Ebay questions - please help!!

[DNBois]

Since people on these forums seem like ebay connoisseurs, I thought I could get some advice. My husband and I recently signed up for an ebay account and just placed an item up for bid, a somewhat expensive but very useful and well priced item. We indicate, very clearly, that we will only ship to the U.S. and only accept PayPal, cashiers check/money orders but we continue to receive somewhat generic e-mails from individuals who want us to charge us a credit card and ship to in most instances, Indonesia. Sometimes we have received e-mails from different email addresses with the same text. Has anyone had any problems like this?
Also, once a bid is accepted, do you wait to receive payment and then ship, take half before delivery and the other half after? We are very concerned and not certain how to proceed if we are finally able to sell our item. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Nicole

 

[Pam]

I have been only a buyer - but - do not ship the item until AFTER you receive payment, in full!!!!

Since you listed your terms and conditions of the sale - stick to them, shipping only to a U.S. address, a money order, etc.

Hope you have a successful sale!

 

[Beauty]

I have sold and bought and have found it very expensive to ship overseas. Canada is usually not quite as high...but I would just say quite bluntly that as the auction stated you WILL NOT ship outside of the U.S.

 

[Grog]

As both a buyer and seller I have to agree with what Pam said. If you said US only then stick to it if you don't want the hassle of an International transaction.

Should you ever decide to sell internationally, conducting a transaction between here and Canada isn't too much trouble. I even had one Canadian buyer pay with a Canadian International Money Order (in US funds) and my bank took it with no problem. I've sold to people in Europe, Australia, and Asia before but postage can get high on heavier items. If you do sell overseas it's best to open a Paypal account if you plan to do it regularly and accept only that form of payment or cash sent certified mail.

 

[wdwpluto]

Over on the Budget Board there's a huge thread about buying on eBay. Check it out!

 

[madonna31]

Yes - do NOT ship the item until you received payment in FULL!!!


Tip: if your going to ship outside the US - tell them that they can only pay you via paypal - that way there is no problem with international money orders/cheques etc...

I've been selling on ebay for over 2 years and NEVER had a problem - if you have any questions at all - feel free to PM me!

Good Luck!

 

[jipsy]

DO NOT SHIP TO INDONESIA! - tell them you refuse to ship to Indonesia.

If you are going to sell on eBay, you need to familiarize yourself with things like this:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jsp?forum=31&thread=220677&modifed=20030706110200

 

[DNBois]

Thanks so much for your input - have been checking on other threads and found a lot of helpful information. DH and I have not had one bid on our product and we believe the problem is that this is the only product we have sold and are selling so we have no feedback at all. Does anyone have any pointers on this - we are ID verified and everything we need to do has been done. . .we placed on ebay for 7 days and then another 7 (which has 2 days left) and even lowered the price but if we lower it anymore we may be giving it away - any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Robinrs]

I sell on eBay for a living now. I just shipped a Barbie Doll to Italy for $8.00! I've shipped to California for that price!

That link that jipsy left is a big eye opener. Thanks for the heads up!

Again, I'll repeat NEVER send an item without cleared funds. And don't worry about no bids, most bidders don't bid till the last minute. I use a "Watch" alert, a javascript that shows me how many people are "watching" my item. It can give you a clue as to whether or not someone's waiting to pounce on your item.

For instance I had an item with no bids on it for 7 days, the last hour 8 people bid on it in the last half hour. My watch list told me that 8 people were watching it. If you want the info, PM me.

Good luck and remember, if it sounds like a duck, if it looks like a duck ... it's a duck...

 

[JoNo]

I buy & sell a lot on ebay as well. Mainly rare records & the like, but what I do is if i'm a seller, I NEVER ship outside of where I stated, and I ALWAYS wait until I get full payment before shipping.

If i'm a buyer, I will make sure the person has at least 75% good feedback.