Sort-of newbie question about selling

[tbud75]

I’ve been on eBay for 20+ years and have sold items years ago without issue, but I’ve heard things have changed since then.

I’m ready to clear out a good chunk of my manga collection and some are worth quite a bit of money because they’re out of print.  My big worry is that I’ll sell them, ship them out and the buyer will lie and say they never received them.  (I’ve heard of things like this happening to others.)

If you have delivery confirmation that the item was delivered but the buyer says they didn’t receive them, what do you do? Do you refund them and never get your items back?

I’m a big worrywart and figured I’d ask here before listing anything.  Thank you for reading.

[bamorris]

As a general metric, the fraud I've encountered in my selling has been pretty low.

Now having said that, there are certain categories that are more fraud-prone than others. Car audio, video games, and some others tend to attract the "money for nothing" crowd.

But even having said that, I'll still deal in car audio and video games and accept the fraud rate. It's pretty low overall.

I'm not sure what magna is. A quick google search is "anime". I've sold some (not a lot) anime on eBay and haven't encountered any fraud in that category. I have encountered nit picky buyers, but that's their right to be nit picky.

But overall, I wouldn't be overly concerned about the fraud rate. Start with your lowest priced items and work your way up to your more expensive items as you gain confidence.

I've been really happy selling on eBay. You'll hear lots of complaints on the forums, but just remember that for every complaint, there's probably 1000s of happy sellers that you never hear from.

[bamorris]

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@tbud75 wrote:

I’m ready to clear out a good chunk of my manga collection and some are worth quite a bit of money because they’re out of print.  My big worry is that I’ll sell them, ship them out and the buyer will lie and say they never received them.  (I’ve heard of things like this happening to others.)

If you have delivery confirmation that the item was delivered but the buyer says they didn’t receive them, what do you do? Do you refund them and never get your items back?

I realized I didn't answer your question directly.

eBay is going to believe the buyer received the item if it says "Delivered" in the tracking. So the fraud that you usually see on eBay is when a seller doesn't accept returns and the item is not as described (INAD). The buyer will open an INAD case and the seller will lose. So then a refund is forced and the buyer keeps the item and the money.

Be sure to accept returns. I doubt you'll have many problems selling as long as you post quality listings with lots of photographs.

[inhawaii]

You are very well protected by a INR (item not received) case.

As long as you provide a tracking number that says "delivered" you are covered.

It's the INAD (item not as described) cases that are a different story.

Those can be tricky and you are not very well protected.

[dakotasnowshine]

Great advice given already. Just understand you could potentially lose your item/s. If you can't bear that, if it happens, I would suggest not listing.

Saying that, as stated already, plenty of uneventful transactions happen every day. There is always a chance a skilled scammer finds what you have worth their time and not much you can do about it.

If you do receive a Not As Described please select Return for Refund and send the buyer a return shipping label on your dime. This is your only real defense against a NAD claim. It doesn't matter what the buyer says or does during this, the process is automated and humans will not be involved or be available to look at the case and make an intelligent decision. If you provide a label then the buyer is obligated to return the item before you provide a refund and sometimes this chases the fraudulent buyer away. They don't ship, you don't refund. I won't go into how they can still get you but they can and why you have to be willing to lose a listed item to sell on this platform today.

Best of luck to you. I have sold some Manga here without issue.

[lamber9347]

@tbud75 It is true things have changed but still the majority of online sales complete without any hitches. As in life, there is always a risk to anything one does. Since you have specific collectibles you'll most likely be okay. I suggest you start out slowly and once you've established transactions with other collectors, and they get to know you, offer them exclusives as you've built up a rep with them and they with you. That might make you feel more comfortable with your more expensive items. As with everything, it takes time. Be patient and enjoy your time selling your manga collection knowing they are going to other collectors. Best of luck to you....

[1786davycrockett]

What the others have said, plus this -- 

If a buyer requests a refund, don't just send the buyer his $$$, hoping that the buyer will send you back your item.  NOPE -- IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!!!   First, make sure the buyer opens up an official "Request for refund" case through eBay.  That will open up a channel for you to send the buyer a return label; and, once you actually RECEIVE the item back, only THEN do you refund the buyer.

ALWAYS provide a tracking number.  Most of the manga books can be shipped either at USPS Media Rate (if they are indeed books, and not individual manga comics -- if they are individual manga comics, you will need to ship them at the USPS First Class or USPS Priority Rates (depends upon the package weight)) -- and all these rates use USPS Tracking, which is VERY important, in case you run into a buyer who attempts to file an "item not received" case against you:  that tracking number is your ONLY protection against those thieves; and, once you verify the tracking number thru the eBay claims process, you're set (unless the buyer files a similar claim thru their credit card companies -- in which case, you lose EVERYTHING).

International shipping can be tricky.  Until you actually gain some selling experience domestically, I would suggest avoiding it for the time being (except for Canada).  I realize that shuts down the Japanese market for you; but just play it cool for the time being.

Good luck!

[tbud75]

Thanks to all of you for your very helpful replies! Manga are graphic novels, so they look like comics but are in book format and no ads like regular comic books have.  I think I will try a small listing of some of my books that aren’t worth as much and see how it goes.

I’m glad you all told me about the refund label.  A lot of the listings I’ve looked at have said no refunds.  My books were read once and in practically perfect shape so honest people aren’t going to be able to say not as described.

Hopefully things will go well!