eBay

blyss4226 · ‎12-09-2018

Hello everyone. I had a question for those of you more experienced on the platform and any help would be appreciated. My boyfriend and I have been selling on ebay for a few months to supplement our income. We don't sell a lot but given we have VERY limited financial resources it helps to have some disposable income. I've read around about people scamming(especially on tech products) and I guess I've become a bit nervous.

We had a CRT monitor for sale that sold today. $50 with buyer paying the shipping(which ended up being about $50 as well). We have to ship it by Tuesday. Glad it sold, but a couple of things have me uneasy:

Buyer has no feedback, account created just today 12/9

Username seems like someone just mashed on the keyboard

Payment was received immediately through paypal so that's good. I'm just worried because I've read of people buying things, claiming SNAD, and returning a completely different item for refund and things like that. We had it set for 30 days return with buyer pays return shipping. But I read in a SNAD case the seller has to pay regardless. Is this true? Eating the cost of that would, well let's just say I don't know how we'd make that happen.

Obviously new buyers have to make their first purchase and it's likely they will create their account in order to do that. I've sold to new buyers before and everything was fine. Just never with the account created the same day and a strange feeling username.

So my question is: how many red flags does this set off for you? Would you be worried or not? My feeling is just hold on to the proceeds(minus the shipping obviously) until the return period is up in case something does occur. Is there anything else that can be done anyway?

Appreciate any advice, best regards!

auctionpet · ‎12-09-2018

I see no red flags.

As others have stated, it's a guest account. Ebay automatically creates the user ID upon purchase, which is why it's a very unusual one. The user doesn't care about a serious user name, they simply wish to make a purchase. I usually see guest account purchases every few weeks. Have yet to run into trouble.

Just be sure you pack the monitor very well. I don't know what ship method your using, but some shippers will not cover damage to monitors and other electronics. I'd suggest double boxing and surrounding it with styrofoam sheets.

Good Luck!

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five*sisters · ‎12-09-2018

I dont see any red flags, that could be a guest purchase with that scrambled id, which is allowed. You sold the item, were paid, now you need to ship it. There is no iron clad protection on Ebay when selling. If you cancel the transaction, you will get a serious defect, a few of those and you will be banned from selling here. And yes, in case of a snad complaint filed, the seller pays return shipping..good luck.

Yes,this is a posting id,I have been selling on Ebay for fifteen years!

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-09-2018

A weird ID invented today could easily just be a guest account as noted in the other post.

@blyss4226 wrote:
.... I'm just worried because I've read of people buying things, claiming SNAD, and returning a completely different item for refund and things like that. We had it set for 30 days return with buyer pays return shipping. But I read in a SNAD case the seller has to pay regardless. Is this true? ...

Yes, the seller has to pay for return shipping in a SNAD case. You should have thought through all of that before you listed it. Some items, especially heavy fragile ones, should only be listed as "Local pickup only."

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-09-2018

I agree, that seems to be a guest account. Ebay has been running commercials so new buyers have been coming.

OP, buyer has 30 days on Ebay to open a case, and 180 on Paypal. Many credit card companies offer 180 days as well; some may offer more.

Be sure to check your actual Paypal account to be sure you did receive payment, and to ship to the address Paypal gives you when it says you are ok to ship.

Wishing you problem free sales!

five*sisters · ‎12-09-2018

As far as holding onto the funds, you are aware that a buyer can file a snad at PP for up to six months? But your decision, of course.

Yes,this is a posting id,I have been selling on Ebay for fifteen years!

fern*wood · ‎12-09-2018

Agree that is sounds like a guest account, which many buyers do. I mentally work the thought of a SNAD into my thinking with everything I sell. Some heavier and more problematic items are no longer on my list of items to sell. Plus that's a tough thing to ship to begin with so the flags would have been waving yellow for caution before listing.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-09-2018

I'll be surprised if they can ship it for the price shown in the listing.

blyss4226 · ‎12-09-2018

Thanks for the advice and responses. I didn't know about the guest accounts - that makes me feel a lot better. We have indeed received the money and it's present in the paypal account.

I didn't know you had a whole 6 months on paypal... that's a little egregious IMO. If something is not as decribed... well I personally wouldn't wait long on complaining lol. The one and only time I ever dealt with paypal on something like that was as a buyer(which was a sale through a merchant site, not ebay) - well, they didn't agree with me. I had an item custom printed and the color was very, very off and wrong. Despite showing pictures they called it normal variation - even when light blue appeared completely green. Seller offered to let me return it to China - but ONLY by priority mail international with tracking(which paypal accepted and resolved the case) and for a $20 item... yeah I'd be in the hole with no item at all lol. Needless to say haven't done business with that company anymore. Anyway that's neither here nor there though.

We thought for a while before listing the item and ultimately decided to since we had an appropriate box. Based on the weight of the item and the dimensions of the box we should be able to ship it for that or less. Unless the estimator on UPS site/ebay is WAY off. It was calculated shipping. We sold it for $50 + $49 shipping in the end. Well even if it's over I doubt it'd be over the total sale. We make what we make. We don't have a lot in this particular item. I just don't want to go negative lol

Again thank you for your responses!

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-09-2018

PayPal adopted the 180 days policy to be in line with the time frame that most credit card issuers give to users for filing a chargeback. It does give PayPal some control over the process.

blyss4226 · ‎12-09-2018

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
PayPal adopted the 180 days policy to be in line with the time frame that most credit card issuers give to users for filing a chargeback. It does give PayPal some control over the process.

I see, that does make some sense. Thank you for the information.

buyselljack2016 · ‎12-09-2018

Red flag that I see is someone paying that much (selling price + shipping) for a CRT monitor.

mg152 · ‎12-09-2018

Did you use a postal scale? that monitor is heavy and you could very well go negative shipping it. Also you could have DIMM weight charges for a large box.

Patricia
eBay member for 25 years

a_c_green · ‎12-09-2018

@buyselljack2016 wrote:
Red flag that I see is someone paying that much (selling price + shipping) for a CRT monitor.

I was wondering the same thing (although I don't know what kind of a scam you can pull with an old CRT monitor), but a search of Sold CRTs shows a slow but steady turnover:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=CRT&_sacat=80053&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

Those buyers can't all be thinking that they're buying flatscreens... can they?

buyselljack2016 · ‎12-09-2018

@a_c_green wrote:
@buyselljack2016 wrote:
Red flag that I see is someone paying that much (selling price + shipping) for a CRT monitor.
I was wondering the same thing (although I don't know what kind of a scam you can pull with an old CRT monitor), but a search of Sold CRTs shows a slow but steady turnover:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=CRT&_sacat=80053&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

Those buyers can't all be thinking that they're buying flatscreens... can they?

Maybe I'm in the dark. Not a gamer. I always thought you could just hook up to CRT TV. They along with CRT monitors should be a dime a dozen. Maybe a graphics/resolution/ratio thing for gamers.

blyss4226 · ‎12-09-2018

@a_c_green wrote:
@buyselljack2016 wrote:
Red flag that I see is someone paying that much (selling price + shipping) for a CRT monitor.
I was wondering the same thing (although I don't know what kind of a scam you can pull with an old CRT monitor), but a search of Sold CRTs shows a slow but steady turnover:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=CRT&_sacat=80053&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

Those buyers can't all be thinking that they're buying flatscreens... can they?

People buy it to use for retrogaming since a lot of older games look best(in some opinions) on CRTs. I'm one of those people myself - older consoles hooked up to a 27 inch Sony Trinitron from the late 90s, and another monitor just like the sold one for PC retrogaming.

The price we sold it for is actually a little on the low side for that particular model according to my research. But again we don't have much in it and kinda just wanted it to move.