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Do you sell on eBay? Please Help

rocknblogger

rocknblogger

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 2, 2011
2,346
481
New Jersey
I have my MBP listed on eBay and I received a message asking if I'll ship to Hungry. He says he'll pay for shipping, he has 349 feedback score. Looks like he buys a lot of camera lenses and other parts as well as remote control items.

He's got 36 positive feedbacks in the last 12 months (as buyer) and no negative. I know that eBay protects the buyer and even though I have it listed as "No Refunds" they can still cause problems if they say they didn't get it or that it wasn't as described.

What are the ramifications sending it overseas? Is there anything I should look for? Should I not ship overseas period?

Thanks in advance!!

R.
 
Don't do it. Remember, to be fully covered yourself you MUST ship to a PayPal CONFIRMED ADDRESS, with tracking. Hungry will not be confirmed. You can very easily loose your money and your laptop. Your MBP will easily sell in the USA.
 
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Don't do it. I live in canada and I am hesitant to even sell big ticket items to the USA. I've been scammed before and I damn well try to prevent it from happening again.
 
as others have said, don't do it. Sounds too good to be true...well you know.

Have patience when dealing on eBay. There are genuine buyers out that are probably searching for the machine they just have to sift through a lot of competition and waiting for auctions to end.
Put some keywords in there that would attract buyers, etc. state clearly not to ship overseas, PayPal confirmed addresses only, etc.
Regardless of no refunds, there are definitely easy ways around that - ebay/paypal (the same company btw) can easily award someone their money back even if full well they got the product.

if something doesn't match up, or sound right move on from that would be scammer.
 
Don't do it. I had a really awful experience trying to sell my iMac on eBay because the buyer tried to get me to ship it to his home in Germany. Even after finally agreeing to allow me to ship it to his U.S. address listed on his PayPal account, it was pure hell. Rudest customer I've ever had and it was hard trying to decipher what he was saying in his broken English.

Someone within the country will purchase your computer in time. My previous MBP was listed for about a month and finally sold a couple days ago. I had it listed at a very fair price and it attracted a lot of views, but just took a while to sell.

It takes time and patience, but you'll sell it. :)
 
I'm not going to do it but one thing I don't understand. Granted there are scammers on eBay but there are also legitimate buyers. Regarding the shipping address, how do I know whether an address is verified or not, even for buyers in the US?

eBay explained to me that the shipping address is pulled from the user's account so how do they know if it's a verified address or not?
 
rocknblogger said:
I'm not going to do it but one thing I don't understand. Granted there are scammers on eBay but there are also legitimate buyers. Regarding the shipping address, how do I know whether an address is verified or not, even for buyers in the US?

eBay explained to me that the shipping address is pulled from the user's account so how do they know if it's a verified address or not?
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Don't worry if the address is confirmed/unconfirmed - that requirement was removed a long time ago. I ship international on a daily basis - I use USPS Priority or Express Mail for low value items (up to $500)

A MBP - I would use Fedex only.. for security reasons and for guaranteed tracking and signature confirmation. In my 8 years of selling online, I have never been scammed (maybe lucky?) by an international buyer. In fact, I see more fraudulent purchases from domestic buyers than international ones.
 
I wouldn't ship anywhere other than the US , and MAYBE Canada. Even though they have positive feedback, you don't want your MacBook pro going overseas and risking damage, and also or could be a scam. Just say "Sorry, shipping to US only"...I guarentee you will get a us offer later!
 
This, unfortunately ....

I do still sell on eBay, but only when I've exhausted all my other avenues first.

Generally, I've found it works best when I've got something to sell that's still brand new, in a shrink-wrapped box. When you list an item as "new" and it's clearly new and unopened, there's really no room for misunderstanding.

With practically everything else? Buyers get weird and overly demanding....

I always try to post accurate photos of what I'm selling (which helps), but due to the nature of eBay and their fees, you're actively discouraged from posting complete galleries of photos (especially of cheaper items), because you're charged for each one you post after the first one.

No matter how hard I try to give accurate descriptions of things, I seem to get the jerk who demands a full refund because "the video card you sold was described as part number 178959357, when actually, it was 178959357A and I can only use one with a B prefix!", or nonsense like that. (And did they bother to ASK about that detail BEFORE bidding? Nope! Never!)

Then you get put through the wringer as they file an "item not as described" complaint with PayPal AND eBay and you're essentially forced to hand over the money, losing what you spent on shipping the thing -- and possibly not even getting your item returned in working condition.

But yeah.... "the customer is ALWAYS right!", so you're supposed to just keep taking those loses for your effort and money spent on listing fees.


foodog said:
I don't sell or buy on eBay at all anymore, to many ethically challenged people on there now.
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Avoid selling on ebay at all costs! The last 3 items I tried to sell on ebay all did not sell. There is nothing to keep people from winning and then never paying. The only way to "punish" them is to file a unpaid item complaint which requires you to wait. It took me 1.5 months and 3 listings (1 week each) before I gave up selling my item on ebay. Listed it on craigslist and had cash in my pocket in less than a week. The last thing I successfully sold was a touchpad, and that took 2 auctions and paypal held my money for a month before releasing it to my paypal account.

If you have any other option, use that before ebay, even if it means you sell for less, it is worth it to save the hassle of ebay.
 
I agree with all the warnings about eBay being a risky place to sell (even if you take precautions like shipping with tracking to verified addresses).

My theory is to only sell on eBay if you don't have other options and you are willing to risk losing the item and money.

I have been selling off unused (old) camera gear for the last 9 months or so. Some locally, some through pentaxforums and APUG. After exhausting those options I did use eBay for 2 items (a macro bellows and camera) with no problems. But I was willing to take the risk of losing the item(s) and potentially having no money and having to pay eBay fees anyway.

It's also possible that popular items (Apple, new cameras, etc.) may attract more scammers than the less popular items I sold. So sell with caution.

Greg
 
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Sold to a buyer in California for $1700. I packaged it like it was a very fragile egg. First in it's original box inside another box wrapped in bubble wrap then inside another box LOL!!

Then I wrapped everything else in a very similar fashion. You could play football with it and it would affect the contents :)

Thanks all for your advice and input.

R,
 
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