eBaying my unlocked and jailbroken iPhone 3GS. What countries would be safe to send internationally?
Or should I only sell within the United States?
Or should I only sell within the United States?
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Safe countries to eBay iPhone to?
- Thread starter JayLenochiniMac
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My 3G went to Indonesia a year ago. No issues. My 3GS is winging its way to Thailand as we speak. eBay is a wonderful thing. In both cases, the buyers had PayPal verified addresses and funds were good as gold.
iPhones are one of the few consumer goods that increase in value (measured against upgrade-eligible pricing, of course).
iPhones are one of the few consumer goods that increase in value (measured against upgrade-eligible pricing, of course).
I don't ship any of my stuff out until payment is cleared. When the payment is cleared, & it's in my PayPal account, I'll ship it wherever. I sold my first generation to someone in South America, & nothing went wrong!
Horror threads like this make me nervous. How do you restrict buyers to PayPal verified addresses? Accept only PayPal?
United States
Personal Extended List:
Canada
apo/fpo
Japan
Have done but won't again:
Iceland
I won't entertain anywhere else.
Personal Extended List:
Canada
apo/fpo
Japan
Have done but won't again:
Iceland
I won't entertain anywhere else.
Speaking from experience (so you don't have to suffer what I did), I would personally recommend the following:
- Avoid Africa, Southeast Asia, Russia, and South America due to issues with their postal system such as theft, loss of packages, etc.
- Whatever you do, ONLY ship to Paypal confirmed address associated with the buyer. If they tell you "it's a gift for my sister's birthday which is tomorrow, could you please rush it to this other address," they are trying to scam you.
- Only use USPS International Express as your shipping option. Although there are cheaper options, for the money it is the cheapest and most reliable (and most importantly), trackable service.
- On customs forms, some buyers may ask you to mark the item as a "gift" or to lie about the item's value in order to reduce their customs fee when they pick up the package. *Don't do this*!! If you do this, you will not be able to file an insurance claim later if you have to.
Just speaking from experience... When I sold my iPhone 2G, the winner was in Vietnam and pulled the whole "mail it to my sister immediately whose birthday is tomorrow" trick on me. I shipped the next day. Several days later, after I had already withdrawn the funds from Paypal, I received an e-mail from Paypal saying there was an issue with the buyer's credit card and (imagine this) I was responsible for paying Paypal back!!
Just sayin', there are plenty of countries besides the ones I mentioned above - better safe than sorry. I just sold my 3GS to someone in the UK for $450 with no issues.
Can they do this to you legally? Is there no seller protection from Paypal in this case? After all, you did ship to the Paypal confirmed address?
PayPal is strictly a "go between." They have absolutely no legal responsibility to you. If the buyers payment fails they can charge you back, put your account into negative and send you to collections.
About 3 years ago I had $2000 taken from my bank account from someone is Russia (I've since setup an empty bank account to use which I transfer funds into as needed - but that's another story). I eventually disputed it with my BANK as fraudulent and the BANK reimbursed me but PayPal put my account negative $2g's and dunned me and sent me to collections as they claimed it wasn't fraud. Eventually it got settled after filing police reports and having an attorney send them a letter. PayPal then reversed itself and decided it was NOT fraud and put my account back to zero.
PayPal is NOT a bank and is not regulated by ANYONE.
There's plenty of buyers in the US.
Stay with US domestic shipping only.
Avoid the BS.
Thats what I did.
Stay with US domestic shipping only.
Avoid the BS.
Thats what I did.
No I didn't ship to the confirmed address - that's how I got screwed. Needless to say, I learned an expensive lesson.
I've sold a ton of expensive items on eBay international.
Rule #1: Make sure the buyer has some feedback. Just block new eBayers from bidding on your stuff, that's the safe way to go.
Rule #2: ALWAYS use FedEx or UPS. Never ship internationally with USPS. They have the crappiest tracking method for international shipments. UPS/FedEx are excellent and will provide you proof that the item arrived, giving you full access to the funds.
Rule #3: ALWAYS ship to the confirmed address.
Follow these three rules and you'll be fine. As a note though, I do not advise shipping to Africa, China, or Russia. Those are the highest risk areas. All other areas are perfectly fine, haven't had a problem shipping to Thailand, Philippines, etc.