Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

eBay selling advice

virginblue4

virginblue4

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 15, 2012
2,036
727
United Kingdom
Hi guys,

I'm looking to sell my iPhone 5s on eBay in the coming weeks. I live in the UK. Does anyone have any advice?

I know that eBay generally sides with the buyer from why I understand so what precautions can I take to ensure that everything goes well with the sale?

Or does anyone else know any other sites that I can sell the device in the UK? Maybe gumtree?
 
I wouldn't do it. You can search this forum for eBay and you'll find it can be nothing but problems.

What about selling it to Gazelle.com (not 100% sure if in UK) or posting it on Swappa.com?
 
But what about the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of phones that are sold daily on eBay? Surely any issues are a rare occurrence?
 
Go for it there and hope for the best.
You can fall victim to countless of scams going on ebay and remember paypal and ebay will side with the buyer and put the burden of proof on you.
Tons of members here have fallen for many types of ebay scams and not all of them had a bad ending but the hassle, aggravation and back and forth to get your money or your item back in the end is not worth it to many.
 
Last edited:
JayLenochiniMac said:
I've successfully ebayed my iPhones going all the way back to the original. The problems are over reported here but you do need to take precautions. See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1691765/
Click to expand...

Same here. I like to use make offer. Almost nobody will buy it now with a "Make Offer". I can then look at the offerers feedback and I still get to counter.

Never had any issues.

----------
Applejuiced said:
Go for it there and hope for the best.
You can fall victim to countless of scams going on ebay and remember paypal and ebay will side with the buyer and put the burden of proof on you.
Tons of members here have fallen for many types of ebay scams and not all of them had a bad ending but the hassle, aggravation and back and forth to get your money or your item back in the end is not worth it to many.
Click to expand...

Bought here on MR and was ripped off so its not unique to eBAY. Safest route is face to face.
 
There's a thread running in the iPad forum right now with a bunch of very good precautionary suggestions. Example: make sure you take and post pictures of the phone's serial number, both on the case and on the screen display.
 
Obviously any point at which you ship something to a recipient will put you at greater risk of getting ripped off than meeting in person.

That said, eBay doesn't have to be a terribly place. And they don't have an affinity to side with the buyer, either. It's just that, often times, sellers don't think to do much beside throw the item in a box and trust nobody is screwing them. When asked for "evidence", they don't even have so much as the IMEI of the phone they just sold.

If you don't sell/buy much on eBay, you are liekly at a bit of a greater risk, especially if your buyer has a long positive track record already. Think of how it looks if you, withn three feedbacks, sells an item to someone with 2k+ feedbacks and that person is claiming fraud against you? But still, all is not necessarily lost.

Take lots of pictures. Take a picture of the screen on with the IMEI showing. You can even do this if the phone is already wiped and they are in the "HELLO" setup screen by pressing on the little "i" in the bottom right. It will bring up the IMEI and ICCID (the ICCID only if you have the sim in).

Take video of yourself packing and even shipping the device if you want to be super careful. Lately I had done that with anything "of value" that I list. If the item is over $100, I will take the extra time.

Know the types of scams. Probably the biggest (easiest) scam is claiming you never got anything in the box. The pictures and especially video can make a nearly bulletproof case for you. Another common scam is claiming there is something wrong with the product. The scammer will attempt to get back all/part of their payment as a refund in order to "pay for repairs". The best thing to do here is to offer a full refund if they send you the item back. Never offer partial. And if they do end up opting to send it back, video tape yourself opening the package (clearly show it is still sealed beforehand) and make sure the phone you got back is your phone and in the condition you originally sent it.

Now, this may all seem like a ton of work. It obviously isn't nothing, but in it's entirety, it probably wouldn't take a whole lot longer than it just took me to type all of this. All that said, the last couple of phones we have sold I just opted for craigslist (unsure if the OP has something similar in the UK) because I was able to get about what I would have gotten via ebay (minus fees) and iPhones move fast. I ALWAYS meet at a carrier store, zero exceptions. Most often I am meeting on my way to or from work, so it's not really even out of the way.
 
lordofthereef said:
Obviously any point at which you ship something to a recipient will put you at greater risk of getting ripped off than meeting in person.

That said, eBay doesn't have to be a terribly place. And they don't have an affinity to side with the buyer, either. It's just that, often times, sellers don't think to do much beside throw the item in a box and trust nobody is screwing them. When asked for "evidence", they don't even have so much as the IMEI of the phone they just sold.

If you don't sell/buy much on eBay, you are liekly at a bit of a greater risk, especially if your buyer has a long positive track record already. Think of how it looks if you, withn three feedbacks, sells an item to someone with 2k+ feedbacks and that person is claiming fraud against you? But still, all is not necessarily lost.

Take lots of pictures. Take a picture of the screen on with the IMEI showing. You can even do this if the phone is already wiped and they are in the "HELLO" setup screen by pressing on the little "i" in the bottom right. It will bring up the IMEI and ICCID (the ICCID only if you have the sim in).

Take video of yourself packing and even shipping the device if you want to be super careful. Lately I had done that with anything "of value" that I list. If the item is over $100, I will take the extra time.

Know the types of scams. Probably the biggest (easiest) scam is claiming you never got anything in the box. The pictures and especially video can make a nearly bulletproof case for you. Another common scam is claiming there is something wrong with the product. The scammer will attempt to get back all/part of their payment as a refund in order to "pay for repairs". The best thing to do here is to offer a full refund if they send you the item back. Never offer partial. And if they do end up opting to send it back, video tape yourself opening the package (clearly show it is still sealed beforehand) and make sure the phone you got back is your phone and in the condition you originally sent it.

Now, this may all seem like a ton of work. It obviously isn't nothing, but in it's entirety, it probably wouldn't take a whole lot longer than it just took me to type all of this. All that said, the last couple of phones we have sold I just opted for craigslist (unsure if the OP has something similar in the UK) because I was able to get about what I would have gotten via ebay (minus fees) and iPhones move fast. I ALWAYS meet at a carrier store, zero exceptions. Most often I am meeting on my way to or from work, so it's not really even out of the way.
Click to expand...

I hear you on the above but its not just doing all these extra things in order not to get scammed.
Its also the aggravation, frustration and wasted time.
No matter what you do all they have to do as soon as they receive the item is open up a dispute. Right away your money is frozen and now you're in the midst of playing their game. They have your product but you don't have the money and the bs back and forth starts.
They can claim there's scratches or scrapes or defects that they don't even exist and then you either agree to refund them partial amount, risking them returning back to you god knows what or just sitting there doing nothing while not releasing the money to you for a month.
Is it worth it? To me personally its not.
I think the CL idea is also a good option as long as you do it right and safely.
 
Applejuiced said:
I hear you on the above but its not just doing all these extra things in order not to get scammed.
Its also the aggravation, frustration and wasted time.
No matter what you do all they have to do as soon as they receive the item is open up a dispute. Right away your money is frozen and now you're in the midst of playing their game. They have your product but you don't have the money and the bs back and forth starts.
They can claim there's scratches or scrapes or defects that they don't even exist and then you either agree to refund them partial amount, risking them returning back to you god knows what or just sitting there doing nothing while not releasing the money to you for a month.
Is it worth it? To me personally its not.
I think the CL idea is also a good option as long as you do it right and safely.
Click to expand...

Ebay is a PITA now for sellers. High fees and even higher risk.
I understand that the buyer needs some protection from unscrupulous sellers, especially with high priced items, but their policy is just too open to abuse. The Paypal dispute thing is a scammer's charter.
 
sunking101 said:
Ebay is a PITA now for sellers. High fees and even higher risk.
I understand that the buyer needs some protection from unscrupulous sellers, especially with high priced items, but their policy is just too open to abuse. The Paypal dispute thing is a scammer's charter.
Click to expand...

I had someone pull that on me last year.
Phone was a direct replacement from Apple listed right away with no use.
Guy gets it and same day it arrives claims there's scratches and scrapes.
I had tons of pics from every angle posted on the auction showing the perfect condition.
I tell him Im not giving him any partial refund back, send it back.
He doesn't respond for a week.
Then says he's going to have to fix this damage and its going to cost $80 to fix it and so on.
Then doesn't respond for another 5-6 days.
To finally get some of my money and not have to deal with any of this or risk getting an empty box and having to waste more time and be even more pissed off I agree to give him $40 back and close the dispute.
Last thing I ever sold on there, never again.
 
Applejuiced said:
No matter what you do all they have to do as soon as they receive the item is open up a dispute. Right away your money is frozen and now you're in the midst of playing their game. They have your product but you don't have the money and the bs back and forth starts.
Click to expand...

That's true if it does happen. However, I have the upper hand in this as I apparently have good enough seller rating for the funds to be released immediately. What I do is spend the money right away (as I refuse to link to a checking account) before it's even delivered. If they do pull this BS on me, I'm fully prepared to leave it in the red and paypal/ebay holding the bag.

Applejuiced said:
I had someone pull that on me last year.
Phone was a direct replacement from Apple listed right away with no use.
Guy gets it and same day it arrives claims there's scratches and scrapes.
I had tons of pics from every angle posted on the auction showing the perfect condition.
I tell him Im not giving him any partial refund back, send it back.
He doesn't respond for a week.
Then says he's going to have to fix this damage and its going to cost $80 to fix it and so on.
Then doesn't respond for another 5-6 days.
To finally get some of my money and not have to deal with any of this or risk getting an empty box and having to waste more time and be even more pissed off I agree to give him $40 back and close the dispute.
Last thing I ever sold on there, never again.
Click to expand...

Sorry this had to happen to you. I'd never fall for this BS though as it'll piss me off more to give him $40 than not have access to the money at all (even before I acquired a good enough seller rating for instant funds).
 
virginblue4 said:
Hi guys,

I'm looking to sell my iPhone 5s on eBay in the coming weeks. I live in the UK. Does anyone have any advice?

I know that eBay generally sides with the buyer from why I understand so what precautions can I take to ensure that everything goes well with the sale?

Or does anyone else know any other sites that I can sell the device in the UK? Maybe gumtree?
Click to expand...

I'd honesty rather sell my phone to Best buy before on eBay. I just don't trust them at all as a seller.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
That's true if it does happen. However, I have the upper hand in this as I apparently have good enough seller rating for the funds to be released immediately. What I do is spend the money right away (as I refuse to link to a checking account) before it's even delivered. If they do pull this BS on me, I'm fully prepared to leave it in the red and paypal/ebay holding the bag.



Sorry this had to happen to you. I'd never fall for this BS though as it'll piss me off more to give him $40 than not have access to the money at all (even before I acquired a good enough seller rating for instant funds).
Click to expand...


Its great to be a power seller but I only used to sell 3-4 items a year so I wasn't near that.
But wouldn't PayPal go after you if your account is negative and you owe them. Like collections etc?
 
Applejuiced said:
I hear you on the above but its not just doing all these extra things in order not to get scammed.
Its also the aggravation, frustration and wasted time.
No matter what you do all they have to do as soon as they receive the item is open up a dispute. Right away your money is frozen and now you're in the midst of playing their game. They have your product but you don't have the money and the bs back and forth starts.
They can claim there's scratches or scrapes or defects that they don't even exist and then you either agree to refund them partial amount, risking them returning back to you god knows what or just sitting there doing nothing while not releasing the money to you for a month.
Is it worth it? To me personally its not.
I think the CL idea is also a good option as long as you do it right and safely.
Click to expand...

FWIW I am already a trusted seller so I have access to the funds immediately. I always move the funds into my bank account (one that I have set up solely for eBay) and then transfer to my main account. eBay/PayPal can try as they might to get that money from me, short of a court order they will not succeed. I realize this isn;t an option for "casual" sellers.

Unfortunately eBay has gotten more and more seller unfriendly. It used to be a place where anyone could sell anything. Now it is very much a place where power sellers reign supreme. It's rather sad. used to be a cool "online garage sale", if you can call it that.

Anyway, our latest phone (mom's was on Next) I just opted to ship back to ATT. Going rate was about $70 on CL more than what we had left to pay off. That money wasn't worth my time and effort, frankly. It's always weighing risk vs reward vs effort lol. Next is great. I am likely always going to just return our devices to AT&T. They're effectively just buying the hassle.

----------
Applejuiced said:
Its great to be a power seller but I only used to sell 3-4 items a year so I wasn't near that.
But wouldn't PayPal go after you if your account is negative and you owe them. Like collections etc?
Click to expand...

They aren't an actual bank, so it's hard to say. Something of a he said she said, and of course the dollar value matters. Might not be worth it for them to pay the collections company over a couple hundred bucks.
 
Applejuiced said:
Its great to be a power seller but I only used to sell 3-4 items a year so I wasn't near that.
But wouldn't PayPal go after you if your account is negative and you owe them. Like collections etc?
Click to expand...

I'm actually not a power seller at all. My seller rating is only a yellow star at 46. Per ebay, funds are released immediately when 1) it's been more than 90 days since your first successful sale, 2) you've had more than 25 sales transactions; and 3) you've had more than $250 in total sales. I've sold a total of 7 iPhones and 4 miscellaneous items. 11 items is nowhere near 25 sales transactions, so I actually have no idea why my seller rating is good enough for instant funds (unless they're counting both buying and selling, which I have at 46) but I'm not complaining.

Paypal isn't a bank or a creditor and they don't have my social security number so they don't have that much power in terms of collection. While they can obtain my SSN through other means, it's not like I'll refuse to refund the buyer if they do send the item back to me in the original condition. However, if it's some sort of fraud (empty box, wrong iPhone, etc.), I'll file a counter dispute and they'll be hard pressed to sic collections on me and I'll just dispute the debt as invalid. So I'm not worried at all.
 
I'll tell you right now, it's super risky. I've sold 4 iPhones. 1 was a broken 4, 1 was a semi working 4, and a decent shape 4s. Those three sales went great.

But I sold a broken iPhone 5 once. I sold it at a great loss, and explained fully what was wrong with the device when I sold it. The buyer raised such a stink about it and tried to get me to refund the money. I would probably have refunded the money to him except he created a case with eBay before I could get a chance to reply back to his return request. Since he received the device exactly as I had described it, I let eBay decide.

They eventually ruled in my favor, but still. That was a very stressful two weeks waiting on them to decide (during which the hold the money (for good reason)) and also because somewhere out there was a slightly irate dude with my address.
 
I've sold iPhones and iPods on eBay without major issues. A couple of years ago I had two buyers who didn't pay which was annoying, but I just relisted and got a similar genuine bid in the end.

As long as you make sure the phones are wiped and taken off your iCloud account, are very honest with the listing, take lots of good photos and send only after you receive payment with tracked delivery, you should be fine. Answer any questions about the listing promptly and honestly. I don't accept returns and have never had a problem with that.

Edit: Pack the items well too - lots of bubblewrap wrapped around and in a padded envelope if you're selling without the original box.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back