Selling on Ebay.... lesson learned!

[Quiet]

I don't see how it's possible to abuse the rating system as a seller. If the buyer pays you right away, positive. If the buyer lags but eventually pays, neutral. If the buyer flakes out and doesn't pay, negative.

I think the feedback system is more open to abuse with buyers. Sometimes people buy something and they have unrealistic expectations or they have buyers remorse and want to get a refund after playing with the item for a few days. So far as a seller I've had mostly good luck, but I've experienced a few incidents where you ask yourself..... "Seriously??"

Agreed with all of this. What I do to protect myself is that I take pictures of each item, with time/date stamp turned on. I've only had to fall back on the pics once. I had one guy try to pull that "It was damaged when it arrived and I want an instant refund"....two weeks after he'd taken arrival of the package (had the tracking number history to show concrete proof). He opened a Paypal dispute, which I updated with the pics, and asked "If it was damaged, why did it take you two weeks to let me know? Also, as you can see, the item was perfect when I shipped it out". Instead of replying, the guy actually closed the case, and I never heard from him again, and I blocked him from my auctions from that point forward. Dude had probably tried that trick with other sellers in the past, but I don't play that game. Ebay are dreadful, but Paypal at least gives the seller a chance to prove their side of things, and won't instantly vote in the buyer's favor.

 

[RevDevil]

If you don't like the way things work on ebay DON'T BUY OR SELL THERE. It's as simple as that.

It's a discussion... Not a "What should I do" thread.
[video=youtube;mlv7Bp-L2MM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlv7Bp-L2MM[/video]

 

[KELAMA]

It's a discussion... Not a "What should I do" thread.
[video=youtube;mlv7Bp-L2MM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlv7Bp-L2MM[/video]

I hope that you Mod's, have a really big bag of "SHHHH."

Thanks for throwing us a fricken bone, Rev!

 

[El_Toro]

I agree with others who have said that ebay is a necessary evil in regards to selling stuff online. If a knife I list here on bladeforums doesn't sell, it will always sell on ebay as long as the starting bid isn't too high. They are really the only place that has a large audience if you are just someone looking to get rid of a few things.

Craigslist is ok for finding local buyers, if you have an item that is large/difficult to ship. However it is a major hassle! For all of the threads that open up in this sub-forum about flakes and/or lowballers, those people should try selling something on craigslist, lol.

 

[Stumps]

eBay always automatically opens an unpaid claim case for me if any buyer takes longer than four days (I believe) to pay.

I'm not sure how that was set up on my acct, but it's there and it helps. I have had a few sales where I had to go and manually remove authorization for eBay to automatically open a case when I get a buyer that wants to send a USPS Money Order.

I accept Paypal only, but I still get a few buyers that want to send the USPS MO…and I let them. Haven't been sorry yet.

Anyone having troubles with unpaid buyers might check into that automatic service on their site.

I have a long list of "no bidder, no buyers" for anyone who bids a knife up to see what the high bid is, then retracts the bid as a mistake. They go on my no buyer, no bidder list immediately and I never have to deal with them again. It helps make life easier.

 

[Apec]

I've almost never gotten a knife that was "as described", especially with the high end customs. They are always described as "brand new/mint" and they arrive looking like they've been carried.... or in some cases.... carried a lot.

I usually just let it go because it's just so hard to find those particular knives. Beggars can't be choosers, but I just don't understand why they can't be upfront and honest about it.

Yeah. When I shop pre-owned, I operate on the presumption that it's used/worn and I only proceed if I think the deal is good/appropriately valued.

Unlike comics or cards, people seem to have highly varying definitions of NIB when it comes to knives/hardware.

 

[The Logical One]

UPDATE: So miraculously the buyer messaged me today saying that he was on a business trip and that's why there was a delay in response/payment. Whether it's true or not, I just wanted to get the knife sold and be done with it. So in the end there was a good outcome.... knife is sold, I got paid, everything is groovy.

 

[TrackerDan]

If your buying on EBay or any other forum, transact using pay pal and pay the extra 3.5% to finish the transaction correctly, I have made several purchases on the forums and a few went sideways. As soon as you open a case with Pay Pal they will freeze the sellers entire account until they make good to your satisfaction. It is amazing how fast these clowns will jump when it hits their bottom line.

 

[rxavage]

Yeah. When I shop pre-owned, I operate on the presumption that it's used/worn and I only proceed if I think the deal is good/appropriately valued.

Unlike comics or cards, people seem to have highly varying definitions of NIB when it comes to knives/hardware.

I've found it's the same as comics and (magic)cards as it is with knives, I collect all 3, a lot of people over value their stuff and somehow think slightly used is still new. With cards you get the occasional better than described but I have yet to experience this with knifes, which is ime almost always worse than described. I usually let slight condition variances go because the time, effort, and money are not worth it but if the value exceeds those then I'm getting a refund. As with any other aspect of life, when dealing with others you will always have varying experiences, mostly good but the occasional bad.

 

[Forgedfixedblade]

I always put in big letters on my add in all caps, Immediate payment required, item will be re-listed in 12 hours if payment is not made, no exceptions. That has helped me weed through the douche bags like that.

 

[richard thurman]

So I learned a valuable lesson after 13 years of selling stuff on ebay...... ALWAYS REQUIRE IMMEDIATE PAYMENT!

I sold a knife on ebay on 10/8, and a few hours later the buyer contacted me asking if I can give him until 10/16 to pay for the knife. The guy has 204 transactions at 100% and has been a member since 2005 so I figured it would be alright. I wasn't very happy about it though. IMO it's just bad form to click "buy it now" when you don't even have the funds to pay for it.

I had this iffy feeling about the whole situation but I went with it anyways. Comes to the 15th at 11pm I decided to send him a message to confirm that he'll be making the payment the following day and also to inform him that I can have it shipped out before I head to work if he makes payment before 10:30am.

Next morning I checked email and ebay.... no payment, no message. Noon comes around, still no message, no payment. I sent him another message to ask what's with the delay. Once again no response, so I waited until 9pm to send him a final message to let him know that I will be opening a case by 11pm and leave him negative feedback if payment was not made.

I did some snooping around and saw that he made a purchase on the 14th from a guy that sells high end customs on ebay. I finally filed a claim and found out I have to wait FOUR DAYS before I can close the case if payment was not made. And the worse part was..... I found out you can't leave a negative feedback for buyers.

No wonder the guy has 100% feedback. He could have done this numerous times and nobody would be able to see it. What the guy essentially did was..... he wanted to "reserve" my knife by clicking "buy it now" so that nobody else can purchase it.... while he THINKS about whether he wants to buy it or not.

This whole entire time I could have sold the knife to a serious buyer, and gotten paid a long time ago. Now it's on hold for another four days for this piece of sh*t to give him a last chance to buy it. That makes no sense to me.

For those who have dealt with something like this..... is there anything else I can do? I'm FUMING

ioffer.com they are just like ebay but they have a lot of better rules

 

[craytab]

I always put in big letters on my add in all caps, Immediate payment required, item will be re-listed in 12 hours if payment is not made, no exceptions. That has helped me weed through the douche bags like that.

You can put what ever you want in your ad on ebay but it really means nothing. If it helps scare people away, fine. What is important are the actual rules ebay has set. The buyer has 2 days to pay and then you can open an unpaid item case.

 

[ljusmc]

You can put what ever you want in your ad on ebay but it really means nothing. If it helps scare people away, fine. What is important are the actual rules ebay has set. The buyer has 2 days to pay and then you can open an unpaid item case.

This is true. You can put in all capital bold letters "NO RETURNS ACCEPTED ALL SALES FINAL" and it will not matter to ebay if the buyer claims that the item was received in a condition that is other than described.

In fact, I am aware of one particular incident where the seller posted NO RETURNS ACCEPTED, and the buyer claimed the item was not as described. Ebay forced a refund, and did not require that the buyer return the item because the seller said "No returns accepted." So, the buyer got the item and the cash.

That's why, when I list something for sale, I always say I will accept returns within 14 days (even if I don't want it) so that way they will at least have to mail the thing back to me.

 

[The Logical One]

This is unbelievable.....

The buyer got the knife today, and 4 hours later I got an email stating the buyer opened up a dispute and wants a refund. He sent me a message saying the knife has a hairline scratch on the blade. It was in 100% immaculate condition!!!!!!

I can't believe this guy. In my description it says no returns accepted. Is that enough to not have to give him a refund or am I screwed... again??

 

[neffarious]

You are screwed. Buyer always wins on ebay. I had a guy burn up a video card weeks after he bought it. I had to give a refund. I was pissed because it was a 250 dollar card and I was completely out. I sold it for parts for $50.

 

[The Logical One]

You are screwed. Buyer always wins on ebay. I had a guy burn up a video card weeks after he bought it. I had to give a refund. I was pissed because it was a 250 dollar card and I was completely out. I sold it for parts for $50.

Yea I'm not too optimistic about this although I sent a counter dispute. Lesson learned #2..... don't deal with a person that screwed you over once the first time! I just read LJUSMC's post right above my most recent one. At this point I just hope the guy sends me my knife back and it's not super f*cked up. Worse case, I have this guy's address and he lives 40 minutes away from me.

 

[neffarious]

Yea umm,
You shouldn't say things like that on an Internet message board lol. Hope nothing bad happens to him now.

 

[The Logical One]

Yea umm,
You shouldn't say things like that on an Internet message board lol. Hope nothing bad happens to him now.

I'm not saying I was going to do anything bad to him, but if he takes my money AND my knife I have his information and he's close enough where I can go do something about the situation.

 

[The Fort]

I just did my first and last listing on EBay! I listed a knife last week with an honest description and pictures that ended yesterday. The buyer had even inquired about additional information that i provided promptly and honestly. After they won the bid, they basically backed out of the deal. I had other bidders on the knife, but I don't even want to relist it now. It's not worth the headache. Never again!

 

[The Logical One]

After I sat back and thought about the whole situation. I think what happened was the guy changed his mind about the knife and didn't want it anymore, and that's why he didn't respond to me on payday (10/16). But then I filed an unpaid claim against him. With him not wanting to have an unpaid strike on his account, his crafty master genius plan was to contact me to say he was on a business trip and that's why he couldn't respond to any of my messages. And then pay for the knife, with the intent to scratch it and then claim that it was "damaged/used" so he can get a full refund back.

This guy has POS written all over him. I actually called paypal to discuss the situation and the first guy was of no help at all. He was either from India or the Philippines and was pretty much reading off a script the whole entire time he was talking to me. He kept repeating, "We will review the evidence provided by the buyer and will further review the claim, please respond to any emails to get this issue resolved".

And I kept asking him, "So what if the buyer has buyer's remorse or for whatever reason doesn't want the knife anymore, and MAKES A SCRATCH so that he can take pictures and use that as evidence to back his claim?"

Then the guy over the phone said, "I don't think the buyer would do that", followed by the exact same sentence he said earlier.

I called back another time and spoke to a lady from the states, and it was so nice to actually speak to a human being instead of a drone reading off a script! She listened to my whole story and gave me some reassurance and also said she noted down the fact that I made an unpaid claim against the buyer prior to his purchase of the knife. I think that's a big piece right there that could help me out. Keeping my fingers crossed!