-ball domains where such a restriction overly harm the seller.

If you sell, say, more than 500 items a year, you turn into a professional seller and you can't be as restrictive, but you are doing enough business for the occasional scammer to not make a large impact.

Of course, I think eBay is harmed relatively little by scammers like the one in the OP; so I can see why they haven't done much to prevent it at risk of loosing real business.

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

#365

Post by driverdan » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 6:08 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #215

I don't have much sympathy for this seller. - General Delivery is a big red flag, paypal confirmed or no. - You should check buyer feedback in advance, not afterwards. - don't leave feedback until you have the cash in your own bank account. - For expensive items, don't just get signature confirmation, pay the extra few $ for insurance. I insure anything over $50, for two reasons: you can claim against the insurance i…

You're blaming the victim for the fraud. It's not his fault. He followed PayPal's guidelines.

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

#366

Post by tolos » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 6:30 PM UTC

pjzedalis wrote: post #317

codenerdz wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thousand times this. Their buyer filtering options are laughable. If they were to let me limit sales to people with certain types of addresses, purchases of certain value, a reasonable number of feedback, etc, that would be very helpful in reducing a chance of being defrauded

eBay makes money off the listing fees. They don't care whether you get your item or not.

If you never get your item, you stop buying, so people stop selling, so people stop using ebay ...

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

#367

Post by pbreit » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 6:43 PM UTC

finnw wrote: post #350

pdonis wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if the buyer is complaining "not as described", there should need to be some sort of attempt to return the item Exactly. I'm extremely confused as to why this does not appear to have been brought up by any of the parties in the OP's case.

What good would that do? The scammer would just "return" a broken phone, or a piece of roof tile, claim that was what they received, and the victim has now paid for shipping twice.

It would help figure out how to resolve the situation at a modest cost (the cost being an important factor in reducing groundless claims).

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

#368

Post by JoachimSchipper » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 7:47 PM UTC

repiret wrote: post #364

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they allowed that, almost all sellers would do it for security, and then there would be no ways for buyers to get any feedback. In fact, when I was placing my first bids on eBay, some buyers would cancel the auction or retract the bids because they didn't trust me. I understand their position, but how are you supposed to get feedback if sellers won't sell you anything?

Right, which is why they should only allow non-professional/low-volume sellers to make this restriction, that way new users can still buy from pro sellers to get some reputation, or people selling in odd-ball domains where such a restriction overly harm the seller. If you sell, say, more than 500 items a year, you turn into a professional seller and you can't be as restrictive, but you are doing enough business for t…

How many sellers would use a multitude of accounts to get around this restriction?

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

#369

Post by isnotchicago » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 7:57 PM UTC

psionski wrote: post #328

incomethax wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the OP has an address where he sent his iPhone. Not sure as IANAL, but he theoretically could sue a Doe at a given address and subpoena for an identity.

Is IANAL some new Apple product?

"I am not a lawyer" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IANAL

(Unless you were being facetious, in which case, carry on.)

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

#370

Post by danielweber » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 8:02 PM UTC

jakejake wrote: post #176

ZoFreX wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"Item not as described" is the secret passphrase. Seller has absolutely no recourse. I've never tried it as a buyer, but as a seller it's been 100% effective in the scammer getting their money back from me.

I had an issue, as a buyer, very recently. The item was not as described. I was frankly flabbergasted how quickly and decisively eBay worked in my direction. A little too quickly. (There were issues with my purchase that could have been fixed with a partial refund, but instead I got everything back, while I still have the item. I actually feel a little bad about it, like I don't want to use eBay again, even though they probably think they made me happy.)