I have something to sell on Ebay which is likely to go for ££££. I know a few people on here sell regularly on Ebay, is there anything I can do apart from signed for delivery to protect myself?

I’ve only ever bought before so am wary of getting ripped off.

Photo’s of item being packed, photo of addressed package, most reliable method of posting you can etc or just insist collection only, buyer to pay cash.

To be honest I’ve sold loads on ebay up to around the £1k mark and never had an issue.

Only ship to the UK and no buyers under 10 positive.

All I would add as a buyer with about 4 lots of feedback is to ask any potential buyer with low feedback a few questions

Does an idiot’s guide to selling on Ebay exist? I shall be selling low value items but frankly it terrifies me!

‘buyers under 10 positive’ – what does that mean?

and no buyers under 10 positive.

I never understand that one, as you are just limiting your selling opportunities. IMO there are loads of people out there who do not use Ebay that much, but are completely honest etc.

I very rarely use ebay, but I have bought a 2nd hand bike of there, I didn’t have 10 positives, because I hadn’t bought ten things!

Surely you have protection in place if some one turns out to be a rogue.

the last guy that ‘won’ an auction of mine (I’ve been clearing my dad’s train collection, pretty much all gone but quite a lot of it) – won it, didn’t pay, didn’t engage in conversation for a week.

Since by then I had an address, a name as well I googled and someone of that name from same town had been done for fraud – closed the win sharpish!! sold to next highest bidder with great feedback and good comms.

….and be aware that not every ‘issue’ is a scammer. I sold a mint condition speaker, to a buyer who claimed it’d been damaged in transit. naturally i assumed a scam (as did he!), but with some open communication and a few pics back and forth it clearly had been dinged in transit.

Lesson learnt; be sure your item is covered under the carriers compensation (mine was).

I send via http://www.collectplus.com as it tracks every movement of a package and you can go in months later and see the information again. Stops them claiming they never received it. If valuable add the additional insurance as standard is £50 tops.

And don’t ever send via parcel force. Sent a bike via them and they must have done wrestling moves with the dam thing..!

If it’s electronics, make a note of the serial number so that if they try and return as not working you know you’ve got your original one back.

As an aside…

if you do not use eBay that much check the promotions listed in the selling section of your account. eBay are currently offering 75% off FVF for targeted (casual users). This means If your item sold for £500, rather than your FVF being £50, it’ll only be £12.50.

You have to activate the offer for it to apply.

This bit:

Ebay > My Ebay > All Selling on the left hand side > Scroll down.

Thanks Bongo, appreciate the advice guys. It’s a watch and have already noted the serial numbers etc.

There are lot of honest ebayers out there, but you are right to be careful and plan for the odd one who is not.

1, If posting make sure it is trackable if of any value. If you send by royal mail parcels etc and there is no tracking you cannot really prove that you sent it (proof of postage helps). Ebay will usually find against you if there is a problem – got lost in the post

2, If you allow local collection, make sure you get a signature or picture of the person picking it up. Again you have no proof of postage if not so you would struggle to prove they had picked it up.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for that on the FVF offer, just activated it in time in case my bike sells this time.

I’ve only did local collection once, for a spsh roubaix I was selling. I made up an invoice and statement to the effect that the buyer had checked over the bike and wa happy with the condition. Might not be be 100% airtight, but it was better than nothing.