Let's get proactive about LEGO scams on eBay.

[ExoBro94]

Can you get a clean new Jabba for $95?

 

Yep, a target by me had 2 and both were mint for $95. I didn't buy them, but may go back soon. 

[ExoBro94]

Can you get a clean new Jabba for $95?

 

Plus, OP was originally considering a used one to build before he decided to buy a new set. Box condition shouldn't matter for a set you are going to build. Amazon would suffice. 

 

Link: http://amzn.to/1520G8B

[LowestFormOfWit]

Hah. According to the Drop Ship article here on Brickpicker, I am 90% likely a scam artist.

 

• Look for low feedback scores, under 100.

Check.

• Look for the eBay account to be suddenly selling a lot of high-priced items they haven't sold before. Look to see if the account is selling duplicates of these items.

Check.

• Look for stock Internet photos likely from Lego. It is better if the photos look original, but don

[ExoBro94]

Breaking news: Amazon literally just sold out of Palace's. 3rd parties only currently. 

[LowestFormOfWit]

Breaking news: Amazon literally just sold out of Palace's. 3rd parties only currently. 

That must be why I am seeing newly listed Jabba's spiking at 160-170 today.

 

I have one myself that I got for $50.00, so I don't care where the price is going, I'm making a nice stack.

[willy431]

It's in my gold box for 89.  Still not interested at that price.

[ExoBro94]

Actually amazon still has stock, but they are not listed first, and their price just dropped a few dollars. 22% off

[willy431]

Look to the right--they are in stock at amazon--but you can only order 2.  Interesting.  Mildly.

[ExoBro94]

Look to the right--they are in stock at amazon--but you can only order 2.  Interesting.  Mildly.

 

Yes I know, also the price has dropped very slightly. Now $93.94. 22% off.

[emes]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I think this is a dropshipper. I mean, it may be an outlier, but I would never buy from anybody if I saw any hint of a possible problem. Also, If I were you I would've payed the extra $5 to buy from a reputable source. 

 

 

I'm going to agree. This looks like one of those deals where people fish for eBayers with good accounts with good feedback and then recruit them as drop-shippers.

 

At a minimum I would ask to see actual pictures of the set you'll receive. Drop shipping in and of itself is not the illegal act...they could just be burning through some VIP points...buying the item with a stolen CC is...

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Hah. According to the Drop Ship article here on Brickpicker, I am 90% likely a scam artist.

 

• Look for low feedback scores, under 100.

Check.

• Look for the eBay account to be suddenly selling a lot of high-priced items they haven't sold before. Look to see if the account is selling duplicates of these items.

Check.

• Look for stock Internet photos likely from Lego. It is better if the photos look original, but don

[LowestFormOfWit]

I demand a "Probably a Scam Artist" award.

 

Make it a picture of a LEGO masket bandit head or just a black mask icon.

[river41]

That's the thing...you should never use USPS First Class International because it doesn't meet the requirements of PayPal Seller Protection. All the buyer has to do is click a button and say they didn't receive their item and you lose. I always use USPS Express Mail International, but this dramatically increases the cost to the buyer.

 

Some members here are fond of the Global Shipping Program.

I would be think twice before using the global shipping program. When you sign up they tell you that all costs are clearly listed to the customer .It is flat out untrue. They add a customs broker fee to the shipping fee that they charge. For example you have your listing as a 9.99 shipping. They charge the buyer 19.99 shipping (and pass on 9.99 to you and keep the rest)plus a customs brokerage fee. The buyer sees the shipping fee but not the customs brokerage fee until they buy it. The customer  gets hit with a charge they weren't expecting and blame you.They have no idea it is a third party program run by ebay. When I started using gsp I noticed approx. 25% of buyers backed out and never completed their purchase. Shortly thereafter i received negative comments about hidden fees. I went back and emailed my other previous gsp and they all told me they had a unexpected customs broker fee .

  In summary if you want to charge alot for shipping and list it up front you are fine and the buyer can choose to pay for it or not. IF there are hidden fees attached to your listing it is sleazy and unethical.Just because it is not you tacking the fees on it is still your product,your responsibility and  you are the one to contract with gsp ad allow them to do it. While anyone has the prerogative to do what they want I think people should be aware of this. 

[emes]

I would be think twice before using the global shipping program. When you sign up they tell you that all costs are clearly listed to the customer .It is flat out untrue. They add a customs broker fee to the shipping fee that they charge. For example you have your listing as a 9.99 shipping. They charge the buyer 19.99 shipping (and pass on 9.99 to you and keep the rest)plus a customs brokerage fee. The buyer sees the shipping fee but not the customs brokerage fee until they buy it. The customer  gets hit with a charge they weren't expecting and blame you.They have no idea it is a third party program run by ebay. When I started using gsp I noticed approx. 25% of buyers backed out and never completed their purchase. Shortly thereafter i received negative comments about hidden fees. I went back and emailed my other previous gsp and they all told me they had a unexpected customs broker fee .

  In summary if you want to charge alot for shipping and list it up front you are fine and the buyer can choose to pay for it or not. IF there are hidden fees attached to your listing it is sleazy and unethical.Just because it is not you tacking the fees on it is still your product,your responsibility and  you are the one to contract with gsp ad allow them to do it. While anyone has the prerogative to do what they want I think people should be aware of this. 

 

I agree, I don't use GSP. However, one of the ways that you can prevent low DSRs for shipping fees is to offer free shipping to eBay's GSP fulfillment center. You get 5 stars on that DSR if you do that. However, as you've stated, they can still give you negative feedback.

 

One member here believes that international buyers are purposefully avoiding sellers that use GSP. I tend to think that this is likely true.

 

Even with listing the shipping options that I offer, I still get people that commit to buy and then complain about the shipping charges. People simply don't read before they commit to buy in many cases. Normally we'll open a case on those people and if they don't respond, which they often don't, they get a UIS. If they respond to the case and it's not with shouting and cursing then my wife will often agree to cancel a transaction one time only and then immediately add them to our excluded buyers list.

[akohns]

Honestly. I don't mind sharing information with people but Emes it right. Some people would rather ask us all a question instead of reading the content already provided that could be found with a little help from google. I don't think selling on ebay is really going to get any easier. And personally I don't mind if it requires a lot of knowledge, experience and continual self-education. That means those "hundreds" of people who want to get into Lego investing will have hurdles to jump that we've already mastered. No need to lead the sheep around unless you're going to get paid as a Shepherd.

[emes]

Honestly. I don't mind sharing information with people but Emes it right. Some people would rather ask us all a question instead of reading the content already provided that could be found with a little help from google. I don't think selling on ebay is really going to get any easier. And personally I don't mind if it requires a lot of knowledge, experience and continual self-education. That means those "hundreds" of people who want to get into Lego investing will have hurdles to jump that we've already mastered. No need to lead the sheep around unless you're going to get paid as a Shepherd.

 

I don't mind either. I just think the right time to share it is before an item was listed and a sale and commitment were made to a customer. I agree with your second sentiment as well...the people out there that are good at secondary market sales are true sharks, whereas the vast majority of people do lots of things that make their own lives as sellers difficult.

[Diabolos80]

Conversations like these are the only time I'm almost glad I don't have the capital to grow my sales. Not to overstate matters, but bigger business truly does bring bigger hassles. I average 4 sets sold a month, mostly just to feed my building addiction. While it's obvious that attempting to sell even one item on ebay could lead to problems, I feel that the low volume I move equals a lower risk of nonsense and idiocy from customers and ebay policies. Perhaps one day I'll get a bit more serious about using the secondary market as a supplementary income. But for now I'm happy with the low stress, minimal time investment model I'm currently following. I think this might be the philosophy of many members here. When you're only selling 4-10 items a month, and excluding international buyers or anything else that might cause a headache, then there's not a problem until there's a problem. In which case, a wise man would seek the counsel of an experienced man. Thanks, guys, for answering.

[river41]

I agree, I don't use GSP. However, one of the ways that you can prevent low DSRs for shipping fees is to offer free shipping to eBay's GSP fulfillment center. You get 5 stars on that DSR if you do that. However, as you've stated, they can still give you negative feedback.

 

One member here believes that international buyers are purposefully avoiding sellers that use GSP. I tend to think that this is likely true.

 

Even with listing the shipping options that I offer, I still get people that commit to buy and then complain about the shipping charges. People simply don't read before they commit to buy in many cases. Normally we'll open a case on those people and if they don't respond, which they often don't, they get a UIS. If they respond to the case and it's not with shouting and cursing then my wife will often agree to cancel a transaction one time only and then immediately add them to our excluded buyers list.

My point was that when using gsp EVERY ONE of your buyers is going to be upset at yet. They were all charged a customs brokerage fee for buying it that they were unaware of at the time they were clicking the buy it now button.Even if they would have bought it had they known the entire price they would have to pay nobody likes the feeling of being ripped off and if you are told one price and charged another you feel ripped off. 

 In one example the last sale I made using their program I charged 8.99 for shipping.They had a 26 shipping charge plus a 42 dollar customs brokerage fee.The only thing the buyer was aware of at the time of clicking buy it now was the 26 dollar shipping charge.They ended up spending 68 dollars on shipping while you only received 9 dollars for shipping the item out.They believe you received the entire 68 dollars and you hid charges from them until they promised to buy it 

  I fail to see the business case to be made for upsetting every one of your buyers.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Quacs...while I think your articles are really informative and well-written, I feel like the same 15 people will actually read these articles. I know the page hit count is probably higher, and that I'm using a ridiculously low number to illustrate a point, but the point is still valid. The problem with threads like this is that the person is not reading even some of the information out there that already exists.

 

Articles like yours are great for driving traffic and offering value to the people who will read and comprehend, and overall good for the site, but thinking that if you post one here and suddenly everyone that's new to eBay is going to read it is a bit naive.

 

Also, I think it's funny how every one of these threads follows basically the same pattern. Someone sells something, and then asks a question that they should have asked before they ever listed the item for sale. When they get responses they always post about how they have thousands of feedback and have been on eBay for a decade or more. I could be wrong, but I just don't buy it...

 

The other thing that we see is that lack of knowledge about how eBay/PayPal works is someone else's fault. Secondary markets for everything are ruthless. If you don't arm yourself with at least as much, if not more information than the competition you will be competed out of the market. Being a seller on eBay is not suited to low-information people.

 

I'm not saying that my wife absolutely does everything right, or always has, but we both read a ton of information before we ever listed our first item on eBay. We also learned from mistakes over the years and continued to research. We learn from others as well, and there are a handful of people here that I sense have taken a similar approach, and that I listen to about eBay...Quacs, Tigereyes, StarCityBricks, Jeff, FCBarcelona, eracine, Grolim, akhons, Veegs, a couple of the guys with "Darth" in their name, and perhaps a couple of others...if I've left anyone out please don't take it personally.

Yes, I analyze everything to death. Even after years of collecting, when I was ready to sell - it still took another year + before I ever sold anything, because I had to be certain about every aspect of selling, to feel certain that I was prepared, and that the decisions were correct. As I have mentioned, patience and discipline were once required in order to do this. In the long run, it likely still is - but there is enough information out there that anyone can feel that they could just jump in. It has created a somewhat unstable environment.

 

What we really need is an article that would give newcomers patience & discipline (not just some quick answers).

[emes]

My point was that when using gsp EVERY ONE of your buyers is going to be upset at yet. They were all charged a customs brokerage fee for buying it that they were unaware of at the time they were clicking the buy it now button.Even if they would have bought it had they known the entire price they would have to pay nobody likes the feeling of being ripped off and if you are told one price and charged another you feel ripped off. 

 In one example the last sale I made using their program I charged 8.99 for shipping.They had a 26 shipping charge plus a 42 dollar customs brokerage fee.The only thing the buyer was aware of at the time of clicking buy it now was the 26 dollar shipping charge.They ended up spending 68 dollars on shipping while you only received 9 dollars for shipping the item out.They believe you received the entire 68 dollars and you hid charges from them until they promised to buy it 

  I fail to see the business case to be made for upsetting every one of your buyers.

 

Yep, I know exactly what you're saying...it's why I don't use GSP. Good luck convincing people that don't speak English that you don't keep that brokerage fee, or that you didn't even know about it.

[emes]

What we really need is an article that would give newcomers patience & discipline (not just some quick answers).

 

I think people are probably looking for exactly the opposite in articles...some kind of secret or short-cut that's going to give them all the answers with very little work.

[LowestFormOfWit]

I didn't give a whole lot of thought to ebay selling. While I didn't just jump into it, I also didn't pour over a wealth of info. I am just selling within the states until I reach a comfort level or level of selling that will ease any potential hassles or losses on international sales. I feel like I know the product I am selling well, and with good common sense I don't think you have to do a whole lot to make ebay a successful venture.

That said, I value the information posted here by some of our local sharks. I can always be more familiar with eBay. I am sure the bigger the operation becomes, the more complex issues arise that require more knowledge and familiarity.

[Clambo]

Well in case anyone was wondering the buyer requested I cancel the transaction after receiving my invoice for USPS Global Express shipping for $65 (which really isn't that bad). They stated that "Please cancel my order. Was a mistake." I'm not sure how people make these "mistakes" on Ebay. But that and non-payment are pretty endemic on Ebay. I have at least one non-paying customer a month and my volume isn't terribly high this time of year. Quite annoying. 

 

Thanks everyone. 

[Guest betsy805]

I just had 4 super hero sets sell to four different usernames in The Russian Federation. All have the same shipping address. Now that's fishy. 0-3 feedback and all accounts were opened on April 4th 2013. They paid over $600 (of someone else's money I'm sure) for the items. 

I just had two Spongebob sets sell to different usernames in the Russian Federation, accounts opened less than 60 days and feedback of 1.  Thought nothing of it for the first sale, but canceled the second transaction as I'm sure it's a scam.  Luckily the first guy left me positive feedback the same day I shipped it, so hopefully that'll help protect me in what I"m already assuming will be a loss.

[akohns]

I just had two Spongebob sets sell to different usernames in the Russian Federation, accounts opened less than 60 days and feedback of 1.  Thought nothing of it for the first sale, but canceled the second transaction as I'm sure it's a scam.  Luckily the first guy left me positive feedback the same day I shipped it, so hopefully that'll help protect me in what I"m already assuming will be a loss.

Unfortunately positive feedback is not going to protect you when the real owner of the paypal account files a claim and says their account was hacked.

 

Was it in Moscow, or did they spell it Moskow?