How can I protect myself if I sell an item on ebay (Thinking of trying)

I've heard some bad things about how ebay or paypal screwed people. I never really gave it much analysis since I never thought I would actually try to sell something using ebay. So my question is, what can I do to protect my self on ebay or through Paypal? I've heard about not allowing CC through Paypal (something like that but not 100% sure) and always getting a delivery confirmation. Can someone explain what one should and shouldn't do while selling something to a complete stranger?



thanks

I don't ship internationally. I always get delivery confirmation. I always make sure paypal buyers have verified addresses. The only thing that's screwed me over are the Ebay fees. (The fees are ridiculous)

I would recommend only shipping to the United States where USPS Delivery Confirmation works - if you do ship internationally I would use a carrier that has tracking information available. USPS might be cheaper, but if you ship internationally and the seller says they didn't get the package, chances are Paypal will screw you over.

Also, I'd insure every single package that goes out from you. Insurance gives you and the buyer peace of mind in case the package is lost or something happens to it - and remember that a seller is always responsible for getting something to a buyer and in working condition (or as stated in the auction). Even if an item is broken in transit, Paypal can still refund the seller. Insurance gives you protection from these things, and generally I find if I insure my packages they're treated better than packages shipped without any.

But, if you're too cheap to grab the insurance for stuff always, ALWAYS get delivery confirmation! I you can't prove something was delivered to someone, then paypal is going to refund the seller no matter what.

I'd also check out the Seller Central discussion board on ebay's web site - many experienced sellers browse the boards and will always offer some advice to novice sellers. It's a great place to go if you have any questions.

It has gotten to the point where the ONLY safe way to accept payment from EBay is by USPS money order and signature confirmation.

Most other forms of MO's and checks are being used for fraud on EBay.
PayPal is now the payment choice of thieves.

I know of countless amateur sellers that have had false claims filed against them through PayPal... and the buyers almost always win. When they don't win, they simply do a CC chargeback. Either way, they walk away with your fine merchandise for free, and nobody seems to care except for those who've been victimized.

The biggest problem is that EBay now REQUIRES you to accept PayPal (unless you are a Power-Seller with a merchant account). Then EBay/PayPal even retains the funds for 30 days to ensure that the funds are available to refund the buyer in the event of a claim!! So, a perfect transaction still means you sell your item, wait 30 days, and if no issues or complaints... finally get your money.
NO THANKS!

BTW, you cannot refuse CC-PayPal... that is not your choice, rather the buyers. You could request non-cc payment, but the buyer doesn't have to comply... and probably won't.

Anything over $250, ALWAYS get signature confirmation.

wjogert said:

It has gotten to the point where the ONLY safe way to accept payment from EBay is by USPS money order and signature confirmation.

Most other forms of MO's and checks are being used for fraud on EBay.
PayPal is now the payment choice of thieves.

I know of countless amateur sellers that have had false claims filed against them through PayPal... and the buyers almost always win. When they don't win, they simply do a CC chargeback. Either way, they walk away with your fine merchandise for free, and nobody seems to care except for those who've been victimized.

The biggest problem is that EBay now REQUIRES you to accept PayPal (unless you are a Power-Seller with a merchant account). Then EBay/PayPal even retains the funds for 30 days to ensure that the funds are available to refund the buyer in the event of a claim!! So, a perfect transaction still means you sell your item, wait 30 days, and if no issues or complaints... finally get your money.
NO THANKS!

BTW, you cannot refuse CC-PayPal... that is not your choice, rather the buyers. You could request non-cc payment, but the buyer doesn't have to comply... and probably won't.

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Thanks for the info and WTF. Not you, ebay.
Man, wondering if I should just scrap this idea.

Where do they get the money from when someone does a CC chargeback?
From Paypal right ? It comes out of the sellers Paypal account?
So Paypal is just plain corrupt.

I recently had a bad experience selling on ebay. Sold ram, the buyer never did the research and found out that his motherboard was incompatible with it. He then wanted a full refund with me eating up the ebay and paypal fees as well as shipping fee. I refused so he put a claim through paypal. Paypal locked my account and then sided with him. He then told both paypal and I that he sent the ram back already and wanted the refund. Thankfully paypal required that he provided proof of mailing and delivery. He couldnt because he never sent them back. Paypal gave him 2 weeks to give this proof. After 2 weeks, they cancelled the claim. But as a whole, paypal locked my account for near 1 month.
Also beware that the buyer could have sent back crap and as long as he has delivery confirmation that he sent something to you, you as a seller is screwed. Both ebay and paypal are in this scam together. But with recent changes, they will go above and beyond to help the buyer. Sellers have basically no protection against scams. Also since you have to give them your bank account in order to be confirmed with paypal. Paypal WILL take money from your account to pay back the buyer whether you approve or not (it is in their Terms of Service contract you agreed to).
Needless to say, I have since cancelled both paypal AND ebay once paypal finally cleared me of the latest dispute. Imagine 3 years with perfect selling record and I received no protection.

magnuspah said:

Also since you have to give them your bank account in order to be confirmed with paypal. Paypal WILL take money from your account to pay back the buyer whether you approve or not (it is in their Terms of Service contract you agreed to).

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Can someone confirm this to be true? Are you saying paypal will take money from my bank account to pay back money to someone ripping me off ?

If this is the case then I'm going to scrap this idea ASAP. That is the most ridiculous way of doing business ever. A real flea market beats that by a mile.

I've been on ebay for a number of years now and although I've mostly been a buyer, over the years I've sold over 30 things or so on ebay. I've yet to have a bad experience. Most of the replies you are seeing here are from that segment of people who have had a bad experience and are far to eager to share their experience.


I'm sure there are plenty of sellers that sell reguarly on ebay that for the most part have no problems. Is it a perfect system? Of course not. I personally hate all the fees and new rules ebay seems to be coming out with. (no negative feedback allowed from sellers? Come on?). However you take the good with the bad.

Selling on ebay will almost always get you a higher price than say selling on a forum like this. (This fact alone can sometimes easily make up for the fees you have to pay). Ebay literally gives you access to millions of customers as opposed a few hundred or maybe a few thousand on a forum. Secondly, people on a forum like this are generally better informed and know what things are worth and generally speaking buy good deals only. There are thousands of schmucks on ebay who overpay for things all the time.

For me personally, I occasionally will sell something on here as a way of saying thanks to this community for the help it provides me from time to time. Whenever I do, I always list things at prices I know for a fact are very good values. If I want to make as much money as I can I throw it up on ebay.

Generally speaking, I think your average person is relatively honest and not looking to rip you off. However, there are of course those few unscrupulous theives who do ruin it for everyone else. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

The-One said:

Can someone confirm this to be true? Are you saying paypal will take money from my bank account to pay back money to someone ripping me off ?

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No, PayPal cannot touch our bank acct, only money in your PayPal act..if there is no money in your PayPal acct, they will put it in the negative and possibly start collections against you....but in no way can they debit your bank acct.

The-One said:

Can someone confirm this to be true? Are you saying paypal will take money from my bank account to pay back money to someone ripping me off ?

If this is the case then I'm going to scrap this idea ASAP. That is the most ridiculous way of doing business ever. A real flea market beats that by a mile.

Click to expand...

For paypal, in order to be "verified" and to receive funds, you HAVE to give them your bank account and routing number. I was shocked when i first asked others with bad paypal/ebay experience, but it is true about paypal able to withdraw funds from your checking account via the routing and account numbers you gave them. I even spoke with my bank customer rep about this (Peoples in CT). Apparently he knows about paypal (lol), and he did say that since I did agreed to their contract and gave them my account number and routing number, the bank can not stop paypal. However, I can file charge dispute through the bank.
You can verify by reading their ToS contract. Actually, you will be more shocked by everything that you agreed to when you agreed to their ToS (I was).
One of the ways people protect themselves is by having 2 checking accounts. One where they dedicate to paypal and their regular checking account number.

Ebay used to be very good. I have been using it for 3 years and I never had a problem buying or selling. However, as of recently, they made new changes to the ToS which basically gives almost all protection to the buyer and none to the seller.

magnuspah said:

For paypal, in order to be "verified" and to receive funds, you HAVE to give them your bank account and routing number. I was shocked when i first asked others with bad paypal/ebay experience, but it is true about paypal able to withdraw funds from your checking account via the routing and account numbers you gave them. I even spoke with my bank customer rep about this (Peoples in CT). Apparently he knows about paypal (lol), and he did say that since I did agreed to their contract and gave them my account number and routing number, the bank can not stop paypal. However, I can file charge dispute through the bank.
You can verify by reading their ToS contract. Actually, you will be more shocked by everything that you agreed to when you agreed to their ToS (I was).
One of the ways people protect themselves is by having 2 checking accounts. One where they dedicate to paypal and their regular checking account number.

Ebay used to be very good. I have been using it for 3 years and I never had a problem buying or selling. However, as of recently, they made new changes to the ToS which basically gives almost all protection to the buyer and none to the seller.

Click to expand...

I like that idea.

A couple months ago I tried to sell a laptop on eBay, I listed it about 4 times and NO ONE paid. Why would you bid on things and then decide not to pay?? I ended up selling it on Craigslist

The-One said:

Can someone confirm this to be true? Are you saying paypal will take money from my bank account to pay back money to someone ripping me off ?

If this is the case then I'm going to scrap this idea ASAP. That is the most ridiculous way of doing business ever. A real flea market beats that by a mile.

Click to expand...

YES i have heard this is true but can not confirm for sure without reading the there long boring ToS

wjogert said:

It has gotten to the point where the ONLY safe way to accept payment from EBay is by USPS money order and signature confirmation.

Most other forms of MO's and checks are being used for fraud on EBay.
PayPal is now the payment choice of thieves.

I know of countless amateur sellers that have had false claims filed against them through PayPal... and the buyers almost always win. When they don't win, they simply do a CC chargeback. Either way, they walk away with your fine merchandise for free, and nobody seems to care except for those who've been victimized.

The biggest problem is that EBay now REQUIRES you to accept PayPal (unless you are a Power-Seller with a merchant account). Then EBay/PayPal even retains the funds for 30 days to ensure that the funds are available to refund the buyer in the event of a claim!! So, a perfect transaction still means you sell your item, wait 30 days, and if no issues or complaints... finally get your money.
NO THANKS!

BTW, you cannot refuse CC-PayPal... that is not your choice, rather the buyers. You could request non-cc payment, but the buyer doesn't have to comply... and probably won't.

Click to expand...

pp / ebay doesnt retain any funds for 30 days.. i just got scammed recently on 50$ item.. (was still worth some money but not 50$) well anyway i got back 3$ from the dispute i won.. woho and it was only a few days after i paid for the item.. so there is no safe way except local pickup etc..

magnuspah said:

F I was shocked when i first asked others with bad paypal/ebay experience, but it is true about paypal able to withdraw funds from your checking account via the routing and account numbers you gave them.

Click to expand...

This is just not true..They cannot make any withdrawals that you did not initiate...

I wish people would stop spreading rumors around here.....

The-One said:

Can someone confirm this to be true? Are you saying paypal will take money from my bank account to pay back money to someone ripping me off ?

If this is the case then I'm going to scrap this idea ASAP. That is the most ridiculous way of doing business ever. A real flea market beats that by a mile.

Click to expand...

It is 100% false. They just close your account. They dont touch your bank account. and I am 100% positive on that.




however this is for hardforum tip and tricks not ebay so bye bye