Scared of selling now .

[botthunter]

I used to sell rare expensive items on another account , eBay has send me offers to start selling again ' but I feel to scared of being ripped off with the buyer guarantee of money back & keep the item if not described . 

Although I'd like to sell again & contribute my substantial fees to eBay's coffers I don't feel safe to use this platform until those risk factors are rectified .

Your thoughts please ? 

[designers*n*more]

It is unfortunately becoming so easy to be scammed by buyers under the MBG. I guess you really need to take photos of the items as you pack them (pain in the butt and time consuming) but if they are items that are breakable/fragile etc, post them with insurance then if they are damaged, AP should reimburse you for any damage, I suppose that's the only way you can protect yourself. That being said, if a buyer receives an item, then decides they don't like, they only have to damage it themselves and say it's not as described. 

If I get any SNAD disputes I would be insisting the item be returned. I've only had one, and the buyer was stalling to send the item back, so I raised this with eBay through the dispute stating it had been 7 weeks and the item had not been returned. They immediately closed the dispute in favour of the buyer, giving them a full refund and told the buyer they could keep the item. I was ready to send them a letter of complaint (furious) when I continued reading the email, it said "don't worry we've refunded the buyer but you won't have to pay (eBay). Thought that strange though when so many people have  lost their money and buyers get to keep the item.

I don't understand how eBay think they have the right to tell a buyer they can keep an item and receive a refund in full, I still can't get my head around that one. I don't know of any company online or in store where they refund and let you keep the item. The item doesn't belong to eBay, it belongs to the buyer, however if the buyer is refunded from the sellers account, the item then becomes the seller's again and should be returned to the seller.

[botthunter]

Thanks Designer for your comments 🙂

What has become of the  eBay I joined 14 years ago ,  I used to like selling  here but can't risk it anymore .

[clarry100]

We sell low value items which we mail out by large letter. We accept that we are going to lose the occasional one due to scamming thru the MBG system or other claims.
But I would never sell high value items on here that I could not afford to lose. Too easy for the buyer to scam you out of it.
Having said that tho as a seller you always have the recourse to raise a formal case with The ACORN if you have strong evidence of scamming. The Australian Federal Police will then investigate it.

As was said above take pics of you packing your items. Even mount a time lapse camera over your packing table. Have a second person witness you packing who would be prepared to sign a stat dec if required. Always record the actual weight of your final package. Get your local po to record that weight on the lodgement receipt.
These things are a bit of a pain to have to do but extra insurance if you are protecting high value items.

[auto2retro]

Your question is timely! I was talking to friend of mine on the weekend re ebay.

A friend of his sold an item (car dash with gauges) for $1000 on ebay, a second hand item 40 plus years old & it was advertised as second hand & UNTESTED.......so no one was being misled.

It sold, the buyer wasn't happy that the speedo didn't work...raised a claim & in typical ebay style he won the claim...didn't send the dash back so ended up keeping the dash AND HE GOT HIS $1000 back! 

The buyer can then try to resell the dash, maybe make another $1000 from this & he ends up with $3000 in the end...wooohoo beats betting on horse races !

I don't believe this is recorded anywhere against a buyers account....so they can keep on do it! Do you think the seller was happy!

Does ANY other business in the world have such a ONE SIDED refund policy?? Seriously another "nail in the coffin" for sellers! ebay clearly forget who THEIR customers are! Fortunately for many of us most buyers don't know about this policy.

[wayoutwest_au]

eBay argued that the buyer protection policy allows it to settle disputes any way it chooses, and claimed that Campbell signed an agreement that lets it limit acceptable payment methods, including international transactions.

Here's Ebay defending its position in court a while ago. You people honestly think they care if your $100 watch never makes it or gets refunded 44 days later? I sell expensive things locally on craigslist and other websites that don't pretend they have a distant relationship with a payment processor who also make their own rules with your money. Ebay's a joke these days.

[iamalabel]

I sold an LV worth $2800 for $1500 to someone in the US, despite the Post Office Rep placing a sea mail custom declaration with a tracking number and the bag arriving in the US within the week, the buyer said they didnt receive it and paypal took that $1500 out of my paypal account. I found out that the buyer got the bag worth $1500 and got her refund of $1500 so that is worth $3k. Luckily, I had

insurance and am claiming the insurance which hopefully will get back (keep all documents!!!!). Another bag I sold safely arrived and got my money and no claim was made. So its luck of the draw. BUT YOU MUST GET INSURANCE for any expensive packages plus cover your postage cost first as well.

Trust no one.

[iamalabel]

Also in the end, I will be out of a few hundred dollars with paypal and ebay fees, insurance cost plus posting. But again luckily I paid for insurance.

[*tippy*toes*]

Did the tracking number say it was delivered?

[iamalabel]

no, usually sea mail is not trackable despite having a tracking number. On the USPS site, if you type in the tracking number it will say it is in transit, despite on this occasion it was delivered to the buyer. Didnt think she had to sign for it as well.