I’m and first time seller on eBay, and I’ve got a set of winter tyres to get rid of. Going to sell through eBay, as they’re a weird size, so its hard to find a buyer for them.

I’ve heard many tales of people trying to scam sellers, so what should I be on look out for? Plan is cash on collection, or Paypal and couriered by me.

What’s your buy it now price?

You might get scammed by the Post Office when you realise how much postage costs now, especially for something bulky like tyres. Definitely worth calculating the cost beforehand.

Some of the main ones

– Claiming it didn’t arrive (so ensure it’s signed for)
– Claiming it’s fake and getting the money back from paypal
– Claiming it’s not what you said it was
– Trying to end the auction early and paying outside of ebay
– Arranging a courier to collect, paying you over the price and then asking you to refund the difference

What’s your buy it now price?

This is my most common question. My default reply of “I intended to let the auction run but if you make me an good offer I could be persuaded otherwise” generally gets no offers and so fixes the problem.

In truth, it’s not as bad as is often made out, I’ve only sold 5 or 6 things and had no issues bar 1 non-payer that was dealt with via a dispute.

I reckon a cash on collection is the best thing? Courier charges are about £30-£40 for mainland UK. Once I’ve been paid on paypal, and then handed them over to a courier, presumably if the buyer then says they didn’t turn up I take it up with the courier.

You’ll seriously limit your market if you do that – I almost always do a courier price on everything I sell on ebay, even when collection seems more sensible – I think the only time I didn’t was for a hard case bike box where the postage was going to be ridiculous. I don’t think anything where I’ve given the option of postage has ever been bought by somebody who collected.

Have you tried Gumtree first?

@aracer, Yeah, ConC or Courier. The tyres are from my old Forester, and are more common for a vans (according to Kwik Fit when I bought them). Hoping that the farming types around our parts might like a bargain.

Auction will run unless someone wants to give me a proper BIN price.

I reckon a cash on collection is the best thing? Courier charges are about £30-£40 for mainland UK. Once I’ve been paid on paypal, and then handed them over to a courier, presumably if the buyer then says they didn’t turn up I take it up with the courier.

The new trend seems to be that it’s collect only but the buyer is free to organise their own courier. I suppose you’d argue thet the courier is the agent of the buyer and goods are the buyer’s as soon as the courier collects. No non-delivery stories or returns due to condition worries.

just to counter all the negativity, I’ve sold 000’s of items on eBay, most sent 2nd class, and had 3/4 issues ever,

i) they claim not arrived, i ask them to check sorting office incase they got carded and they claim its not there, so i refund, item arrives hack at my address within a month and a sticker stating not collected from sorting office, happens a few times a year

I’ve had issues with MyHermes twice out of 150+ parcels, however insured for the correct amount and they paid out quickly with no issues and just an online form

I’ve let loads of people collect and pay PayPal – never had a chargeback, even one guy use my laptop while transferred the cash, then sent him on his happy way with a Nicolai frame

check UPS – i had a Ford Alloy complete with Tyre delivered by them 2 weeks ago by a private eBay seller, – get a quote for the postage first, and put that as the postal amount (you will be charged fees on this now as well)

The only problem I seem to get (tempting fate I know) is people winning auctions and never being heard from again. Very annoying, but I can’t quite decide which one I hate more:

1) Why did you bid? You were clearly never going to complete the transaction, so why? Do you just like sabotaging people’s auctions for fun? Example: Person living several hundred miles away winning an auction for a set of used interior doors, only for a few quid, collection only…

2) Bid more than you should have, on reflection? Isn’t that your problem, not mine? Example: Strange that you can’t reply to any of my messages about the halloween fancy dress costume you won, bidding a bit more than I thought it would go for tbh, and yet you have positive feedback already from another seller who was knocking out halloween fancy dress outfits ending since mine, and a bit cheaper than you bid on mine?

Out of interest, I know eBay will refund my final value fees etc, but when this happens does anyone know (ill informed speculation from the IANAL crowd is fine)if I can demand recompense from the “buyer” for my costs (including time) dealing with the issue, due to breach of contract? I’m thinking about a strongly worded pseudo-legal sounding letter accompanied by an invoice, threatening small claims action if not paid (the court threat being most likely a bluff, in reality).

The other course of action I’ve considered, for low value items only, is to post them off regardless and, assuming they don’t reject delivery, then pursue for full payment as necessary? I’m generally selling stuff I want rid of rather than trying to make money, so it’s more about the principle than the cash…

Sorry, maybe not helpful to the OP, but I’ve been needing to have a rant about this, and I feel much better now…

Had one of those for the bike I just sold edlong.

Bid with seconds to go, won, didn’t hear anything after 3 email chasers, then notice he has bought a similar bike elsewhere. Checked the “100% positive feedback” he had and its a list of sellers saying “AVOID” and “NON PAYER”. Why cant you neg buyers anymore, if I hadn’t been on teh ball and checked it out i would have lost out, managed to second chance it in the end

Best to just cut your losses and ignore stuff like that rather than go into forensics. Had my first non-payers recently – strangely enough I had two bike seat mounts to sell and had the same issue on both. One never responded and I relisted, the other eventually got back apologetically saying they’d been busy with a house move, but I didn’t stress myself and got the money so happy enough with that.

FWIW I’ve sold a couple of hundred items from things at pennies to bikes at £3000+ and never had a single problem except for an Easton bar which went missing in the post for 2 weeks before turning up. This place provides a slightly tainted view sometimes!

The only real problems I’ve had selling have been with myHerpes and Royal Mail. All of those involve things not turning up and me ending up refunding.

Ebay itself, and buyers, not a problem for me (so far).

mrsmonkfinger has sold more stuff lately and ended up with a couple of non-payers, (maybe) bizarrely, on really low value stuff.

Any thing over £50 for me and it’s collect and pay cash only! Not had any problems thus far but only sold 25-30 things over a few years.

I’ve read of people sending forks out and getting a box sent back with bits of wood to the same weight…they tell PayPal/eBay they returned the item and have a proof of return that matches in weight to the original item!

Basta*ds!!

I could be interested! I’ve a forester fitted with 215/70r15 that are down to 3mm, was going to start shopping next month.

Well Mike, drop me a message. These are 205/70 r15.