Selling safeguards for newbies/new policy?

[expanded_perceptions]

Hi Community,

I am wondering what safeguards you have in place for newbies? I have just recently made a couple of sales to buyers with 0 FB and admit the first sale I was ultra careful. I took numerous photos of the item prior to packing, during packing, and finally after packing, I sent the package 'signature on delivery' and with insurance. This was despite the listing decribing some minor damage to the item for which I provided numerous photos.

Now, I have just sold another item to a 0 FB buyer. The buyer emailed a little while after paying to say he had given a slightly wrong address on his eBay account and updating the delivery address. On his PayPal address, again it is slightly wrong. Anyway, again I will take numerous photos, send by 'signature on delivery' and insured etc.. I replied to the buyer saying thanks, and that I would ship to the given address, but could he provide his phone details so that the courier may contact them if issues arise? Not had a reply yet, but that is understandable on a Friday evening. The buyer lives about 10 minutes away from me!

I guess I wonder if there are other safeguards that you follow to limit the chances of being either conned or have a buyer defect on you, or scam the system, especially now, in the era of PayPal/eBays new 21 day hold policy!

What tips can we share? Thanks!

[expanded_perceptions]

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@clarry100 wrote:

Well if it was me and I was only 10-minutes drive away I would put the $500 item in my car and drive over to the address to see if all was good.

Then you can negotiate what is to happen face to face over a friendly cuppa.

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Yes, I am contemplating doing exactly that!! Looked it up and its about 15 minutes away, if no response I will go there in the morning and check it out! At the worst, the guy will be a bit peeved that I didn't trust him perhaps, but I could also be alerting the homeowners to a scammer using their address?

Thanks for your response!

[thecatspjs]

I would definately stop sending anymore messages and I would wait until late Monday evening before I decided to do anything else.  People have lives outside of eBay, not everyone has access to a computer at their home, or if they have simply gone away for the weekend.

I would definately not turn up on the buyers doorstep.  That is over the top IMO and could earn you a negative, which I would think is fair enough, you might come across as pushy or worse a stalker

You could try and phone them.  Though many people do not actually put their correct phone number when signing up to eBay.

If you decide to ring use the contact details link (as per below), eBay will send it to you and they will get yours.

- Next to the blue Search button at the top right of the page clicked Advanced

- From the list that appears on the right, under members, select Find contact information 

- Complete the relevant details and the sellers contact details will be emailed to your email address (and yours will be emailed to the seller)

Keep it super polite if you do ring them.

[jensmanchester-australia]

Adding a suburb into an address will not void ebay or Paypal Seller protection as long as the postcode is the same as on the payment.

Paypal are well aware that buyers often leave the suburb out and they will check the address on sites such as whereis if necessary to confirm the address details if a buyer has only entered a capital city and a postcode.

Proof of delivery - The buyer's address, displaying at least the town/city or postal code of the address shown on either the Order Details page or PayPal's Transaction Details page.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

I would definately stop sending anymore messages and I would wait until late Monday evening before I decided to do anything else.  People have lives outside of eBay, not everyone has access to a computer at their home, or if they have simply gone away for the weekend.

I would definately not turn up on the buyers doorstep.  That is over the top IMO and could earn you a negative, which I would think is fair enough, you might come across as pushy or worse a stalker

You could try and phone them.  Though many people do not actually put their correct phone number when signing up to eBay.

If you decide to ring use the contact details link (as per below), eBay will send it to you and they will get yours.

- Next to the blue Search button at the top right of the page clicked Advanced

- From the list that appears on the right, under members, select Find contact information 

- Complete the relevant details and the sellers contact details will be emailed to your email address (and yours will be emailed to the seller)

Keep it super polite if you do ring them.

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Yeah I am not sure what is acceptable, turning up may be a bit OTT. I did as you said and attempted the contact info request, just waiting to see if eBay give it, so thanks! I must admit I am now kind of regretting that, as it just gives more info to a potential scammer? But, that was my choice, so thanks for the info!

[expanded_perceptions]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

Adding a suburb into an address will not void ebay or Paypal Seller protection as long as the postcode is the same as on the payment.

Paypal are well aware that buyers often leave the suburb out and they will check the address on sites such as whereis if necessary to confirm the address details if a buyer has only entered a capital city and a postcode.

Proof of delivery - The buyer's address, displaying at least the town/city or postal code of the address shown on either the Order Details page or PayPal's Transaction Details page.

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Thanks for this! As is said earlier, although the postcode is the same, it is a very slight street name alteration too! Basically although it is in effect just pluralizing the street name, does this constitute a change? To me, its a bit bizarre that someone would get their own street name wrong? On its own its not a biggie, but 0 FB and no contact whatsoever is just a bit concerning? Ok the buyer may have a fascinating lifestyle and be out abseiling the 3 Sisters, but all added together (and my near miss scam last week) I really do have reservations! I hope it all is legit, and I will be the first to admit I was paranoid!! Lol.............I guess the only difference between paranoia and intuition is whether you are right or not!! :))

[jensmanchester-australia]

If you are worried you could always ring Paypal and clarify with them what is acceptable.

Buyers are always getting their address details incorrect - we have to revise on average around 20% of buyers address each day because they have either left their suburb out or the suburb doesn't match the postcode. Some of these happen with buyers with hundreds of feedback so new or inexperienced doesn't seem to make a difference.

If you are printing out an address label from ebay you could always just handwrite the "s" onto the end of the street name after the label has been printed.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

If you are worried you could always ring Paypal and clarify with them what is acceptable.

Buyers are always getting their address details incorrect - we have to revise on average around 20% of buyers address each day because they have either left their suburb out or the suburb doesn't match the postcode. Some of these happen with buyers with hundreds of feedback so new or inexperienced doesn't seem to make a difference.

If you are printing out an address label from ebay you could always just handwrite the "s" onto the end of the street name after the label has been printed.

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Yes, I will ring PayPal and check! Although I am fairly new to selling, I have already encountered what you say; the difference is that the other buyers responded to messages, requested a change of address or to hold off sending whilst they were interstate etc... the big difference is also of course that they had high FB ratings?

[jensmanchester-australia]

Newer buyers often can't even find their way back into ebay to work out how to reply to a message - ebay is a very confusing site for the inexperienced.

I usually give them 24 hours and if I haven't had a reply I just phone them.

If you have subscribed to Selling Manager more often than not the buyers phone number is in the sales record in Selling Manager.

[expanded_perceptions]

Ok, so just an update on this! After requesting contact info as suggested, the buyer contacted me last night around 10pm to accept cancellation, stating "can you reimburse as soon as possible so I can buy another item". I duly obliged and sent a reply back, reiterating that I was willing to sell him the item, as soon as his details were correct, again no response. Of course I am glad he accepted, and feel better that I did not potentially lose an expensive item, but I cannot help feeling still, that something is a little 'off' with all this?

I wonder what my contact details could potentially give to a scammer? Of course I may be just being a drama queen, but the item I am selling is quite rare in the condition it is in, and although there are similar items for sale, they are mostly more expensive, and have little info on condition. I am also in the buyers neighbourhood, so he could freely inspect the item, and know that he will receive before Xmas, I guess its possible he just is peeved, but I was polite all the way through. In fact not selling to him with the wrong address potentially saves him too because If he did not get the item, I am not sure PayPal would reimburse on a wrong address? I have had an item go missing myself due to this, and am still waiting for resolution 5 weeks later!!!

What info have I potentially given out here?

[thecatspjs]

If your details in eBay are correct you have given out a contact phone number, your name, suburb and state of residence.

Less than would be listed in a telephone directory.