Selling high value item on ebay

[SDK^]

I've sold a few high value items (£2k+) on eBay this year and all went fine - I guess I was just lucky.

I was a bit nervous about one of them though - my Omega Seasmaster watch sold to a person living in Hungary for £2.3k, but I did some research before posting it which gave me comfort. I obviously reviewed their feedback & buying history and it checked out. I looked on Google maps for the location it was being sent, filmed myself packaging up the item along with photos of the serial number and I shipped it by RMSD with no extra insurance.

Other items I sold
My road bike sold for £3k using eBay bidding. I was only expecting about £2.2k for it, so that was nice
I sold one of my partners hand-bags for £2k and that went through fine too.

The eBay and Paypal fee's can mount up but I feel they are good value, given the eBay audience exposure and Paypal seller/buyer protection.

 

[Craterloads]

I sold some Naim amps a few years ago for about £4000 each, two went to Spain and one in the UK.

Was crapping my pants for weeks but thankfully all went smoothly.

i think generally you will be fine, and reality is you can’t get what eBay offer in terms of reach elsewhere.

 

[DeliciousStorage]

They absolutely do attempt to take money from your bank account in such a situation as well. It's why they insist so much that you set up a direct debit with them, it entitles them to make deposits and withdrawals as your account "needs." So when they put your account into negative balance, a direct debit attempt is made as an account top up to cover "needed" funds.

Maybe it's different if you set up a direct debit but I doubt many will. If you just have a card and bank account linked they absolutely cannot withdraw the money without your approval.

As I said, I'm speaking from experience. I've had to ditch a few PayPal accounts over the years over this sort of thing. For not insignificant amounts of money either.

From experience, they will send the sums to a debt collection agency, but the debt collection agency has little to no power to collect. You have no credit agreement, and agreed terms and conditions don't supercede law.

Is this actual legal experience and expertise? Did PayPal take you to court and lose, or did you just get lucky that they didn't bother for such a small amount? What ballpark figure are we talking about?

I'm also not sure what you think that Reddit link proves. It's just people giving their opinions.

Many commenters in that subreddit have a lot of legal knowledge and experience, some are actual lawyers. Your opinion appears to be coming from nothing but sheer luck that PayPal didn't bother to take it to court for chump change.

 

[xraycat87]

Well my gut feeling was correct. Card arrived today via express mail and now they're claiming its a fake item. Which it is not. But now I'm utterly capping myself.

 

[Malevolence]

I don't understand why anyone would ever sell something of such high value on eBay, let alone ship it internationally.

 

[Jagi]

I actually think getting screwed over is the exception and quite unlikely. Obviously though with a site that processes so many transactions, if it happens to you it stings.

I’ve sold £10k in stuff over the past few months and about £4.5k of that was in two items. My rule is that I only ship to the UK and big items are cash on collection. The £4.5k items were collected and paid with in cash or bank transfer. Added bonus was both of the guys that collected suggested we just cancel the transaction so that I could avoid the ridiculous seller fees. That was about £500 saved. All in all has been a positive experience.

I think certain items are much more likely to attract scammers, like phones and other tech.

 

[Surveyor]

I actually think getting screwed over is the exception and quite unlikely. Obviously though with a site that processes so many transactions, if it happens to you it stings.

I’ve sold £10k in stuff over the past few months and about £4.5k of that was in two items. My rule is that I only ship to the UK and big items are cash on collection. The £4.5k items were collected and paid with in cash or bank transfer. Added bonus was both of the guys that collected suggested we just cancel the transaction so that I could avoid the ridiculous seller fees. That was about £500 saved. All in all has been a positive experience.

I think certain items are much more likely to attract scammers, like phones and other tech.

I'm sure it is a positive experience when you can make use of a service and not pay for it.

 

[smokedog]

Well my gut feeling was correct. Card arrived today via express mail and now they're claiming its a fake item. Which it is not. But now I'm utterly capping myself.

That's bad news, sorry to hear that but there's nothing you can do, eBay always sides with the buyer. If you ask the buyer to return the item, they will only return you a fake.


Bit late now but I never sell internationally to reduce the chances of scammer loser like this. I know you said there is no market for this item locally but I rather burn it than chance it with scammers. Not only do you lose the payment you'll now be out of pocket with fees ( PayPal are dirty, they keep the 3.5% fee regardless what happens) and postage. With these specialist items going through a middle man like StockX or listing them on Facebook, Depop etc is a safer option for sellers.

 

[ancientmariner]

Trust me, never leave a penny in your PP account after being paid for an item on ebay. Should your account be put into negative funds due to a chargeback or something similar, PP will threaten with debt collectors but it is smoke and mirrors, in reality, they can do nothing about it.

 

[Rannoch]

Have you withdrawn all your money from PayPal? Or is that payment on hold?

 

[xraycat87]

Half of it is still in there. Half I've withdrawn. I can top up the account but that's not the point. I'm currently down a large amount and my item. I don't want debt collectors or anything involved.

 

[montymint]

I mean this in the nicest possible way but get the police involved now.

You have their address - they will mail you back utter garbage and keep your card.

 

[xraycat87]

I mean this in the nicest possible way but get the police involved now.

You have their address - they will mail you back utter garbage and keep your card.

It's in the USA, so I literally can't do anything. Probably why I've been targeted.

 

[montymint]

It's in the USA, so I literally can't do anything. Probably why I've been targeted.

urgh, that's a big shame

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Tell them if they don’t admit that it’s not actually a fake card n to stop scamming the police will be involved. Might scare them into not doing it.

Anything is worth a go.

 

[Kenai]

When you think about it, it's a clever market to target, as you can't really mark such a card to prove it was the one you sent without completely devaluing it in the first place, so it'll always be susceptible to simple switch fraud

 

[Jez]

This outcome seemed a little obvious for a weird niche item such as playing card. Just chalk it up i guess, what can you do. I'd at least try and abandon the paypal account, you have nothing to lose on that front and they might not chase you. Worst case you have to pay them.

 

[ancientmariner]

Half of it is still in there. Half I've withdrawn. I can top up the account but that's not the point. I'm currently down a large amount and my item. I don't want debt collectors or anything involved.

The debt collectors that Paypal sell your debt too have no legal authority to do anything other than threaten to pay you a visit, which they wont. I have been through all this after being scammed on ebay, I dug my heels in and was prepared to go to court, nothing happened and the debt collectors were a mild inconvenience.

 

[xraycat87]

So I've spoken to ebay via the phone and you're all right. Their returns system is flawed massively.

The case is open at the moment. If he escalates it, even though on one messaged I've got him to self incriminate himself, ebay would still side with him, he would get the item and keep the item if I don't agree to a return.

So I'm absolutely fuming. Withdrawing my money now.

But can that lead to a ccj.

We are talking about £2400. It isn't chump change to PayPal.

 

[montymint]

When you think about it, it's a clever market to target, as you can't really mark such a card to prove it was the one you sent without completely devaluing it in the first place, so it'll always be susceptible to simple switch fraud

It's why I stopped selling magic the gathering on Ebay and took lower prices locally.

Far too many scammers out there now.