Need some EBay selling advice?

[ravenb99]

1 hour ago, TANV said:

Generally speaking, can they do this after the 30 day period had passed for eBay?

Yes they can.  It won't auto approve as it's over the 30 days and you will have to approve it.   I wouldn't do that though as he will open for defective and the new account health metrics measure on that.   If he's fine with you just sending a label then do that to avoid that.   

[t_mafia]

I have had a buyer request a return because he/she claims the item did not match the description.

This was an older set which I picked up new, but the seals had lost their stickiness / had become dislodged. I listed the set as New, but in the description I said "seals have become unstuck, but I have verified that all contents are present"

The buyer claims the item should have been listed as used, and that they "didn't know it wasn't sealed". I'm not really sure what to do here, can anybody offer some advice?

[fuzzy_bricks]

2 minutes ago, southcollector13 said:

I have had a buyer request a return because he/she claims the item did not match the description.

This was an older set which I picked up new, but the seals had lost their stickiness / had become dislodged. I listed the set as New, but in the description I said "seals have become unstuck, but I have verified that all contents are present"

The buyer claims the item should have been listed as used, and that they "didn't know it wasn't sealed". I'm not really sure what to do here, can anybody offer some advice?

Technically, eBay says a new item is unopened.  If you put in the title that it was an open box or your pictures showed that it was open, you would have more of case.  Buyers are notorious for not reading descriptions, so if it's important, put it in the title.  You probably should accept the return.  You could do the partial refund thing if you want, but some avoid that option as this guy might be trying to shake you down and if you refuse a partial refund, they may just accept the item.

[t_mafia]

Thank you for your help with the refund issue. We agreed on a partial refund which I thought was a little much, but I didn't want to deal with paying to ship it back and re-listing it. 

I have another question though. Over the past few months I have been selling more on eBay, (and BL as well) but I sell without an eBay "store" (ie I am not paying $20 or $30 or whatever it is to be an official store). Now that I am selling more, I am wondering if anybody can tell me a bit about pros and cons of eBay stores (I know there are several levels).

From what I was able to read, it sounds like the final value fee is 6% instead of 10%, and you are given 100 free listings per month instead of 50. I believe this is the $20/month option. Can anybody give me a couple pointers?

[trstnkn]

Maybe I should have put this in the fruitcake thread because I obviously was asleep at the wheel...

Just moved 1000 miles away and shipped my first sales in new location.  And of course I forgot to update my "ship from" address.  One item was first class so should not matter.  Other item was calculated priority mail.  

The possible good news is that the location is equidistant between my old and new location.  When I calculated both scenarios for priority mail they are the same.

So, am I technically in the clear?  Does USPS just check the zone calculation and not pay any attention to return address?

Of course one item was $300...other $50.

And my next heart attack, is the postal clerk would not accept prepaid.  Told me that I needed to deposit them in the metal bin that accompanies the self-service counter.  Dropped off at 2pm and still no scan for them...  Is this common?

Thanks for sympathy, help, etc.  I miss my old post office already...

[labfreak7]

That doesn’t sound right. They should have scanned your prepaid label and accepted the package. If it happens again, ask to speak to a manager. No scan means that “you didn’t ship it”. It should scan eventually, but I always have my shipments scanned immediately after I drop them off.

[t_mafia]

A while back I had an issue with a seller requesting a return. Basically because they decided they didn't want to read the description but I learned my lesson. I am wondering though, if I had rejected the return, and the buyer complained/ opened a case, what would happen? Would I be forced to accept the return? Or could eBay even force me (or any seller) to refund fully without the buyer sending the package back (ie the seller is out of the payment and the actual product...)? I'm just wondering what protections the seller has on eBay, how that works with contesting a case/ rejecting a return. As I said we agreed on a partial refund but I was close to rejecting it.

[Zelgazra]

You took the best option. If you'd declined it your questioned outcome is almost certainly the actual outcome. The seller gets screwed and eats the entire sum... cost of set and shipping, they keep the item and get their money back. Ebay will almost always side with the buyer if it comes to a case of "they didnt read my description well enough". Keeping it outside of ebay's case system was absolutely your best course of action.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

eBay is the worst platform for selling LEGO, it’s as simple as that. You need to find other outlets and they are there.

[boliramirez]

Need Help, 

I sold a POTC Black Pearl, NISB for $600 on ebay....  nothing wrong there, but  the user has 0 feedback, is based in Hong Kong and created his account on

January 2018..... address is in Portland, in one of those forwarders that the people in china uses... Address in paypal is verified but the paypal account is not....

 

Should i Ship ???

[redghostx]

I have never had a problem with a freight forwarder but there's a first time for everything. You shouldn't have a problem because you are shipping the item to an address that is verified by PayPal.

 

 

[mizeur]

51 minutes ago, boliramirez said:

Need Help, 

I sold a POTC Black Pearl, NISB for $600 on ebay....  nothing wrong there, but  the user has 0 feedback, is based in Hong Kong and created his account on

January 2018..... address is in Portland, in one of those forwarders that the people in china uses... Address in paypal is verified but the paypal account is not....

 

Should i Ship ???

If it says it's eligible for seller protection you should be fine. Pack it well and insure it.

Contact PayPal or eBay before shipping if you want to start a paper trail on it.

ETA: also take more date stamped pictures of the set and how it's packed for shipping.

Edited July 23, 2018 by mizeur

[boliramirez]

10 minutes ago, mizeur said:

If it says it's eligible for seller protection you should be fine. Pack it well and insure it.

Contact PayPal or eBay before shipping if you want to start a paper trail on it.

ETA: also take more date stamped pictures of the set and how it's packed for shipping.

Isnt insurance an overkill, it is going to a forwarder in Oregon..... Signature confirmation, sure, insurance, not so sure.....

[mizeur]

1 minute ago, boliramirez said:

Isnt insurance an overkill, it is going to a forwarder in Oregon..... Signature confirmation, sure, insurance, not so sure.....

Up to you but insurance is going to be less than $10 and provides another backstop against damage or loss in transit before it reaches the forwarder. For a transaction that large I'd consider it worth it. 

I had an international buyer on a large order claim I sent damaged sets. Having pics plus referring them to the domestic shipper with insurance and their freight forwarder, who repacked the shipment, staved off a formal  claim. It was worth the cost up front to avoid more hassle.

[Lordoflego]

19 minutes ago, boliramirez said:

Isnt insurance an overkill, it is going to a forwarder in Oregon..... Signature confirmation, sure, insurance, not so sure.....

Not on a $600 set

[labfreak7]

Always buy insurance. It only takes one time to get burned

[StillBuilding]

Hi There, long time follower, love reading this forum, but now looking for selling help as I've started listing a few of my kids sets on ebay.  I thought I had offers turned off, but apparently not and got an offer to do a local pickup as opposed to ship - never had this before.  I'm worried though that I'm obligated to ebay to ship the item??  Would honestly really rather ship the item but it is a large set.  Any help would be appreciated. 

[iahawks550]

Message buyer back, change your item for local pickup only, let them pay for it and purchase it, complete transaction. I would much rather do this and not pay fees on shipping, risk shipping damage, etc.

[BarryZola]

29 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

Message buyer back, change your item for local pickup only, let them pay for it and purchase it, complete transaction. I would much rather do this and not pay fees on shipping, risk shipping damage, etc.

If they pay by Paypal through Ebay, how do you protect yourself if the buyer files an item not received case with Paypal a few weeks later, even though you handed it to them in person? Genuinely interested in how people do this in a way that would 100% satisfy Paypal if this kind of scam was attempted.

[iahawks550]

People are NEVER going to want to meet in person if it's a scam. It would be 100x easier to scam  by just ordering it.

Anyways, print a sales receipt and have them sign and date it as an agreement to the transaction.

[ThRok]

When I do local pickup, I print an edited packing slip with a “received as described by” signature line, “date” line, and “driver’s license no.” line and have the buyer fill that out at the time of pickup before I hand the item over. The DL no. occasionally raises an eyebrow, but once I give my “anti-scam” spiel, eyebrows drop without ado. Works ok so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[iahawks550]

I would also be a little creeped out if you asked for my DL number. Not sure what that proves anyways.

Again, people aren't scamming face to face with prepaid sales.

[BarryZola]

But in theory, they could scam you, and there's no guarantee that Paypal would accept anything other than an official tracking number from a recognized courier, really.

[iahawks550]

1 minute ago, BarryZola said:

But in theory, they could scam you, and there's no guarantee that Paypal would accept anything other than an official tracking number from a recognized courier, really.

Yes, in theory they could. But if they wanted to scam you, they would just order it, and say they never got it. It's much easier to do it that way.

 

[ravenb99]

the DL and signature thing used to be the actual policy from paypal about 5-10 years ago?? can't remember exact but it was actually posted at one point in time.  

If someone is creeped out I don't really care cause I'm creeped out having someone else in my warehouse usually and you are doing them a favor to begin with that is out of the normal procedures these days.  I usually just say I will do local pickups with cash on pickup if it's something I don't mind it on and have them buy it now and then pay when they get there and just mark it paid and select the "cash on pickup" option from the drop down payment method.   Other workaround if they've already paid and you're comfortable giving it to them is just say you will print out a receipt and send it in the mail to cover the tracking / shipping obligations required of you by the merchant provider.   

biggest issue for me doing local pickups is knowing that the buyer can see your entire store inventory and always could be a security issue of sorts but overall never to worried about it.  

Done plenty over the years and never had any issues.