Sold iPhone 3G on eBay, not convinced about seller...

[kernkraft]

It's awful to hear stereotypes about Nigeria. Personally, I have a friend there, he is the Minister of Justice and I have sent them a few thousand US dollars, so they can chemically remove the stain from the $3 million that I will receive when they are ready.

No, I'm kidding. DO NOT POST ANYTHING TO NIGERIA!!!

Cancel the bid, if you didn't specify the locations where you would ship before the auction.

Again, DO NOT SHIP! There is a chance that they will deny that the phone was in the box that you sent. These horror stories are getting pretty common.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

How did you go through the different auctions? Were your listing fees refunded? Safe Harbor and eBay support is just telling me to re-list the item and file an unpaid item claim in 4 days. Even the support person I was chatting with said that it was good I took notice now before acting. Looks like I'll just re-list it, refuse international bids, and require some positive feedback from bidders, sigh.

Yup. Had to file an unpaid claim each time these rat bastards "bought" my phone. By the time I finally sold my phone, my account looked like I'd sold a thousand dollars worth of stuff. eBay was extremely slow in refunding/crediting my account for the scam bidders. They even contacted me directly about these so called relistings to make sure I wasn't scamming them or something. Real big pain but, fortunately, everything worked out.

Personally, if you just want to ditch the phone ASAP, refuse international bids and you should be okay. There's still plenty of buyers looking for the 3G's (for some reason) so you shouldn't have any issue finding a seller in the states.

 

[malnar]

I sold my 3G on eBay recently as well and had similar issues. I've been on eBay for awhile so I expect this crap to come up every once in awhile. Best thing to do is relist your item again and put in the item description that you WILL NOT accept international bids. I got a lot in "inquiries" from folks in Mexico, Nigeria, Puerto Rico etc when selling mine. Sold mine for $200 so hopefully you can get the same for yours too

You can set your auction to not allow bids from particular regions. Not trying to be "forum police" here, but Ebay's rules state that if the auction completes and the bidder pays, you have to ship the item. I know that a winning bid from Nigeria is pretty much automatically going to be a scam, but when setting up the auction, you had the option to de-select as many locations as you wish (including making it US-only if you want.) Just letting people know - there are easier, much more legit ways than simply telling bidders "sorry, you're SOL!"

 

[h1r0ll3r]

You can set your auction to not allow bids from particular regions. Not trying to be "forum police" here, but Ebay's rules state that if the auction completes and the bidder pays, you have to ship the item. I know that a winning bid from Nigeria is pretty much automatically going to be a scam, but when setting up the auction, you had the option to de-select as many locations as you wish (including making it US-only if you want.) Just letting people know - there are easier, much more legit ways than simply telling bidders "sorry, you're SOL!"

I hear ya. I'm only a recreational seller on eBay so I'm not 100% familiar with all the rules/restrictions one can impose on their auctions. Sadly though, eBay being what it is these days, it's better to let everyone know up front rather than putting the restrictions in the fine print. I'm sure back in the day you could've done this and been ok but with all the scammers out there now on eBay, better to play it safe and save yourself some headaches.

 

[DuckSoupe]

Yup. Had to file an unpaid claim each time these rat bastards "bought" my phone. By the time I finally sold my phone, my account looked like I'd sold a thousand dollars worth of stuff. eBay was extremely slow in refunding/crediting my account for the scam bidders. They even contacted me directly about these so called relistings to make sure I wasn't scamming them or something. Real big pain but, fortunately, everything worked out.

Personally, if you just want to ditch the phone ASAP, refuse international bids and you should be okay. There's still plenty of buyers looking for the 3G's (for some reason) so you shouldn't have any issue finding a seller in the states.

Thanks for all the advice. Its been re-listed, stating that buyers MUST have positive feedback and NO international bidders. I hate doing it, but I guess we do what we must. Now, hopefully the last "buyer" just fades away and I don't hear anything from them so I can file the Unpaid claim...

 

[eye]

Please go away. Seriously. These threads are getting old.

1 - You don't put up a BUY IT NOW without marking the option for bidders to PAY BEFORE THEY COMPLETE THE AUCTION. You are aware of that right? NEVER put up a buy it now without that option.

2 - Nigeria. Need anyone say anymore?

3 - If you don't know how to use eBay, don't post here. Post on eBay forums instead. You need to have a basic understanding before you can sell and clearly, you don't understand what you're doing. Please seek assistance elsewhere and stop clogging up these forums.

I wanted to post in this thread just to "clog up the forums". Seems like a pretty serious offense and I like living on the edge. Go get 'em Officer Internets.

 

[Applejuiced]

Dont do it, its a scam.
Dont waste your time and money.
Sell only in the US and block nigeria and other well known scam and spam countries.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

Thanks for all the advice. Its been re-listed, stating that buyers MUST have positive feedback and NO international bidders. I hate doing it, but I guess we do what we must. Now, hopefully the last "buyer" just fades away and I don't hear anything from them so I can file the Unpaid claim...

Cool. Always happy to help out a MR/eBay member

Also, not sure what your price point is but if $200 is acceptable, you can probably ditch it quick with a Buy It Now for $200 + shipping. I see most are going from $190-$220 so that might speed the process up if you're interested. That and assuming a real buyer actually places the bid

 

[DuckSoupe]

Cool. Always happy to help out a MR/eBay member

Also, not sure what your price point is but if $200 is acceptable, you can probably ditch it quick with a Buy It Now for $200 + shipping. I see most are going from $190-$220 so that might speed the process up if you're interested. That and assuming a real buyer actually places the bid

I would take $200, but I was hoping for a little more, as I'm including 5 cases and a dock (no need for them now with the iPhone 4.) The buy it now was set at $350, mostly because I never thought anybody would use it, and I like using buy it now instead of reserves, because most bidders shy away from auctions when they see "reserve not yet met" under the bid. But, I'm not greedy, Anything between $100-200 would be fine, the phone is 2 years old now and that would put quite the dent in the cost of my new one, but I won't refuse a bid for more!

 

[h1r0ll3r]

I would take $200, but I was hoping for a little more, as I'm including 5 cases and a dock (no need for them now with the iPhone 4.) The buy it now was set at $350, mostly because I never thought anybody would use it, and I like using buy it now instead of reserves, because most bidders shy away from auctions when they see "reserve not yet met" under the bid. But, I'm not greedy, Anything between $100-200 would be fine, the phone is 2 years old now and that would put quite the dent in the cost of my new one, but I won't refuse a bid for more!

hmm....cases are hit or miss with people but since you have 5 I guess that should suit anyones fancy. The dock alone is around $30-$40 I think too. In all fairness, I think a Buy It Now of $250-$275 should be doable for most people. $300 might be pushing it but it doesn't hurt to try I guess. I'm in the same boat with you on the Reserve auctions and I never use those. I'm amazed that the 3G is still "hot" considering it's two years old but people out there still need them. I'd start off with BIN of $300 and see how many lookers you get. If the auction is set to end soon and you don't have any bidders, might want to drop the BIN to $250 and see if that snags a buyer.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I like using buy it now instead of reserves, because most bidders shy away from auctions when they see "reserve not yet met" under the bid.

I don't think that's really true. For one thing, you don't set the reserve price above what a particular model in a particular condition sells for. You scan through the most recent completed listings and find what it goes for and set the reserve price slightly below that. If anything, bidders will eventually bump it up above the reserve price in order to make it available then after that, competition among bidders takes over. This usually happens within the last 30 minutes down to the last remaining seconds of the auction.

 

[iphonedude123]

Please go away. Seriously. These threads are getting old.

1 - You don't put up a BUY IT NOW without marking the option for bidders to PAY BEFORE THEY COMPLETE THE AUCTION. You are aware of that right? NEVER put up a buy it now without that option.

2 - Nigeria. Need anyone say anymore?

3 - If you don't know how to use eBay, don't post here. Post on eBay forums instead. You need to have a basic understanding before you can sell and clearly, you don't understand what you're doing. Please seek assistance elsewhere and stop clogging up these forums.

Wow, no need to be a douchebag.
Does it come from having 6 chins and no visible neckline?

 

[Rideherhard]

Please go away. Seriously. These threads are getting old.

1 - You don't put up a BUY IT NOW without marking the option for bidders to PAY BEFORE THEY COMPLETE THE AUCTION. You are aware of that right? NEVER put up a buy it now without that option.

2 - Nigeria. Need anyone say anymore?

3 - If you don't know how to use eBay, don't post here. Post on eBay forums instead. You need to have a basic understanding before you can sell and clearly, you don't understand what you're doing. Please seek assistance elsewhere and stop clogging up these forums.

Why should he go away?... he's asking for help and I'm sure he doesn't know much about selling on ebay and came here for help! what's wrong with that?, nothing!. Just cause you have a chance at being a dick doesn't mean you should do it every chance you get.