Selling high value items on ebay

[BreaKBeatZ 128]

Hey folks,

 

I have never sold an expensive item on ebay, but I'm planning on doing so soon. I'd appreciate hearing the precautions you take when selling expensive games. For example, is there anything to protect me from the buyer saying that I just sent him a package full of rocks?

 

Thanks in advance!

[hyrulevyse 150]

You could film yourself packing it up, word on the street is that it helps when dealing with ebay customer service during a nsad dispute.   Print the label beforehand then film it going into the box, packing it up, and attaching the label in one continuous shot.  

[Hammerfestus 3,116]

I’ve been wondering about this as well. I’ve sold a couple of $100 plus items without incident but I’ve got a significantly more expensive item I’ve been thinking about putting up but I’m nervous.

[LeatherRebel5150 888]

At this point I would film packaging and dropping it off at the post office and recieving a receipt in one continuous shot 

[Romiked2689 117]

Also record the item working and powered on 

[Darth Vader 150]

Also, be sure to purchase insurance through USPS or whoever you're using to send it. Just incase it gets lost or damaged.

I would also pack it a lot better than something of lesser value. Double up on that padding!

[arch_8ngel 1,597]

Just pay attention to the insurance limits and whether you hit a threshold where you need to send certified.

 

Most expensive thing I have sold to date was Super Bat Puncher, in the $900 range at the time, but I have sold quite a few items in the $300-$400 range all with no issues.

For me, I tried to mitigate risk by blocking zero feedback bidders, and not offering international shipping. (I was always willing to deal with international shipping for stuff on the forums, but wasnt worth the hassle on eBay at the time)

 

If I had something getting into upper 4 figures or more, I probably would have insisted on direct private sales with trusted parties only.

[ALTQQ 87]

Just make sure you get proper insurance on it. I sent out a box with $3000 of SNES cibs on a Facebook collectors group last year without any issues. But its good.to have tracking and insurance. 

[Tanooki 4,524]

Well if the item is truly rare and/or expensive enough there are things you can do visibly in the auction itself, but also more behind the scenes to catch a scumbag if they're up to no good.

On the auction make sure you take images of everything and any side or inside parts of it that should be noted a normal person would look at to decide to buy, nothing overboard.  Make sure they're like 1280x720 or better to get all the little details.  On the auction itself describe it well, but don't talk it up, hell talk it down so you can't be accused of buttering up a sucker.  Also in that listing, describe how you'll ship it, and how you'll pack the item so there are again no surprises.

Not on the auction but to cover your ass: Take more images than you are willing to share, ever, or even admit to.  Get any imperfection someone looking to scam may overlook and save that.  Add a confirmed signature to the item so they have to sign for it at the door or their local post office and insure it for the full amount.  Furthermore, take all your goods unpacked to the USPS, using your camera phone on a stand, visibly bundle, pack, seal, tape and label that sucker there in the USPS and then the actual hand off at the counter.  Doing this I've seen people as sellers win a case because the ebay rep watching the video sees the good go in as described and handed off, so the liar on the buying end got caught trying to say something wasn't in the box and got baked for it.

 

It just comes down to your level of paranoia and how far you'd take it.  I've never put something so horribly precious out to go to the extreme of videoing the sealing and handing off at the post office, but I've read others have and it worked on the 'the item wasn't in the box' or 'not as described' scam trick.  I've had someone every few years try and lie about what I put into the packing condition wise before and I've just won on a threat before of having better images than posted.  Some years ago some clown tried to say I shipped a Metroid Prime 3 game in less than like new shape out claiming the disc was scratched up and stopped at X point.  Having bought it new and never laying a mark on it I knew what was up, so I nicely told the person I didn't believe it, but if they wanted a return they could but that I had high resolution shots of the case and game, and if the game has a different ring code on the disc or anything else didn't match some high res pics I had I'd have to contact ebay about getting back not what I shipped out, and suddenly clownshoes 'claim' against me was closed by the buyer.

[guillavoie 1,136]

Always send the package with tracking information, even internationally, and if the item in question sell for more than $650, you absolutely need signature confirmation.

I almost got screwed not knowing the last one once, I sold a $1300 dollar game and when the guy received the packaged, he immediately started a dispute and despite having tracking info stating that the item was delivered, I wasn't eligible for protection because there was no signature confirmation. Luckily the guy in question was mixed in very shady stuff and it was online to see, so I made some sort of little dossier on him and sent it to some high end PayPal employees email. The next morning the funds were credited to my account and I even got a sorry email from PayPal, lol.

[fcgamer 3,925]

Post it up for grabs on the forums first, or reach out to collectors that might be interested in that stuff, if they don't want it, they might help connect you with someone who does.

Living in Taiwan, I've sent packages to every continent aside from Antarctica, and over the summer I sent about $800 worth of goods to Argentina without hesitation. I was selling to people I saw around though, who I felt weren't likely to screw me. Back in the day NA got too big I guess, but I'd reckon that most collectors are going to be a bit more honest and less likely to crap in their swimming pool than the anonymous buying cesspool that is eBay.

If you do go the eBay route, I guess follow the advice of the others: video of the item getting packed and going to the post office, video of it working, triple packing materials, insurance out the rear, signature required, etc. Sounds like a huge hassle to me though, honestly.

Edited November 10, 2019 by fcgamer

[a3quit4s 3,206]

56 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Post it up for grabs on the forums first, or reach out to collectors that might be interested in that stuff, if they don't want it, they might help connect you with someone who does.

Living in Taiwan, I've sent packages to every continent aside from Antarctica, and over the summer I sent about $800 worth of goods to Argentina without hesitation. I was selling to people I saw around though, who I felt weren't likely to screw me. Back in the day NA got too big I guess, but I'd reckon that most collectors are going to be a bit more honest and less likely to crap in their swimming pool than the anonymous buying cesspool that is eBay.

If you do go the eBay route, I guess follow the advice of the others: video of the item getting packed and going to the post office, video of it working, triple packing materials, insurance out the rear, signature required, etc. Sounds like a huge hassle to me though, honestly.

This. Especially high end stuff people here may buy it and save you the fees. 

Edited November 10, 2019 by a3quit4s

[BreaKBeatZ 128]

11 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Well if the item is truly rare and/or expensive enough there are things you can do visibly in the auction itself, but also more behind the scenes to catch a scumbag if they're up to no good.

On the auction make sure you take images of everything and any side or inside parts of it that should be noted a normal person would look at to decide to buy, nothing overboard.  Make sure they're like 1280x720 or better to get all the little details.  On the auction itself describe it well, but don't talk it up, hell talk it down so you can't be accused of buttering up a sucker.  Also in that listing, describe how you'll ship it, and how you'll pack the item so there are again no surprises.

Not on the auction but to cover your ass: Take more images than you are willing to share, ever, or even admit to.  Get any imperfection someone looking to scam may overlook and save that.  Add a confirmed signature to the item so they have to sign for it at the door or their local post office and insure it for the full amount.  Furthermore, take all your goods unpacked to the USPS, using your camera phone on a stand, visibly bundle, pack, seal, tape and label that sucker there in the USPS and then the actual hand off at the counter.  Doing this I've seen people as sellers win a case because the ebay rep watching the video sees the good go in as described and handed off, so the liar on the buying end got caught trying to say something wasn't in the box and got baked for it.

 

It just comes down to your level of paranoia and how far you'd take it.  I've never put something so horribly precious out to go to the extreme of videoing the sealing and handing off at the post office, but I've read others have and it worked on the 'the item wasn't in the box' or 'not as described' scam trick.  I've had someone every few years try and lie about what I put into the packing condition wise before and I've just won on a threat before of having better images than posted.  Some years ago some clown tried to say I shipped a Metroid Prime 3 game in less than like new shape out claiming the disc was scratched up and stopped at X point.  Having bought it new and never laying a mark on it I knew what was up, so I nicely told the person I didn't believe it, but if they wanted a return they could but that I had high resolution shots of the case and game, and if the game has a different ring code on the disc or anything else didn't match some high res pics I had I'd have to contact ebay about getting back not what I shipped out, and suddenly clownshoes 'claim' against me was closed by the buyer.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I might have to go with the video route. I'm surprised that USPS, UPS and FedEx don't offer a service where they verify the contents of the box for an extra fee. That would be really helpful.

[Tanooki 4,524]

6 hours ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Thanks everyone for the advice. I might have to go with the video route. I'm surprised that USPS, UPS and FedEx don't offer a service where they verify the contents of the box for an extra fee. That would be really helpful.

Yeah that would be worth paying on stuff that's worth at least a $100 or higher.  They already record all transactions and counter behavior anyway for thieves and scumbags, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to position it to digitally record these things and make a sample in some server.  You'd easily expect a $10-20 fee on it, but hell that would so be worth it for easily theft worthy items.