Selling higher risk items

[mirror-in-the-attic]

So, I have been reading posts on this board for a long while about phones, computers, gaming consoles, handbags being  “high risk” items.   What I do not understand is how, having higher feedback, negates that risk?  Experience?  If it is experience, please share the steps to take to minimize the possibility of getting scammed.   I do realize there is always a risk...are there steps to ensure “less risk” and more possibility of getting ruled in your favor should mayhem ensue?

Thanks. 

[lewisburggold]

We always insure the item.  Packing very well is also good.  Always keep your receipt for at least thirty days.  If they return always take a photo of how it was returned to you.  Dont ever just drop off in post office box always take in to get scanned.  We have had pretty good luck with high priced items when we stick to doing it right.  Just some ideas.  Best regards

[richards*collection]

screen the buyers feedback and just cancel any sale you feel funny about, buy it now with best offer works best because usually you can screen before sale, but you can still be ripped off, take to many hits for canceled sales and your score goes down, shoplifters are going to steal, you get enough sales and your going to be another victim, its the cost of doing business, of course if you get ripped off bad enough, you would probably leave ebay in the dust, I most certainly would.

[retrose1]

Right now ebay has very buyercentric policies.

The ONLY consistant seller protection ebay offers is if you sent the item with tracking -and the buyer files a Item Not Rceived case against you, if tracking shows delivered to the addres on the paypal payment - the seller wins the dispute.  Just about every other case or dispute, the buyer will win most of the time. 

Scammers more so because they profile their potential victims and know the rules and policies better than their victims usually do.

Example that we see here all the time.....Seller lists a high dollar/high risk item with no returns.  Buy-uh-scammer buys the item and it is shipped.  Buyer gets it and makes the claim that it doesn't work.  Seller gets indignant because they sold it no returns - not realizing that no returns on ebay does not mena no refunds - is stubborn about their no returns policy and ebay rewards the buy-uh-scammer by giving them a full refund and letting them keep the item.

High feedback usually means that the seller has come across a few scammers and is aware of the common scam attempts.  So they will know  their advantages and odds in a dispute and how the system might work for them.   And how to make getting a freebie more trouble than it is worth.

So if a scammer sees something they want for free, the next thing they do is check out the listing and the sellers feedback.  Many sellers announce that they are proud of their customer service and/or feedback in their listing - that is a scam magnet as the seller is probably more than willing to 'buy' good feedback by giving out a refund in the hopes the problem goes away.  That idea is reinforced if their feedback is littered with words like refund or works with.

I have plenty of feedback and would never list a high dollar/high risk item on ebay.  Because I know how ebay works and the odds of my actually getting ebay to see an obvious scam attempt and finding 'for' me in a case are close to zero.

[lovtaco0]

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@mirror-in-the-atticwrote:

What I do not understand is how, having higher feedback, negates that risk?

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Having higher feedback does not negate the risk. If it's an experienced scammer they're going to try to do it regardless of feedback score.

Lower feedback sellers are often targeted because the perception is that they are less experienced and may not be familiar with eBay and PayPal rules, filing fraud claims and how to handle the situation should it arise. They are seen as more likely to fall for a phony payment e-mail and other tricks.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

Thanks everyone.  All good nuggets of wisdom.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

Would it be prudent to limit low feedback buyers from purchasing?  As I haven’t any knowledge, how stringent can you get with that feature?

[lovtaco0]

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@mirror-in-the-atticwrote:

Would it be prudent to limit low feedback buyers from purchasing?  As I haven’t any knowledge, how stringent can you get with that feature?

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eBay doesn't offer any feature to limit or block low FB buyers unless you count -1. eBay wants to encourage new customers to the site not limit them. I've run into scammers with 6k FB so I don't think it matters.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

I love the BIN BO suggestion.  Screen the buyer, decline offer if anything about their profile rings alarm bells.  At that point, would I be able to block that buyer from going back and buying full ask?  (Meaning, is that feature editable after a listing is live)

[richards*collection]

you cant beat the phone scam. buyer has a non working phone just like your selling, and returns you the broken one because you did not list a pic of the serial number, this goes for other electronic items, there are many scams similar, electronics are just the easy ones. any item can fall victim to the empty box scam, buyer says they got an empty box and charges back the credit card.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

Good grief. How do some people sleep at night.  

[sam9876]

How does insurance and an acceptance scan protect you against a scammer?

[castlemagicmemories]

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@mirror-in-the-atticwrote:

Would it be prudent to limit low feedback buyers from purchasing?  As I haven’t any knowledge, how stringent can you get with that feature?

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There is no block for low feedback buyers, sorry.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@mirror-in-the-atticwrote:

I love the BIN BO suggestion.  Screen the buyer, decline offer if anything about their profile rings alarm bells.  At that point, would I be able to block that buyer from going back and buying full ask?  (Meaning, is that feature editable after a listing is live)

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You would need to put the buyer you don't want to do business with on your BBL, blocked bidder list.

[tellmemama]

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@mirror-in-the-atticwrote:

Would it be prudent to limit low feedback buyers from purchasing?  As I haven’t any knowledge, how stringent can you get with that feature?

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I think it would be far more prudent to place actual limits on new sellers.  Yeah, I know they supposedly get selling limits which can't be raised for at least 90 days.  But I still read threads almost daily of newbies who get scammed selling their first item.  And the item was a $700+ phone or designer purse.

Ebay doesn't care and why should they?  They still get the FVF.