Selling High $ Item on eBay

[A K]

With talk of bad sellers, and I know there must be bad buyers....



To those who have sold expensive items on eBay, how do you protect yourselves? I'm going to put my GPS unit on eBay, but I don't want a buyer later filing a claim and having eBay take money from me (and the buyer keeping the unit) [this is not an inference of the post below; here, I'm referring to a buyer who simply is out to rip me off, and not one with a valid claim].



Likewise, I don't want to receive junk funds from a stolen account.



Should I request only a cashier's check? I don't mind PayPal for small to medium stuff, but when we're talking $500+, I really have no sense of security with it.



Any advice is appreciated.

 

[TomT]

Adam. I will give you $50 for it then you won't have to worry about it.



Honestly, the only problem with asking for a cashiers check is the buyer has to be able to have full trust in you. If I didn't know the person I would be reluctant to send a cashiers check for that amount.

 

[George C]

Adam,

You can ask for a money order or cashiers check.

If you want to take Paypal they offer "seller protection" where as long as you ship to the person's confirmed address then you should be fine. An extra step is to immediately withdraw the money from your paypal account as soon as it has been received.



In my opinion Paypal protects the seller more than the buyer. If the seller wants to file a claim they have to submit proof that the item was not as described. It is more difficult than it sounds.



George

 

[Kevin Palmer]

I'll do $55.00... LOL



You can do an escrow as well.



I did for my bike, I sold it to a guy in CA and I live in OH.



Money went to escrow account, I shipped bike, it got to escrow location, they contacted buyer, he came and looked at bike, signed paperwork saying all was good, released funds to me, once i got the funds I informed the escrow company, seller then was allowed to pick up the bike...

 

[kil roy]

US postal Money Order better than cash.

 

[Jeffrey Travis]

Use craigslist and sell local if you are close to one of the cities listed on the link.

 

[Todd Z]

Can sell it locally and ask for pick up ONLY and get cash..



Todd Z

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

Have them pay by USPS Money Order. Ebay can't touch it

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Adam, respectfully I have to say that you should accept paypal and look for other ways to qualify bidders and/or assure you don't get the item back or a erroneous request for reimbursement.



Maybe only accept bids from buyers with 30 or more buyer feedbacks, at 98+% positive (you define the standard). I think you can do that with eBay.



Or indicate that the item is in fully-working condition and guaranteed to arrive in same condition, ship it with insurance and indicate that no returns are accepted.



I suggest you do something like the above because you will get more bidders IF you take paypal and it gives the buyer assurances as well.



If you go this route CLEARLY and with much HIGHLIGHTING describe the terms in the auction description.



Good luck.



TJR

 

[Peter Vincent]

Make sure you hold on to the reciept for the shipping. If you go through UPS it will have the buyers address on it which will be proof of sending if there is a problem later on.

 

[Dan Long]

I'm waiting to hear Paypal's decision on my case as a buyer at the moment. I bought a set of tires that were described as "almost new, with less than 3000 miles of use" and received a set of tires that only have 40-50% of tread left, as well as uneven camber wear. I started a claim and the seller acted completely shocked when Paypal notified him of it. He replied that he felt I was trying to rip him off and insinuated that I might already have a set of tires that I'm claiming were the ones he sent me. It's been about 2 weeks and I'm still waiting on Paypal, they haven't even given me a chance to give them any proof. In my experience, they protect the seller too much. The only other claim I've had was found in the seller's favor, a cheapo intake I ordered for my wife's old car was missing some parts, they wouldn't do anything to help me. I really, really, really hate Paypal/eBay (they're the same company), unfortunately though the usefulness of the site is hard to overcome when shopping for the best deal.

 

[A K]

Thanks for the responses, folks. I'm going to take the plunge either shortly or tomorrow night.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I've never had any problems with them. The biggest item I have sold was a washer/dryer combo. I stated local pickup. They guy came a few days after I sold it to pick it up. I think the ebay issues are a small percentage. Just like with this site, you only hear about the bad experiences. You won't see anyone making a big deal about getting their item or payment with no issues, just like you won't see a post stating, "Hey my ST started every morning this week, without a problem!".