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

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

#371

Post by danielweber » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 8:16 PM UTC

mrchess wrote: post #253

The Paypal dispute system is a joke. I had a simliar experience with a $300 laptop. The condition it came in was NOT as described. I tried to get the seller to refund, but he just ignored my messages. Unable to contact the seller, I opened a dispute case and I took photos, documented the entire thing, and even did the dispute message system (and the seller didn't respond once to my complaints within the dispute syste…

Does Paypal have a messaging system like eBay? Whenever I've had an eBay dispute (rare), I always communicate using their messaging system so they can see exactly what we are saying to each other.

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

#372

Post by anigbrowl » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 8:50 PM UTC

mcherm wrote: post #286

anigbrowl wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hence the insurance.

I fail to see how is the insurance would have helped in this case. No one disputes that the package was delivered successfully.

Sorry about the slow reply. The idea is that the buyer has to cooperate with the insurance claim, if their chargeback is to succeed; otherwise Paypal/the CC company would ask why not. If they submit something in writing which is materially false, then they're committing fraud against he insurance issuer, which is in a rather better position to prosecute than I am if a pattern is detected.

For this reason I always use my own photos of the specific item I'm selling on an auction, and do the shipping calculation in advance so the buyer pays - and so that the auction page include the shipping weight. Sometimes this costs me a few $ if the shipping calculator is slightly off (eg I've forgotten to allow for the size/weight of the packaging) and the insurance costs me a few $ as well. But if the buyer ever says the 'item is not as described' then I have a good excuse to claim on the insurance, who will ask for the buyer to submit what was received.

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

#373

Post by greyboy » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 8:53 PM UTC

codenerdz wrote: post #48

reddit_clone wrote: post #44

When the buyer made the chargeback, why isn't he forced to return the item? Isn't this the obvious step that is missing from the whole equation?

No he was not. He went straight to his credit card and they took his side. I had no chance of appealing because Paypal would not disclose the Credit Card issuer contact info to me so that I could contact them directly

Can you call up your (father's?) provider and report the phone stolen? Aren't those IMEI's blacklisted? If so, that might make it difficult for the buyer to unload. I guess you could also threaten to do that to said buyer, first, to see if that provokes anything.

Either way, a bummer of a story. I've had my own issues with eBay and rarely check there except for infrequently needed (cheap) odds and ends. I hope it works out.

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

#374

Post by ryguytilidie » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 10:24 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #185

Simucal wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yardsale meets your description and is YC backed.

Yardsale does meet the description of "garage sale on the internet", but in the Craigslist sense more than the old-eBay sense: it's for selling stuff locally, not for selling worldwide and then shipping it. For some things that works fine, but for long-tail items with niche popularity I found the old ebay quite useful, because you could reach a non-geographically-constrained audience, increasing the odds that someone…

"Yardsale does meet the description of "garage sale on the internet""

How do you figure?

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

#375

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 10:50 PM UTC

kerryfalk wrote: post #279

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being terse in this post bc I'm working atm and don't have much time. a) Link either doesn't exist on main page or isn't immediately apparent enough. b) Consider this page - http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au . Today is the first time I've seen it - visually it looks horrible and potentially untrustworthy. If I may say so, your site looks freakin' incredible. But on their site, the first thing my eyes land on is a gi…

Thanks for that feedback. Not terse at all. I'm having trouble with the balancing act. I definitely need to improve the searchability of the site. At the same time if I put everything front and center it'll become pretty apparent that we don't have many listings yet. Will that just turn people away? I'm not sure yet, I don't have the data to say. I'll think more on this.

[deleted]

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

#376

Post by codenerdz » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 11:01 PM UTC

DannyBee wrote: post #320

URSpider94 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, funny reply, but I never said that he was un-findable. The parent suggested sending a subpoena to the shipping address, which isn't likely to work in this case. Also keep in mind that the OP doesn't have the guy's credit card number, PayPal does -- and I bet they are not handing it over.

Sorry, I was in a snarky mood :) It seems every 2 months there is another popular blog post about how impossible it is to be a seller and how there is just no way to deal with the fraud. They act like once it involves more than email or phone, it's all impossible. But, yes, sending to shipping address is unlikely to work. Paypal will turn over the info if you subpoena them (you will have to open a miscellaneous matte…

Thanks for your comments Danny.

You make this process seem so simple that im eager to learn it.

Can you outline steps necessary to subpoena paypal without having access to an expensive legal letterhead(that comes with an hourly legal bill attached) and to actually follow through this subpoena into getting requested documents.

I was able to get a phone number for supposedly a legal department, but I was told in so many terms to only have a lawyer call them. Im sure if pressed, paypal would give out their legal teams address.

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

#377

Post by jakejake » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 11:34 PM UTC

danielweber wrote: post #370

jakejake wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 th…

Exactly. It doesn't make sense unless eBay just considers all sellers to be high volume resellers who write off small item losses as part of doing business.

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

#378

Post by sk24iam » Tue, Dec 04, 2012, 11:54 PM UTC

We are actually developing a marketplace to help with cell phone fraud. We currently allow users to accept payments via paypal, google checkout, or amazon payments and expect to introduce Stripe Connect payments in 2013. This is only a start to preventing fraud but we have more features still being tested including a feedback system that we hope will work better than eBay's does. This thread is very helpful in determining what people want in a peer to peer marketplace.

Our site is still very new but we are open to criticism. cellsolo dot com

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

#379

Post by drivebyacct2 » Wed, Dec 05, 2012, 12:16 AM UTC

kerryfalk wrote: post #267

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, why can't I just browse a bunch of products for sale? That's all I want to do, I don't want to sign up to your site. I just want to see what's listed and possibly buy some parts. I'll probably check back again tomorrow if I see a few interesting things, probably in my lunch break at work. I've been thinking about getting a Garrett 3071 turbo kit but haven't given into the temptation yet -- but probably after se…

https://www.styckyd.com/search

For some reason the URL and page say "search" on them...

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

#380

Post by DanBlake » Wed, Dec 05, 2012, 12:33 AM UTC

kamjam wrote: post #353

DanBlake wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately that only lets you block people with bad feedback. You cant say "you cant buy unless you have 10+ feedback" Most scammers have no bad feedback, they are just new accounts with 5-10 positive feedback for bogus items.

Yes you can, what do you think "Block users who have a feedback score equal to or lower than X" means? X can be set to 10 if you want. That imgurl I linked to was directly from my eBay account.

The only options on it are -1, -2 and -3