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Problems Selling on Ebay - Buyers Not Paying!
- Thread starter redman042
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Not being snarky here. Not everyone lives in a town (or near a town) served by Craigslist. But... Definitely the risk of selling and shipping via Craisglist is much less than shipping to Russia.
I presume you are a man? Male or female there is the danger of theft, when dealing with a stranger on CL, for women we have to consider other possible dangers as well. Just meeting in a public place is not enough to prevent bad things from happening. There are many reports of a potential buyer just taking off with items when the seller hands it over for inspection. (see link)
There is also the "flake factor". Sometimes people just don't show up... and now your out time, gas and probably a frapachino
...ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8eVNNIp3xM
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I wonder if people are running up bids to annoy seller. Look at this phone. Seller in Philly and bid is at $2000 for a 32 GB version. Only an idiot would pay that price.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iPhone-5-Latest-Model-32GB-Black-Slate-Sprint-lot-of-4-/300809425222?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item4609a39146
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iPhone-5-Latest-Model-32GB-Black-Slate-Sprint-lot-of-4-/300809425222?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item4609a39146
Are you sure, or are you making that up? eBay tracks IP addresses of users and will block both accounts if shill bidding occurs.
Craigslist if very safe if you aren't dumb. If you're really that concerned take a friend or have them meet you at a police station.
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No that's a scam going on. People bid super high prices and then try to trick the seller with fake paypal confirmation payment emails. I know all of these scams as I've been a seller on eBay for a while
There are pros and cons to selling (or buying) on both Craigslist and eBay. I only use Craigslist, generally, for large items (car, furniture) that are too difficult or impractical to ship, or for time-sensitive items (tickets). There IS risk involved for both parties, using either forum. There's more personal risk (as opposed to economic) with Craigslist.
I've mostly had good luck with both, and only one ripoff (someone who claimed she had tickets that were "destroyed in a house fire"--I forget all the details, but I had evidence to suggest the claim was fraudulent, and buyer protection on eBay reimbursed me).
You have to figure out your worst-case scenario, avoid that at all costs (getting mugged in a parking lot is a lot worse than losing a few bucks), and use your best sense and judgment.
Sometimes a second-chance offer will be welcomed by another bidder. Even if you have to lower the price a bit to get the sale it's less hassle than re-listing and starting from scratch. I missed out on an auction recently and I kept hoping the winning bidder would be a non-payer so I could get a second-chance offer--I would have paid the full amount of the winning bid!
I've mostly had good luck with both, and only one ripoff (someone who claimed she had tickets that were "destroyed in a house fire"--I forget all the details, but I had evidence to suggest the claim was fraudulent, and buyer protection on eBay reimbursed me).
You have to figure out your worst-case scenario, avoid that at all costs (getting mugged in a parking lot is a lot worse than losing a few bucks), and use your best sense and judgment.
Sometimes a second-chance offer will be welcomed by another bidder. Even if you have to lower the price a bit to get the sale it's less hassle than re-listing and starting from scratch. I missed out on an auction recently and I kept hoping the winning bidder would be a non-payer so I could get a second-chance offer--I would have paid the full amount of the winning bid!
Starting price is $2000, so it's the seller annoying the bidders, not the other way around.
I had this happen recently as we'll. Re-list as a buy it now and check the option for requiring immediate payment.
I presume you are a man? Male or female there is the danger of theft, when dealing with a stranger on CL, for women we have to consider other possible dangers as well. Just meeting in a public place is not enough to prevent bad things from happening. There are many reports of a potential buyer just taking off with items when the seller hands it over for inspection. (see link)
There is also the "flake factor". Sometimes people just don't show up... and now your out time, gas and probably a frapachino
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8eVNNIp3xM
Exactly. Even for apartments I found the lists stale and bait and switch. Other times it works. Near colleges it's pretty good. But beware. There has been some danger with CL.
As a seller I get better prices on eBay. I had to relist my phone but got the same price the next day.
To be honest with you, although I sell on eBay, I really don't like them or Paypal at all and would stop using them in a second if I could find a viable alternative. I tried looking at other sites but they all seem to not have as many users or traffic.
Fair enough. You can make it even more restrictive including rejecting ALL bidders who've bid on more than one of same item.
never had a problem with people refusing to pay ... i really wanna say your just unlucky if you get people like that !
Here's an update...
Following the advice from several people here, I relisted all my items at a fixed price (Buy It Now) with the require immediate payment box checked. To require immediate payment, you need to have a Paypal Premier account. I believe there is a modest bump in seller fees for doing that but did not research this.
I have already sold both phones (within a couple hours of relisting), got immediate payment, and the items are on their way to the buyers. This was a WAY better experience than with the auctions, and eBay final value fees are much lower to boot.
To get a fast sale through Buy it Now, you need to price it a bit cheaper than you might hope to get through auction (but auctions are always a crapshoot aren't they?). Buyers are always hopeful of getting a deal when they bid on an auction, and might be reluctant to commit to a Buy it Now price. But the savings in Final Value Fee offsets some or all of the price markdown. And the reduction in headache is worth a lot to me. I don't need top dollar - I just want a reasonable price.
One wrinkle I experienced: As Ramio suggested, I sent cancellation requests on the old auction transactions that were still waiting for payment, and immediately relisted with Buy it Now pricing (I did not wait the required 4 days to close the case first). I sent those buyers warnings that I was going to do this on the day before (I assume this is nice to do but won't help me argue with eBay if the buyer complains). Well, one of the buyers responded by paying for the item about 5 hours later, which was right after I got back from the post office where I had shipped the phone to the person who just won the Buy it Now bid. Ugh. To avoid negative feedback, I sent a very sincere note telling him about my month long struggle to sell the phone, multiple cases of non payment, and that I was in a rush to sell before going on a long vacation (lied a bit there). I apologized for jumping the gun, and I took the time to point him to two other current Buy it Now auctions for identical or better phones at the same or lower price. I hoped he would appreciate that.
He did not respond at all, but at least I don't have negative feedback (yet) and hopefully he'll just let the 7 days run out so I can close the case and get my Final Value Fee back.
The other buyer is silent and I expect to close that one on Saturday as well.
Anyway, the moral of the story for me is: Always always always use Buy It Now with Require Immediate Payment from now on. No more screwing around with auctions, unless I'm selling a rare coin or something.
Following the advice from several people here, I relisted all my items at a fixed price (Buy It Now) with the require immediate payment box checked. To require immediate payment, you need to have a Paypal Premier account. I believe there is a modest bump in seller fees for doing that but did not research this.
I have already sold both phones (within a couple hours of relisting), got immediate payment, and the items are on their way to the buyers. This was a WAY better experience than with the auctions, and eBay final value fees are much lower to boot.
To get a fast sale through Buy it Now, you need to price it a bit cheaper than you might hope to get through auction (but auctions are always a crapshoot aren't they?). Buyers are always hopeful of getting a deal when they bid on an auction, and might be reluctant to commit to a Buy it Now price. But the savings in Final Value Fee offsets some or all of the price markdown. And the reduction in headache is worth a lot to me. I don't need top dollar - I just want a reasonable price.
One wrinkle I experienced: As Ramio suggested, I sent cancellation requests on the old auction transactions that were still waiting for payment, and immediately relisted with Buy it Now pricing (I did not wait the required 4 days to close the case first). I sent those buyers warnings that I was going to do this on the day before (I assume this is nice to do but won't help me argue with eBay if the buyer complains). Well, one of the buyers responded by paying for the item about 5 hours later, which was right after I got back from the post office where I had shipped the phone to the person who just won the Buy it Now bid. Ugh. To avoid negative feedback, I sent a very sincere note telling him about my month long struggle to sell the phone, multiple cases of non payment, and that I was in a rush to sell before going on a long vacation (lied a bit there). I apologized for jumping the gun, and I took the time to point him to two other current Buy it Now auctions for identical or better phones at the same or lower price. I hoped he would appreciate that.
He did not respond at all, but at least I don't have negative feedback (yet) and hopefully he'll just let the 7 days run out so I can close the case and get my Final Value Fee back.
The other buyer is silent and I expect to close that one on Saturday as well.
Anyway, the moral of the story for me is: Always always always use Buy It Now with Require Immediate Payment from now on. No more screwing around with auctions, unless I'm selling a rare coin or something.
I had a guy that wrote me a message telling me that he paid. He asked me to send it immediately. Of course, he hadn't paid. He never did. He had tons of feedback that was "positive" (because they don't allow sellers to leave negative feedback anymore) talking about how this guy was a fraud. I filed non paying buyer and reported him but I'm sure eBay didn't do anything.
That was you LOL
Hopefully that guy gets whats coming to him........a lifetime of endless diarreah hahaha
Hey how much of a price difference is regural auction to buy it now bro?
I usually sell it as 3 day auction and let it ride to get as much as people decide to bid.
Usually fees are about 9-10% including paypal, ebay etc...
Wow so that guy paid for it, a month later, after you told him you've sold it to someone else? That's really something else.. If he doesn't agree to your cancellation request you're on the hook for that final value fee.
I've been selling for 12 years, 400+ positive feedbacks. Buy-it-now/immediate payment ALWAYS. Much cheaper FVF fees as well. On a $500 phone, with BIN the FVF is $26, auction style is $45.
Auction is 9%, plus 2.9% (3.9% international) Paypal. Buy-it-now is 7% for the first $50, then 5% for the remainder up to $1000. Much less risk and economical doing BIN instead of auction.