Yes, that says selling and not buying on eBay. When people think about eBay, they usually think about buying stuff and hopefully getting the item that they bid on. But there are also buyers out there that’ll try to scam you if you’re a seller. Whether it’s payment fraud or phony bidding with no intention of ever paying or whatever. Here are a few things that I do when I list stuff on eBay. I’m not a powerseller, I’m just a casual seller that sells stuff that I don’t need taking up room in my house anymore. This is not meant to be a step-by-step guide on how to sell on eBay… if you’re looking for that, sorry, this isn’t it.
- Accept PayPal only – not only do you get your money quicker with PayPal, but you don’t have to worry about checks bouncing or fake money orders when you use it. Sure, you might get someone that sends you the occasional eCheck, but wait until the eCheck clears before you ship out the item. You might limit the amount of buyers who will be eligible to bid on your stuff, but I’d rather have it that way than possibly get someone shady trying to send me money through some method that I don’t accept.
- In your eBay settings when listing, choose to block bidders who don’t have a PayPal account, live in countries where you don’t ship to, and you also have the option to block bidders with -1 feedback or less. I usually do all of the above since I only like to ship my items within the US.
- Configure your PayPal settings to only accept payments from users with confirmed addresses. This is very important. You’re only covered by PayPal’s seller protection policy if you ship to a confirmed address and have a way to track your packages. Packages sent to unconfirmed addresses or addresses other than the confirmed address are not eligible for seller protection. Click here for more information about PayPal’s seller protection. You can also configure your PayPal settings to block payments from non-US PayPal accounts and from people who try to send money in currencies that you don’t use. I would highly recommend this if you don’t ship outside of the US.
- List using Buy It Now with the Immediate Payment Required option – while some people prefer auction style listings because it could end up in a bidding war and getting your item sold for more, I really prefer not to wait for auctions to end and for bidders to pay. With Buy It Now + Immediate Payment, you get paid right away and can get the item out of your hands sooner. Also, using Immediate Payment in addition to the recommendations I listed above, PayPal will block anyone who doesn’t meet your requirements (non-US bidder, unconfirmed address) and still keep your listing active until a person who does meet your requirements pays. This is great for blocking out those people who just buy it now with no intention of ever paying (might be a competitor who’s trying to sell the same item and trying to get your listing off the results, or someone else).
- Clearly state your return policy in your listings. For me, I only sell stuff I want to get rid of, so I don’t accept returns or exchanges and I want to make sure any person who buys my stuff knows that all sales are final.
- Always use some kind of shipping method with tracking or delivery confirmation. Not only will you know when your package got delivered, but you’ll also be covered by PayPal’s seller protection policy if you use tracking.
A couple of notes… PayPal only offers seller protection for Premier or Business members with a verified account. So you won’t be eligible if your account isn’t verified or just have a personal account.
Also, never, ever, ever leave feedback for a buyer first. Even though they’ve done their part and paid, if it was immediate payment, they had to pay right away anyway, so it’s not like they were doing anything exceptional on their part. The reason for waiting to leave feedback until after you receive feedback is because once the item is in out of your hands and in the hands of your delivery company, you have no control over what happens with it. So in case there’s ever any problems, the buyer will need to contact you. A buyer leaving feedback is how I know the transaction is fully complete and I always want to make sure that they are completely satisfied. Luckily for me, I’ve never had any complaints and never been scammed at all.
While some of the stuff I’ve recommended may limit your item’s exposure by blocking out a ton of people who either don’t have PayPal, don’t have a confirmed address, or don’t live in the U.S. I’d really rather be safe than sorry and covered in case of potential fraud. Hopefully you’ll have the same great experience with buyers that I’ve had.