@tricon7 wrote:
I'm going to be selling items in excess of $1K on eBay, but if eBay thinks I'm going to mail out such an expensive item without getting paid first, now that they've ditched Paypal, eBay management has rocks in their head.
Judging from your feedback, you have already had a couple of big-ticket sales for which buyers left Positive feedback. Have you in fact had any mishaps?
You will be a magnet for scammers simply on the basis of your low feedback count combined with the high-scam potential of the comics you're selling, but dragging your feet on shipping after eBay tells you that the buyer has paid is not going to address those risks; it will simply add possible Item Not Received disputes to your stack.
eBay does not have to release the funds if they decide that they want to see Delivery Confirmation first (or Signature Confirmation, in the case of sales above $750), so engaging in a standoff with them and demanding that they put the buyer's money in your bank before you will ship is not a fight that you are going to win. When they say that the buyer has paid, the buyer has paid.
@tricon7 wrote:
What if the buyer refuses to pay?
You do not have to ship before the buyer pays. If he has not paid after four full days from the time of sale, you can cancel the sale, your Final Value Fees are credited, and the buyer gets an Unpaid slap on his record.
@tricon7 wrote:
What if he holds things up with bogus disputes?
He can file an Item Not Received dispute if the item is not received by the last Estimated Date of Delivery. He can file a Not As Described dispute for one of several possibilities, ranging from undisclosed flaws to shipping damage to empty-box claims. You can request that the item be returned before refunding, but eBay will expect you to refund if the buyer returns it (or if you do not win the dispute at all), and the current location of the funds (either still held by eBay or already in your own account) will not matter.
@tricon7 wrote:
What if there's a glitch in eBay's system?
Not sure what you are thinking of here, but once eBay says that the buyer has paid, he's paid. There are no instances in which he can suddenly claw back his money from eBay after you have shipped, though there are also no guarantees that he cannot file a dispute or chargeback later. (If a payment dispute such as a stolen credit card arises while the package is still en route, you'll want to make a Package Intercept request.) The nature of selling here is that you should not list anything here that you are not prepared to lose completely. If you are not willing to take on that risk (which is entirely understandable), you might want to sell your higher-value items locally for cash (e.g. Local Pickup Only listings or a consignment sale).
@tricon7 wrote:
I heard that eBay will hold your item after the buyer has *paid eBay* (not you) until they've verified that you've mailed out the buyer's item - without you getting your money first. True?
True, at least when you're first starting out, or are classified as a new seller after some period of absence. Even in those cases, you don't have to front the money or wait for the buyer's payment to reach your bank before shipping. Just set your Shipping form to draw the postage from the buyer's pending funds. You will find the setting for that at the lower left corner of the Shipping form.
The funds themselves are not "pending;" it's the transfer to your bank that's pending. eBay already has the buyer's payment, which is why you can use a portion of it to purchase the shipping on-line.
@tricon7 wrote:
Just to be on the safe side, in my seller's notes for my listed item, I added that it will be mailed out as soon as *I* receive payment (not eBay). I don't know if eBay will consider that a valid stance or not, but I'd rather take a hit from a seller [buyer] for a late shipment than be out a grand.
That's eBay's decision to make; you're not going to make them capitulate by digging in your heels. If they do transfer the funds, it will still be 2-3 days before the money lands in your account, so you should adjust your Handling time to account for that, and you may have to fend off messages from buyers wanting to know why the heck you haven't shipped already. If eBay says that you must ship before funds will be released to your account, then you will need to ship, or otherwise cancel and net a big fat Neg from the buyer who paid fair and square. Do that more than a few times and eBay will suggest that you go elsewhere.
So anyway, ship when eBay tells you to ship. I would say that most of the risks you are taking on by selling high-value items from a new-ish seller account have nothing to do with whether your money lands in your account first.
