Question about eBay sale

J

Jester2138

Well-known member
Hey guys I have a question. I'm not sure if this is the right place but I thought I'd try here.

So I have my Nikon D90 and two prime lenses up on eBay as a standard auction (this is my first eBay sale btw). A potential buyer sent me a message asking how much I would ask for a buy-it-now type sale (he apparently would like to purchase it as soon as possible). I also believe he is located in the U.K., while I am in the USA. How would I perform a buy-it-now style sale while a standard auction is in progress? Is this even a good idea? I'm trying to be very cautious this being my first eBay sale and all.

Thanks!
 
Just one piece of advice, approach any auction where the buyer or seller is overseas as a scam. Don't send anything until you have cash in your hands or in your bank account.
 
I don't know if you can change your auction to a "Buy it Now" deal (I don't think so). But whatever you do, don't deal with the guy outside of ebay. If he tries to set something up outside the normal channels it may be a scam and you will not have any of the typical ebay/paypal protection.

That being said, he may just really want the camera.
 
Depending on how far you are into the auction, I'm pretty sure you can set a buy it now option in the 'revise item' screen.

As for the scam thing, generally overseas means scam. But I'd call the UK an exception. Unless it's for his son studying abroad in Africa. That continent and a lot of Asia shouldn't be shipped to.

That said, if you're getting bids already and aren't comfortable with that, encourage him to bid and don't worry about it.
 
Thanks guys, knew I could count on you. It looks like the most prudent course of action would be to avoid a transaction with this guy and wait for normal bids.
 
Here's another one to watch.. Years ago i sold an XL1 kit on e-Bay. Regular high bidder won. He sent me an email saying he wanted to use an e-Bay approved escrow company. He explained that he would give them the money, and I would register with them, then I would ship with a UPS tracking number and when they confirmed the number, they would transfer funds into my bank account. I was leery at the least... So I went to the escrow site. Looked legit. eBay logo and all... Put in my auction ID and there was the info and it said "Waiting on payment from buyer"...

Okay.. so I waited.. few hours pass and I get an email from the escrow co saying payment received. I go to the site and there it is... Okay.. seems legit, but I'm still skeptical.
I think... "Okay... they just need a tracking number.... ahhhh..." So I take an empty box, put a couple of blocks of wood in it, ship it (to Canada... not overseas) and provide the tracking number. Time passes... While i wait I go to the buyers 100% positive feedback and see that he got a positive review from another purchase of an XL1!.. I e-mail that seller and he replies: "I don't know how he got a positive from me! He was a non-paying bidder!"
The money never was transferred.. I went to UPS and canceled the shipment and was refunded some of my money.

Lesson learned. Now I check feedback and e-mail previous buyers/sellers just to be sure.

It was pretty impressive having the https site with ebay logo and all. Most of the time it's the sellers that scam. This was one of the first I saw where the buyer scammed.
 
ATL Media Group said:
Here's another one to watch.. Years ago i sold an XL1 kit on e-Bay. Regular high bidder won. He sent me an email saying he wanted to use an e-Bay approved escrow company. He explained that he would give them the money, and I would register with them, then I would ship with a UPS tracking number and when they confirmed the number, they would transfer funds into my bank account. I was leery at the least... So I went to the escrow site. Looked legit. eBay logo and all... Put in my auction ID and there was the info and it said "Waiting on payment from buyer"...

Okay.. so I waited.. few hours pass and I get an email from the escrow co saying payment received. I go to the site and there it is... Okay.. seems legit, but I'm still skeptical.
I think... "Okay... they just need a tracking number.... ahhhh..." So I take an empty box, put a couple of blocks of wood in it, ship it (to Canada... not overseas) and provide the tracking number. Time passes... While i wait I go to the buyers 100% positive feedback and see that he got a positive review from another purchase of an XL1!.. I e-mail that seller and he replies: "I don't know how he got a positive from me! He was a non-paying bidder!"
The money never was transferred.. I went to UPS and canceled the shipment and was refunded some of my money.

Lesson learned. Now I check feedback and e-mail previous buyers/sellers just to be sure.

It was pretty impressive having the https site with ebay logo and all. Most of the time it's the sellers that scam. This was one of the first I saw where the buyer scammed.
Click to expand...

Nearly the same thing happened to me a couple months ago...

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=183199
 
I also don't believe you can revise to "buy it now" after someone has a placed a bid,
you also don't want to "buy it now" because extra fees are involved, as they are
with "reserved" items.

When shipping items overseas you tell them they have to cover shipping cost - you can
go to any ups store or annex station and have it weighed and get a price (I've done
this several times as not to get underpaid for shipping).

For large ticket items you can always use escrow.com - safe as paypal. The money
is "held" in an escrow account and you don't ship until escrow tells you they have
the buyer's money - totally credible.
 
If you have an overseas buyer be sure to tell them that A) you will ONLY, and I mean ONLY accept a bank draft, or western union payment... meaning NOTHING else! AND then tell them that you will have to wait 3 days AFTER the bank draft clears, if they pay that way... and B) that you can't provide ANY... again... ANY tracking/shipping info beyond emailing a scan of the shipping receipt.

International customs isn't something you want your safe sale to depend on!

If you don't already have these statements in your auction then have a friend with an ebay account "ask seller a question" about international buying... and then be sure to answer the question this way (above, and posting it to the auction)... OR... revise your auction to state these terms (better).

Finally... you can ALWAYS end your auction early (as long as it's not too close to the auction's end already) and then re-list the item with these terms clearly stated in the auction.
 
Wow, quite a lot of replies! So I have an update. He sent me another message asking if I could ship it to California. You know what, I'll just paste his message here (hope that's OK)

"Would you be willing to ship to victorville, CA 92395,?If so let me know.how much is the shipping cost via www.usps.com,you can e-mail me back on mbtbat3@gmail.com,once again make sure you copy this e-mail address to e-mail me back..or you can include your email address on your message."

Thanks again guys.
 
I think your assuming the ebay account is actually his. People steal ebay accounts all the time and then use that account's positive feedback to make high value scams. The fact your selling a high value item and have no ebay sales is like painting a target on your back.

Ebay can work if you follow all the basic rules. Only ship to the registered Paypal address. Only US buyers. No trades outside the ebay system. If the buyer wants to use an escrow system, you pick the system.

Never believe any email you receive. Email from Paypal can be faked. The whole Paypal web site can be faked. Log into the Paypal system by hand typeing the address. Don't follow any links in any email. Never mail anything to an address other than what Paypal says is the registered address. Verify everything on the Paypal site.

Even if you do all those sensible things there is still a high chance you will get ripped off. Selling anything valuable on ebay involves a great deal of risk and this has risk written all over it.
 
David Jimerson said:
Not really. There haven't been many, but we've never come out on the losing side of a dispute. Delivery confirmation is your friend.
Click to expand...

I have plenty of colleagues who have been had by the buyer, WITH delivery confirmation, the whole nine yards, when the buyer wants to screw you, Paypal WILL side with them every time.

Count on it.
 
You've had plenty of colleagues had by the buyer? Yeah, that seems like definite proof that Paypal will come out with that conclusion every single time. Those of us who have had successes on the buyer side must be wrong.

I agree they are probably biased towards buyers, but if you know the system and have the relevant data and are actually in the right they should be able to help you. But there's absolutely no point in discussing this further because the details behind every transaction are different, and there's no reason to assume that any of our experiences necessarily translate as a rule.
 
The problem is if the buyer is using a stolen credit card, the merchant always loses. That's how the credit card system works. The actual owner of the credit card isn't the one that got the package, they had nothing to do with the trade at all. Visa/Mastercard will issue the chargeback, 100% of the time. And Paypal won't eat the loss, you will, since you are the merchant when you're selling.

This is why scamers try so hard to steal ebay accounts with phising emails. They can then use those account's reputation to make trades they wouldn't be able to make with a brand new account. And if they can steal a Paypal account that's even better, since you don't have to know the details on the credit card in order to use it. Just the Paypal account name/password (which is why you should only ship to the registered address on Paypal).

To be fair there are systems in place that help cut down on the use of stolen cards. And PayPal uses them. But they don't always work fast enough and they don't block everything.
 
mcgeedigital said:
I have plenty of colleagues who have been had by the buyer, WITH delivery confirmation, the whole nine yards, when the buyer wants to screw you, Paypal WILL side with them every time.

Count on it.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know what to tell you -- it didn't happen with us, and there have been attempts.
 
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