Selling item over $2500, why not open a store?

[matkric0]

I'm an occassional buyer, never sold, but have verified with paypal.

I'd like to sell a $3000+ item.

If I did this in my personal account, the FVF would cost me $300.

If I open a store, it'd cost me $250 FVF + $25 for the store = $275.

I must be misunderstanding something because I don't know why someone selling a $10000 item would willingly pay the personal max of $750 when they could pay the store max of $250.

Is my understanding correct? If so, is there any reason not to open a store if selling an expensive item?

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@matkric0 wrote:

I'm an occassional buyer, never sold, but have verified with paypal.

I'd like to sell a $3000+ item.

If I did this in my personal account, the FVF would cost me $300.

If I open a store, it'd cost me $250 FVF + $25 for the store = $275.

I must be misunderstanding something because I don't know why someone selling a $10000 item would willingly pay the personal max of $750 when they could pay the store max of $250.

Is my understanding correct? If so, is there any reason not to open a store if selling an expensive item?

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Somebody else may have mentioned this ...

As a new/occasional seller you will have selling limits. You are considered "new" if you have had no selling history in over 12 months.

These limits are twofold: qty/$

Most new sellers start off with a very small limit like 20/$500

The limit is a "whichever comes forst", 20 items or $500 value of items listed.

Opening a store WILL NOT change these limits.

Unless you are an established business with a B&M (and can prove to eBay that you are)  ... these limits will only be raised after certain criteria are met.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/sellinglimits.html

eBay will LET you open the store, of course ... but they won't raise your limits just because you do 😉

[matkric0]

@penguins_dont_fly That's a good call, thankfully ebay bumped my limit from $1000 to $25000, so I'm AOK on that front!

Thank you all for your warnings, I spent the night reading up on all the scams & how ebay/paypal always favor the buyer. Here's my mitigation strategy:

1. The items I'll be selling will be brand new factory sealed. This should limit my exposure to "item is not as described" scams, correct? All the empircal evidence pointed to these scams occurring with used items.

2. I will record a video of packaging the item & putting the shipping label on it. I suppose I could even do that inside a FedEx/UPS store & record my handing it over to them. Again, this should limit my exposure to the "seller shipped me a rock" attack as I could submit it to ebay/paypal.

3. Signature verification. Ebay requires this at $750+ and Paypal at $250+, an extra $5 isn't gonan ruin me.

Any other strategies you could recommend? I know the vast majority of folks are honest, but with high costs & tight margins, a single scam could send me deep into the red.

[dtexley3]

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@matkric0 wrote:

@penguins_dont_fly That's a good call, thankfully ebay bumped my limit from $1000 to $25000, so I'm AOK on that front!

Thank you all for your warnings, I spent the night reading up on all the scams & how ebay/paypal always favor the buyer. Here's my mitigation strategy:

1. The items I'll be selling will be brand new factory sealed. This should limit my exposure to "item is not as described" scams, correct? All the empircal evidence pointed to these scams occurring with used items.

2. I will record a video of packaging the item & putting the shipping label on it. I suppose I could even do that inside a FedEx/UPS store & record my handing it over to them. Again, this should limit my exposure to the "seller shipped me a rock" attack as I could submit it to ebay/paypal.

3. Signature verification. Ebay requires this at $750+ and Paypal at $250+, an extra $5 isn't gonan ruin me.

Any other strategies you could recommend? I know the vast majority of folks are honest, but with high costs & tight margins, a single scam could send me deep into the red.

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1. NOPE

2. NOPE, eBay WILL NOT VIEW video evidence.

3. NOPE, helps but still will not prevent a Not as Described claim.

[slippinjimmy]

2. I will record a video of packaging the item & putting the shipping label on it. I suppose I could even do that inside a FedEx/UPS store & record my handing it over to them. Again, this should limit my exposure to the "seller shipped me a rock" attack as I could submit it to ebay/paypal.

My first post to this thread was made without any judgement or consideration of your experience, the type of item or your "street smarts".

Your thinking that a video of some sort would offer you any protection from being scammed leads me to wonder if I should have joined the rest of the crowd who thought you were potentially walking into a lot of trouble.

[bonjourami]

1. just because an item is factory sealed, doesnt mean it works, there are seller complaints in here all the time about factory sealed items that when opened, didnt work properly.

2. Neither Ebay or Paypal accepts videos,or photos, or witness statements, of what was packed and shipped to the buyer.

[chrysylys]

Forget the video.

And you're not talking about those miner things are you?  If not, tell us the type of item.

[partial*eclipse]

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matkric0 wrote:... I spent the night reading up...

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I'm questioning your choice of advisory resources.

1. There are plenty of SNAD claims for NIB items.

2. That's a waste of effort.

3. eBay's threshold is $750.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-protection.html

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@matkric0 wrote:

@penguins_dont_fly That's a good call, thankfully ebay bumped my limit from $1000 to $25000, so I'm AOK on that front!

Thank you all for your warnings, I spent the night reading up on all the scams & how ebay/paypal always favor the buyer. Here's my mitigation strategy:

1. The items I'll be selling will be brand new factory sealed. This should limit my exposure to "item is not as described" scams, correct? All the empircal evidence pointed to these scams occurring with used items.

2. I will record a video of packaging the item & putting the shipping label on it. I suppose I could even do that inside a FedEx/UPS store & record my handing it over to them. Again, this should limit my exposure to the "seller shipped me a rock" attack as I could submit it to ebay/paypal.

3. Signature verification. Ebay requires this at $750+ and Paypal at $250+, an extra $5 isn't gonan ruin me.

Any other strategies you could recommend? I know the vast majority of folks are honest, but with high costs & tight margins, a single scam could send me deep into the red.

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As others have said ... video is a waste of time ...

SNAD happens on New and Used ... Factory sealed items have been known to be faulty, after all.

Signature confirmation is $750 and up.  Make sure that you say that the item will be shipped with Signature Confirmation in the listing.

Shipping ... for expensive items, ship using a method that includes insurance or add the insurance when you buy the postage.  You CANNOT charge extra for insurance ... just build it in to the price. Don't be tempted to cheap out on shipping method ... you pay a higher postage price for better shipping methods ... but with items of that value, you really should go the route of "least likely to be damaged or delayed"

Make sure that you know how you will be shipping before you list the item and what materials you will need to package it with (and have them on hand)

Make sure that you know HOW to ship the items securely and safely.

List BIN with Immediate Payment Required.  Set your Buyer Preferences ...

Don't try to write a TOS that is 20 pages long and contradicts eBay policy or is any way "negative".

All other advice really depends on what the item is.  How to pack, what method to ship, what problems you might encounter, yada yada ....

Me ... I would NOT just jump in with both feet selling expensive items.  Start small ... sell some inexpensive items to learn how everything works. For a little while anyway.

I would also not sell internationally until I was fully comfortable with selling domestically ... International sales are a challenge in themselves and hold their own pitfalls.

Read and understand the MBG and PayPal Buyer Protection policies.

Read and understand the Seller Standards.

Ask, ask, ask .... no question is too stupid, and you will find at least one regular who has come up against whatever

Come here and ask before you do something that you are unsure of ... too many come here after  they mess up and want to know how to fix it or want to blame ebay.

[donnalynnbrew]

You REALLY need to post photos of that vid card you have up.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@donnalynnbrew wrote:
You REALLY need to post photos of that vid card you have up.

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@matkric0

You NEED photos. More than 1.

You NEED a better description.

[thallidguy]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@donnalynnbrew wrote:
You REALLY need to post photos of that vid card you have up.

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@matkric0

You NEED photos. More than 1.

You NEED a better description.

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True dat.

Even if you want to argue that someone shopping for that particular video card knows what it is already, posting a listing with no photo and a lame description (which is really no description at all) is just inexcusably lazy.

No photo

No description

0 FB seller

I wouldn't risk $900 (or even a fraction of that) on a seller who is that clueless. If he can't be bothered to put together even a half-decent listing, where else is he going to cut corners?

[fbobsmail1983]

If you can't afford to lose it then don't list it. The potential to be scammed, IMO, is too high and it's not worth the headaches. Sadly Ebay's policies and miserable CS actually encourages buyers to scam sellers and the reasons they give for deciding a case;

He said, she said

They don't know what was actually sent or returned etc etc

Are the very reasons they shouldn't be involved in the process in the first place. But in order to sell on this platform one must agree to allow Ebay to make the final determination. It's even worse with Paypal who allow returns for "SNAD" for 180 days. In the end it's your decision.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@thallidguy wrote:

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@donnalynnbrew wrote:
You REALLY need to post photos of that vid card you have up.

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@matkric0

You NEED photos. More than 1.

You NEED a better description.

---

True dat.

Even if you want to argue that someone shopping for that particular video card knows what it is already, posting a listing with no photo and a lame description (which is really no description at all) is just inexcusably lazy.

No photo

No description

0 FB seller

I wouldn't risk $900 (or even a fraction of that) on a seller who is that clueless. If he can't be bothered to put together even a half-decent listing, where else is he going to cut corners?

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It screams "clueless" and, as it is listed now ... might as well Title it "Scam Bait" 😞

OP didn't actually pay attention to any of the advice given here 😞

That Video card IS the $2500 item that they were hinting at here.

This will not end well 😞

[slippinjimmy]

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@thallidguy wrote:

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@donnalynnbrew wrote:
You REALLY need to post photos of that vid card you have up.

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@matkric0

You NEED photos. More than 1.

You NEED a better description.

---

True dat.

Even if you want to argue that someone shopping for that particular video card knows what it is already, posting a listing with no photo and a lame description (which is really no description at all) is just inexcusably lazy.

No photo

No description

0 FB seller

I wouldn't risk $900 (or even a fraction of that) on a seller who is that clueless. If he can't be bothered to put together even a half-decent listing, where else is he going to cut corners?

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Oh man......I should have looked.......a high end gaming video card = big time potential trouble.

It's the type of product that attracts both professional and amateur scammers.

[donnalynnbrew]

Not to mention legit buyers are going to avoid the listing because 1) its not good 2) the seller is asking less than many others with NIB cards so it reeks of scam