28 replies to this topic

[Saraj]

Hi,

With Ellz's post recently and the trouble ebayers have with selling items on ebay particular mobile phones, heres a few things you can do to prevent idiots buying and winning on your item.

1: When selling an item always put "buyer requirements" by following the below:

Go to my ebay
then Site Preferences on the right link
the Buyer Requirements on under the Selling Preferences heading

Here I tend to select all options, but a quick read through would explain what you need and what you dont, then as the bottom select "Apply above settings to current and future listings" which stops you having to do it each time you select.

2: When listing an item, and if you select buy it now you can select "Require Immediate Payment when Buy It Now is used" this will stop your item selling without payment. So it will only sell to an individual once there have made the payment through Paypal. This is very useful as many people use buy it now and then take time to pay or change they mind.

3: When offering delivery services always offer multiple services, I always offer 1st Class Recorded, 2nd Class Recorded and Special Delivery Next day, prices obviously depend on the item.

Whats important here is that you are offering the service and its upto to the buyer to choose the service. So lets say you sell a mobile for 150 pounds, and the buyer selects 1st Class Recorded, and then Royal Mail loose the item, the buyer can claim and Royalmail would only compensate 32 pounds. However on Special Delivery its upto to 500 pounds.

As a buyer, they should be aware of this, so if there select recorded instead of special its there own fault and would only be able to recover 32 pounds, so basically its they fault for choosing recorded instead of special, and multiple choice also helps disputes through Paypal.

4: If someone does bid on your item and you dont want them, let say the feedback is not upto scratch you can cancel bids by the following method:

On the selling item page click on the number of bids
At the bottom there is a cancel bids link
And again cancel bids
Then just enter the information required, and be honest for the reason for cancellation as the bidder recieves the reason

This is ideal at the last minute as well, but with buyer requirements on, not many dodgy buyers will slip through

5: Always clear state at the end of the description whether you offer returns or not, not mentioning anything is not enough and can lead to loosing disputes if something was going to go wrong.

6: I have bought many phones which have never been as described, always point out any relevant damage or problems, otherwise you will be shooting yourself in your foot.


With the above you will be succesful in selling items, I followed it all when I use to buy and sell mobiles on Ebay, and out of the 20+ phones no idiot had a chance to buy any of my phones and I made about 20 quid on each one.

If anyone else got any other tips, go on share !

Thanks

[sparkystav]

Great advice mate. A*

[Bazza]

very good advice


thread now pinned

[Saraj]

excellent ! spotted a few mistakes so going to go through it again lol

[Fargo]

one thing, if you have posted an item by any method and it does not arrive, YOU are the person that will be making the claim and not the buyer.

Two scenarios here
A ) i buy a mobile for 300 quid and select 1st class recorded, it doesnt turn up, i ask for a refund as i am entitled to do so.

B ) I sell a mobile worth 300 quid and the buyer chooses 1st class recorded and it does not arrive, the buyer wants a refund as he is entitled to do so.

In both these cases, can you guess who will be making the claim for the lost item and who will be out of pocket until Royal mail resolves it.

Granted as the seller can say no refund until royal mail issue refund or prove delivery.

So what i am saying is it is the SELLERS responsibility to ensure the item has enough insurance cover.

[Saraj]

one thing, if you have posted an item by any method and it does not arrive, YOU are the person that will be making the claim and not the buyer.

Two scenarios here
A ) i buy a mobile for 300 quid and select 1st class recorded, it doesnt turn up, i ask for a refund as i am entitled to do so.

B ) I sell a mobile worth 300 quid and the buyer chooses 1st class recorded and it does not arrive, the buyer wants a refund as he is entitled to do so.

In both these cases, can you guess who will be making the claim for the lost item and who will be out of pocket until Royal mail resolves it.

Granted as the seller can say no refund until royal mail issue refund or prove delivery.

So what i am saying is it is the SELLERS responsibility to ensure the item has enough insurance cover.

i do agree, its how you want it, i prefer to leave the responsibility with the buyer, aslong as the seller can provide evidence it has been posted there are covered, this is what paypal asks for, evidence of sending it thats all aslong as you can prove it, you are covered, if paypal ask the question why did you not provide adequate compensation, the reply is that you offered it via special but the buyer decided not to opt for it.

Thats the way I did things, and I had one phone which was lost by royalmail, i provided the evidence to paypal, and paypal basically said to the buyer there need to claim it from royalmail fourtunally he had selected special delivery,

thanks

[Fargo]

so if you provide evidence of posting and its lost, paypal will refund the buyer..

[Saraj]

My advice is keep all tracking information and reciepts from postooffice, and provide it to Paypal, then paypal asks the buyer to cliam the money from royalmail, and in my opionion if the buyer selected recorded instead of special, there would blaim the buyer and not refund.

Thats just my opinion, its worked for me so far.

[steve2006]

For items under £32.00 I use Recorded , small items over this I use Special Delivery ( up to £500.00 compensation can be increased to £2500 for additional fee) and large items I use Parcelforce 48 ( Standard compensation is £150.00 but again can be increased.
Another thing to remember is if the buyer collects the item you are not covered by paypal as the item has to be delivered with tracking proof to qualify, I always ask for cash on collection in this case.

[Saraj]

Yeah the other option is when you selling ur item just offer the service which fits. But never claim the money back yourself from royalmail this is the buyers responsibility as you have proof of sending it

[Fargo]

so the seller, ebay and paypal, all offload responsibility to the BUYER for the delivery that the SELLER arranged.. regardless of the level of insurance ...

[Saraj]

ebay dont get involved at all, ebay just say claim through paypal, and the experiance I have had with paypal, YES as long you offered the service, if you just offered recorded then it would be your fault and you would have to refund, you would have to refund if the buyer cannot claim the full amount

[Fargo]

lol so if the shipping method covers the value of the item, then the buyer is told to make the claim against royalmail, yet if the shipping method does not cover the item value, then the seller makes the claim...

[Saraj]

sorry i am not being clear,

if you have provided adequate cover for the item being sold or offered it then it in my opionion is the buyers resonsiblity,

however if you do not provide or offer adequate cover then that is the sellers fault, so the seller needs to sort it out by refunding the buyer and claiming what ever there can, thats up to them.

this is my view, not whats right or wrong

[Chris Skelton]

Forget GPO. Get an account with PAYPERPARCEL which would then mean stuff would cost £7-ish to send. Collected, AND signed for on delivery. Then you KNOW stuff has arrived.(And, if buying, you can pay to get it collected, so you avoid the scam of "I've sent it, hasn't it arrived?" after you've paid!) More hassle perhaps, but more security.