Currently have 2 high dollar items with a bid from separate buyers from Malaysia with 0 feedback..

[sportsautosncards_llc]

I currently have two pretty expensive items ($1900 & $1400) with 1 bid each from two different eBay sellers with 0 feedback both of which are registered in Malaysia....  So I'm kind of worried about these.  What procautions should I take or should I just cancel the bids?

[kateinthe26th]

if it were me I would cancel their bids, cancel the auction and re-list as US only...but thats just me.

I have had too many problems with international shipping so i just gave that up, i don't need the stress.

you have to ask yourself do you want to mail out a high ticket item to a foreign country to a buyer with no buying history????????

[hillbillymedia]

My opinion....I wouldn`t sell a high dollar item on ebay to anyone unless they were local or I knew them personally. The risk is just to high and I`m no gambler. The risk has got to at least double selling outside the US. No Thanks. Best of luck to anyone willing to risk it.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@kateinthe26th wrote:

if it were me I would cancel their bids, cancel the auction and re-list as US only...but thats just me.

And BBL.

I have had too many problems with international shipping so i just gave that up, i don't need the stress.

you have to ask yourself do you want to mail out a high ticket item to a foreign country to a buyer with no buying history????????

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[orangehound]

Yep ... cancel bids and relist as US-only.

Theft and scams on eBay are now commonplace.  My 2 cents ...

1. One should never offer high dollar items overseas, or allow bidders who are overseas ... even if they are using a forwarding service.  Such listings should be US only, and PayPal should be set to only allow US Funds.
2. And, keep in mind that there is a theft loophole in the eBay Money Back Guarantee whereby any item can be easily stolen from you ... thieves know of this, and the number of thieves taking advantage of it are multiplying.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, can be done to protect yourself from being victimized by this loophole unless the transaction is local and in cash.

Because of #2, we (typically) no longer sell items over $200 on eBay.

[dougsue123b]

Your stuff is like a rare earth magnet to iron.

Scammers are going to be attracted to you.

U.S. only is the way to go. Will not guaranty safety, but will be safer.

[castlemagicmemories]

I agree!

[pauls-parts]

I had two items that were shipped to malaysia. Both claimed that they never recieved the item even though it was shipped thru GSP. So it showed they were delivered. Had my paypal account cleaned out. Guess from where? Yep. I did get my money back from paypal and was covered by GSP. But it still took a lot of my time and stresssss. When I do offer something up for auction I do tell them that if they have less than 10 feedback they have to contact me or their bids will be canceled and have done so. Just that scares away most scammers. Oh and I don't ship their anymore.

GOOD LUCK

[mikeystoyz]

It would be a cold day in hades before I completed that auction.  The days republicans and democrats got together and sang songs together would be the day I would complete that auction.

[sportsautosncards_llc]

Thank you for all your replies.  I use to have restrictions on who could bid on my items, apprarently eBay doesn't do that anymore? I was thinking of taking all the precautions like video recording me packing up the items, in the event that the buyers want to return the items and they send back something entirely different.  I did speak to Paypal tonight and asked about precautions and they assured me that I'll be ok especially with all the precautions of video and tracking numbers.  But then again, they are probably trained to encourage the business rather than discourage.

[umoraski]

I would never sell a High Ticket item out of the country - maybe Canada.  Too many thrings can go wrong,   The Postal System in some countries is Sketchy.  But of course, it is up to you.  I don't even ship anything that is breakable.  It's bad enough packing it for the US.   Good Luck

[cooltronix]

99% of my sales are international. I have no problems with that. But with such high ticket items I would worry too.

Paypal has a good protection as long as the delivery is trackable. But what happens if the buyer claims 'package was empty' or 'counterfeit'? The risk that Paypal will agree with the buyer is just too high.

As somebody that does nearly only international shipping, sadly, I agree with the rest.

[classic_luxe]

I would NOT trust what a PayPal rep told you, trust me, once things go down hill you will not hear the same advice from PayPal and will have nothing to back you up. Malaysia is a HUGE risk, trust your gut and cancel the bids. You already know that 2 new accounts from Malaysia bidding on your items is just more than a coincidence, don't let the greed of a sale fog your mind, think about the loss of $3300. Can you afford to lose it?

[orangehound]

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@sportsautosncards_llc wrote:

I was thinking of taking all the precautions like video recording me packing up the items, in the event that the buyers want to return the items and they send back something entirely different.  I did speak to Paypal tonight and asked about precautions and they assured me that I'll be ok especially with all the precautions of video and tracking numbers.  But then again, they are probably trained to encourage the business rather than discourage.

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@sportsautosncards_llc

As you surmise, you are wasting your time with video or any documention as far as eBay is concerned.  A buyer simply has to say that they received a box of rocks, and that is all the the eBay Money Back Guarantee needs in order to force you to refund their money ... they get back their money and they get to keep the item.

What I've just described is the theft loophole in the Money Back Guarantee.  Of course, eBay will not let an account do this more than once or twice ... but, thieves are easily able to create a new account, rinse and repeat.

The good news is that there are only so many thieves (though they are increasing in number).  The strategy to avoid them is to list items that are below their consumption level, and more difficult to steal ... that is, you don't want your items to be the low hanging fruit (expensive, easy to resell, easy to purchase or scam).  It may sound insensitive, but you want the thieves to go after the naive sellers.

That is not to say that video recording or any other sort of evidence is useless.  Should you get robbed, you can use it to file criminal charges or USPS Mail Fraud charges against the buyer, assuming you can find them ... you won't get your money or your item back, but you might help other sellers by walking a thief one step closer to prosecution.