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Selling on Swappa v. eBay.

I tried to sell my 5s through ebay for the first time couple days ago, almost got scammed. Glad I googled the shipment address ahead.
I have never tried Swappa, not sure how safe is it. Maybe I would give it a shot.
I traded my old devices back to Apple online recycle program, it was easy and safe.Yes, I could not get as much money as elsewhere, but it has its own advantage for sure.
 
andrewxie said:
I tried to sell my 5s through ebay for the first time couple days ago, almost got scammed. Glad I googled the shipment address ahead.
I have never tried Swappa, not sure how safe is it. Maybe I would give it a shot.
I traded my old devices back to Apple online recycle program, it was easy and safe.Yes, I could not get as much money as elsewhere, but it has its own advantage for sure.
Click to expand...

what almost happened to you?
 
They both certainly have their uses. I tried to sell on Swappa, but got frustrated after spend a couple hours trying to follow their rules & instructions. There was was always one more thing to do.

Photo upload was limited and clunky. On Ebay I can post as many large, clear photos as I can and it's easy to do so. On what I read about disputes, I think Swappa needs more time to see how they do - as there are good tales and some bad ones, too - but not enough to pass final judgement. Hopefully they are just having teething problems.

After a lot of wasted time & frustration with Swappa, I expressed my displeasure. I got an email suggesting I post my perfect phone in their boneyard section. In sales 101, the customer is always right. When one is in sales being factious, arrogant & disrespectful to a customer is not the way to go. I won't use then, but I hope they improve in the future.

A 3 year old iphone, even in nice shape, is not a high ticket item. I have 15 years & over clean 700 transactions. That counts for something when trying to entice a buyer. Disputes are rare for & Ebay has always been fair with me. Right now, the time I save by being able to quickly post a clear, concise listing on Ebay means time saved for me - and time is $$$
 
Beware that as of November 2014 Paypal has changed their "time to file dispute" from 45 to 180 days effectively giving buyers a 6 month return policy. Just something to keep in mind.
 
I've sold on Swappa numerous times for a couple iPhones and an iPad Air. One issue where the buyer tried to say I sold them the phone activation locked but I got Swappa support and Apple support involved to see whose Apple ID it was under, of course it was theirs. Case closed in my favor. Luckily buyer didn't dispute it with paypal. No other issues.
 
Squilly said:
Case closed in my favor. Luckily buyer didn't dispute it with paypal. No other issues.
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You lucked out because Paypal would have ruled in the buyer's favor so it can go wrong just as badly as ebay.

I have a question for those who've sold on Swappa though. Is there a waiting period before Paypal releases the fund as with ebay (normally three days after delivery confirmation)? On ebay, you get the fund right away only if you're an experienced ebay seller with above average performance.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
You lucked out because Paypal would have ruled in the buyer's favor so it can go wrong just as badly as ebay.

I have a question for those who've sold on Swappa though. Is there a waiting period before Paypal releases the fund as with ebay (normally three days after delivery confirmation)? On ebay, you get the fund right away only if you're an experienced ebay seller with above average performance.
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No waiting period. Paypal is strictly the payment provider/middleman. They're not intertwined unlike the eBay/paypal partnership.
 
Squilly said:
No waiting period. Paypal is strictly the payment provider/middleman. They're not intertwined unlike the eBay/paypal partnership.
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That's great then and it should be relatively easy to beat Paypal at their game and leave them holding the bag if you do get a unscrupulous buyer by following a few steps. Have only a credit card linked to Paypal and do not link your checking account. Purchase something with the money as soon as you get it (you'll have to time your large purchases). If you do get a dispute, report the credit card lost and allow the account to go into negative lest you get back an empty box or something to that effect. Paypal isn't a bank and have no real power to collect on you or do damage to your credit score. You can always open a new Paypal account under a different name/email.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
That's great then and it should be relatively easy to beat Paypal at their game and leave them holding the bag if you do get a unscrupulous buyer by following a few steps. Have only a credit card linked to Paypal and do not link your checking account. Purchase something with the money as soon as you get it (you'll have to time your large purchases). If you do get a dispute, report the credit card lost and allow the account to go into negative lest you get back an empty box or something to that effect. Paypal isn't a bank and have no real power to collect on you or do damage to your credit score. You can always open a new Paypal account under a different name/email.
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They can (and do) send you to collections if you have a substantial negative balance though.
 
I've sold two phones on Swappa. Both times it was a good experience. I only sell to people who have positive seller feedback since buyer feedback does not exist. Typically if someone is selling legit, they are going to buy legit.
 
A little off topic but I'm a first time seller on swappa and I'm trying to sell my sprint 128gn iPhone 6 plus for 750.

I have all original accessories and a case and glass screen protector. Phones in perfect condition too.

Only one person has said anything yet wanted it for 650 but I feel the 750 is really fair for the plus.

Any suggestions or tips. The price is pretty good right?
 
Sold two phones on Swappa so far. Both good experiences.

I'd really like to know why Swappa doesn't have buyer feedback. I contacted them and they said 'well we'll keep it in mind for the future'. Seems like an obvious feature they are missing.

I'd probably feel more comfortable selling than buying though. Despite the IMEI check there can be a grey area I believe if you sell a phone you still owe payments on or if you owe a balance to the carrier, etc.

Swappa takes $10 from what you get paid for your device. So saying Swappa has no fees is not true.

I sold an iPhone on Ebay some years back and was disgusted by the fees.

I also have sold many items on Craigslist. No fees of course but you gotta deal with a million flakes and you must be safe at all times. (Meet during the day, cash only, public areas, with people around you if possible.)

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wolfedude88 said:
A little off topic but I'm a first time seller on swappa and I'm trying to sell my sprint 128gn iPhone 6 plus for 750.

I have all original accessories and a case and glass screen protector. Phones in perfect condition too.

Only one person has said anything yet wanted it for 650 but I feel the 750 is really fair for the plus.

Any suggestions or tips. The price is pretty good right?
Click to expand...

The price is great. Sprint is the least desired carrier phone. Tends to always have the least value and demand for reselling. Sorry. Someone will pounce in due time if I had to guess on your phone.
 
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wolfedude88 said:
A little off topic but I'm a first time seller on swappa and I'm trying to sell my sprint 128gn iPhone 6 plus for 750.

I have all original accessories and a case and glass screen protector. Phones in perfect condition too.

Only one person has said anything yet wanted it for 650 but I feel the 750 is really fair for the plus.

Any suggestions or tips. The price is pretty good right?
Click to expand...

It's Sprint which means it's the hardest model to sell on the used market. It's the least wanted model. So you can either lower the price to around $700 or just wait it out for someone to come along. It's hard because a Sprint phone can only be used by someone on Sprint and cannot be unlocked.
 
blairh said:
I'd really like to know why Swappa doesn't have buyer feedback. I contacted them and they said 'well we'll keep it in mind for the future'. Seems like an obvious feature they are missing.
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If they follow ebay's example of only allowing positive feedbacks, they're meaningless.

They may want sellers to have a traditional business relationship with their buyers. Traditionally, businesses do not leave feedbacks publicly on their customers.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
It's their own in-house collections, not a real collection agency that can do damage to your credit score.
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Sure about that? Perhaps initially it is their own in house collections, but I believe they have or continue to use NCO for third party debt collection. They most certainly can hit your credit.
 
Squilly said:
Not from my experience. I'm dealing with IC System, apparently after they sold the debt to them.
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So you provided PayPal your social security number? That's your mistake right there. Otherwise you have nothing to worry about.

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GoCubsGo said:
Sure about that? Perhaps initially it is their own in house collections, but I believe they have or continue to use NCO for third party debt collection. They most certainly can hit your credit.
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If it's an agency partner, they won't allow them to report to the credit bureaus.

Really, if they don't have your social security number, there's not much they can do except harass you.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
It's their own in-house collections, not a real collection agency that can do damage to your credit score.
Click to expand...

JayLenochiniMac said:
So you provided PayPal your social security number? That's your mistake right there. Otherwise you have nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...
Through skip tracing it is possible to get your SSN. Your SSN is tied to your credit report which also includes the history of places you have lived (or have associated yourself with financially) and even employment. A collection agency can do this on behalf of PayPal. It is up to you to dispute the debt if it is invalid. Also, disputed debts should not be referred to a collection agency. If your PP balance is due to a dispute with a buyer then PP would be wrong to refer the account to collection. That is, if they still do that. I know they did in the past as I helped someone resolve a matter.
 
GoCubsGo said:
If your PP balance is due to a dispute with a buyer then PP would be wrong to refer the account to collection. That is, if they still do that. I know they did in the past as I helped someone resolve a matter.
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Right, that's why I won't hesitate to leave PayPal holding the bag if the buyer claims or returns an empty box. Ebay/PayPal needs to be responsible for their buyers' (mis)actions considering the fees they charge.
 
andrewxie said:
Someone wanted me to ship the phone to somewhere in Nigeria,I googled the address, found out the address has been confirmed by many ebay sellers that it was a fake address
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The word Nigeria alone should have told no. Not necessary to Google.
 
AndrewR23 said:
Yeah. Is someone gonna claim the box was empty and I lose my money and phone? This happened to my sister on eBay and we used signature confirmation and insurance and still lost.
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If this happens to you, you need to do this:

1) Report the theft to the USPS if you shipped by USPS (ALWAYS ship via USPS - this is mail fraud and the USPS will investigate the recipient) and file an insurance claim after you complete steps 2-4;
2) Report the phone as stolen to the carrier so that it can be blacklisted;
3) Report the phone as stolen to your local police (they will do nothing but you still need the report for your insurance claim);
4) Report the recipient as having committed a crime to THEIR local police (who may or may not investigate); and
5) Appeal any negative decisions by paypal sending them the police reports, the USPS insurance claim paperwork and USPS theft report and take a screen shot of the device being blacklisted by you (www.swappa.com/esn).
 
My experience with Swappa was pretty good. It did take longer than expected to sell, but it sold for what I wanted. They have a much better system, and more money back in general. eBay takes a good chunk and then Paypal takes its cut. Only Paypal takes their cut, Swappa takes a $10 cut, but is applied to the overall sell of the item, so if I wanted $400 for the phone, it'll list it as $410. I document everything when I sell the phone though, jot down the serial number, take pictures of the box and all the contents provided, I always opt to get insurance on the package as well.
 
In my past experience I've sold a few iphones on ebay and one of them didn't go too well and the buyer ended up getting their money back. After that experience, I no longer sell my phone on ebay.

I've had no problems using Swappa when selling my phone and I have sold 3 iphones on Swappa just fine.
 
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