Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @03:01AM (#17390446)

It’s not that bad. I sell a lot of stuff and have had no problems with scammers other than a couple of people doing a buy it now and then wanting stuff shipped to Lagos etc and payment via money order. You just cancel the sale and relist then.

The real risks are couriers in my experience.

eBay success:

1. Avoid GSP

2. Sell only inside your region

3. Mark and photograph everything sold and keep the serial numbers.

4. If there’s any risk of something packing up, sell it spares or repair. Doesn’t affect the final value.

5. If someone pulls one just cancel the sale and move on.

6. If someone picks up from you take a signature.

7. If you do a buy it now, tick the immediate payment box.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by DrScump on Monday June 25, 2018 @03:46AM (#17390630)

  If someone picks up from you take a signature.

Why? It offers you no seller protection whatsoever. Even a photo of the person picking it up wouldn't qualify.

  If you do a buy it now, tick the immediate payment box

If it's ship-only, yes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @05:12AM (#17390956)

ebay seller protection is pointless either way as the decisions are arbitrary. The receipt offers you protection as in if you have to take the buyer to small claims court or defend yourself then you are covered for transfer of goods. If you're a private seller, selling items under $20/£25 it's not worth arguing. Unless you're selling volume, don't even sell the items just throw them away or give them to someone.

Also run a mule bank account. All money in and out goes through an empty account which you transfer in and out of paypal. Never link a card to it. No arbitrary charges or refunds can be taken then.

If ebay have a problem with you they can come to your door and do it via official legal paths. They usually hire a debt collector here in the UK who will fuck off instantly if you file an SAR with them and ask for court documents (I had a run in with them a few years back after they didn't receive a fees payment I made due to a system problem)

But honestly there are so few problems out there really.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by reaperducer on Monday June 25, 2018 @12:57PM (#17393860)

2. Sell only inside your region

I wish this was possible. Any time I list an item, it doesn't matter if I mark it US shipping only, and no matter how many times I put in the description that I ship US only, I get flooded with people from other countries asking, "How much to ship to {$nation}?"

After a while I got tied of telling them I don't ship to wherever they are, and just told them that international shipping rates are listed in the description. (Which they aren't, just the note saying no international shipping.)

Then I just started ignoring the bombardment.

Then I just stopped listing stuff on eBay.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @01:37PM (#17394164)

There are buyer restrictions you can set up that stop this.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by reaperducer on Tuesday June 26, 2018 @12:07PM (#17401750)

As noted in my original comment, it doesn't stop anything at all. You still get foreigners with US accounts asking for things to be shipped overseas.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by pjc50 on Monday June 25, 2018 @04:35AM (#17390841)

> If there’s any risk of something packing up, sell it spares or repair. Doesn’t affect the final value.

This is rather surprising, as I'd expect this to halve the prices of items.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @05:13AM (#17390960)

I was too. If you list it as "spares/repair only because no returns on XYZ" then it doesn't affect final value. I use this when selling vintage equipment because while fit for purpose at the point of sale it could blow up a week down the line with a new issue (as any second hand goods) or the buyer could meddle with it neither of which is my problem.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by behringer on Monday June 25, 2018 @11:30AM (#17393160)

That may be true in general but if I were to receive a broken item and it was listed as working but no returns, I'd file a claim anyway. Sometimes I do pass these up too if the item is available from another seller.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @01:38PM (#17394171)

It’s a combination of reputation and the description. I’ve sold hundreds of mid value items with no negative feedback.

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Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by behringer on Monday June 25, 2018 @04:41PM (#17395625)

Yeah but how many of them arrived broken? I suspect you've gotten lucky so far and/or haven't had a buyer like me that would hold you to the phrase (or whatever variation you use) of "tested and working".

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by setquk on Monday June 25, 2018 @05:06PM (#17395787)

Not a single item has arrived broken or non functional. I’ve had some extremely discerning buyers. I don’t sell generic stuff for ref. Specialist restored items. Mainly specialist equipment 40-50 years old that has been restored to new condition.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at... by behringer on Monday June 25, 2018 @06:12PM (#17396277)

Indeed and that's the kind of stuff I buy too. But lucky for me, I've never had an item arrive non-functional that I can remember. I find ebay to be particularly reliable :)

[ Parent | on HN ]