Consumerist

What's eBay?

Oh, that site that's dead to me after its payment division refused to refund a proven-fraudulent charge?

Several years ago, I attempted to sell a used Dell laptop on ebay, but had 0% success in doing so. Every time I put the computer up for sale, it would sit for days, and all of a sudden I would get insane bids upwords of $2,000 from someone who clearly was not going to actually purchase it. I never did end up selling that laptop.

Oh, ebay really didnt care either. Good to see that things have not changed!

I feel sorry for all of the listing and final-value fees that you've paid for a laptop that isn't even sold yet.

As a suggestion, I'd try Craigslist, you need to be careful there as well, I've had someone try to scam me with a money order. But it seems to work better than ebay for most people.

I am currently in the exact same position, except I had heard the nightmares about Ebay and opted instead for the more hands-on Craigslist approach. Unfortunately, my experience has been similar - three replies from "Janet", "Leslie", et al. attempting to convince me to ship the laptop to Nigeria. In fact, I got the -exact same- email as the OP advising me that I would have to send a tracking number before the funds would be released to my PayPal account. Good grief. Does anyone have any idea where we can actually sell a decent item without the crap?

Unfortunately, his bidders could easily have been the guy who cracked my ID/Password a couple of months ago and "won" 125 laptops, hopnig someone would send it without payment. EBay cancelled the auctions, but I got a call from a college kid a week later asking where his money was b/c he actually mailed his computer to "me". Not my problem, but an annoying morning of EBay chats - I have since cancelled my account, for good reason.

Wow, sounds like Anna is jerking you around! Thats weird they would lock up your account just for having the word Nigeria in your listing as I've seen other people say the exact same thing in their listings ("I won't sell to people in Nigeria"), maybe they got locked out of their accounts too, or maybe they just checked the sell to US only option. Anyhow, good luck on selling your laptop.

@Anks329: I've been debating how to unlock and then sell my iphone when the 3G model is out (the slow internet is my only gripe -- easy fix). Leaning toward local cash-only Craigslist sale.

Relisted on ebay FIVE times? Blame the OP in 3 - 2 - 1.........

Welcome to eBay.

As for listing it on Craigslist? Might as well bend over and lube up for that, too.

@Buran: I've sold several cell phones on ebay recently, and have had no issues.

Caveat:
I ALWAYS include this line in both my item description, and in the shipping details:

"I accept and prefer PayPal, but will ONLY ship to a buyer's CONFIRMED, United_States address. NO EXCEPTIONS."

I think you can list it with the option of having to pre-approve bidders... so they contact you, you verify they are legit, then put them on an approved list, then they bid.

But I second Craigslist.

I have never tried Amazon Marketplace... any posters vouch for it?

Same thing happened when I tried to sell an iPod nano last year. Tried it 3 times, with almost the same progression of egents. I eventually sold it to a colleague.

Seriously, I've had pretty good luck with craigslist and I put in every listing: cash only / local only. Yes, if its a high dollar listing, you may get an out of area reply, which are easy to spot and ignore.

I only give my address after receiving a (local) telephone number. The person comes, pays cash, takes the item. No packaging, shipping, no paypal.

On a related note, why are all scammers in Nigeria? Has anyone received the scam emails from ANY other country? I'm frankly dissapointed with the criminals in other countries. Where are they and why aren't they trying to scam us too?

Perhaps they have Comcast internet service?

I'm still mad at them for buying paypal and then forcing everyone to upgrade their Paypal accounts (listings with "I only accept paypal direct draft, no credit cards" apparently violates a revised TOS).

I had done this successfully for years before the ebay purchase.

Vertical integration FTL.

ive sold three computers, two DVD drives and a monitor on craigslist by saying cash only transactions and deleting any emails from people asking about checks and money orders. its worked very well... though i get a lot of flakey people, eventually someone does buy it.

The only reason I still use EBay is to get single cards for boxes or the VS System TCG I play as that is the only way you can get the singles. No one sells that stuff on Amazon, Craig's List, etc.

I did buy a 30GB Halo 3 Zune off EBay last year, but that was from someone who worked for a PX and had original pictures of the box still sealed.

I also recently just got scammed out of a Time Crisis 4 PS3 game w/gun and $65 even though I restricted bidding to the US, Canada, and UK because the UK winner filed a complaint with PayPal less than 2 weeks after I shipped the item saying I didn't ship it, even though I still have the customs form and post office receipt.

Lit it local cash only on Craigslist

@Ash78: Yeah I had a listing canceled for saying I would not accept credit card payments through Paypal.

THEN I re-listed it saying I accept all forms of payment BUT their would be an additional processing charge of 3% for credit card payments. That one got canceled, too.

THEN I stopped using eBay.

Good Riddance.

I had the same problem with selling some of my older designer handbags..they kept taking down my listings saying that I was trying to sell counterfeit goods. I tried emailing, the chat thing, calling and never got an answer. After the 3rd time of trying to list they blocked my account. I don't use ebay anymore. haha

We used to get inundated with this kind of crap when we were selling expensive electronics on ebay. If it is something in demand and expensive like a laptop or a server make the only form of payment a bank wire tranfer. Add the fee your bank is going to charge you into the handling fees, ours charged $10. Wait until the wire transfer fully passes through the US banking system before sending out. We did this all the time selling stateside and to places like India. This seemed to deter the Nigerian scammers and the various paypal scammers.

A+++ post, would read again!!!

Wow. Ebay has completely turned into a steaming pile of EPIC FAIL. I've been considering offloading some worthless items of mine for awhile now, but this makes me worry. Sure, it's nothing electronic, but I am terrified of getting scammed.

Ebay: making life easy for scammers and tough on sellers since 2007.

The method I've used time and time again recently seems to work. While it does usually lower the final bin by about 8%, and it does take a good deal of monitoring, I've been able to sell $800+ electronics sucessfully.

First, state in your listing that anyone interested in bidding must contact you FIRST. This allows you to remove any bid from anyone you don't know is valid. You can get a feel for those who might want to bid before letting them.

Second, restrict the buyers allowed to bid to those only with Paypal, that have a feedback greater than 2, and that have been on for longer than 2 months. They're harder to find settings, but they pay off (and are free) in the end.

Third, do what has already been stated multiple times. Restrict to US only, and make sure you only use UPS or USPS with insurance, tracking, and delivery confirmation.

Hope that helps at least a little!

I had my old laptop on eBay and got the same request to sell them my $300 latop for $1000 to ship overseas. After the second request I ended the listing. Then I removed the harddrive then relisted. First line in description "I removed harddrive" Harddrive not sold with laptop." I never a request to pay triple and ship overseas with teh second listing. I sold the laptop - no issues. Most eBay bidders will bid on the last day or within the hour before the auction ends.

The same damn thing happened to me--I was trying to sell a brand new cell phone. I did not re-list it over and over again. I just moved on. I do not use eBay anymore.

Craigslist is a much better option. Yes, you'll get emails from people who want you to ship it, but declare in your auction that you'll only sell it to someone who meets you in person with cash money. Many emails you'll get are obviously fakes. If an email is on the borderline, ask what area of the city they are from.

I sell on Craiglist more than occasionally, and have to wade through fake emails, but insist on selling face-to-face for cash. I've never been burned.

@SkokieGuy: they're everywhere, but nigerians seem to have been the first to create a widespread culture of scamming. kind of like how all drugs come from colombia (but not really).

it's actually pretty interesting if you do some googling. essentially, it began with nigerian officials coaxing businesspeople/dignitaries into the country on official business, detaining them in prisons & demanding payments for their release. if you didn't pay, you rotted & if you did pay, they just made you pay more.

watch out for canadians these days - a lot of the traditional 401 scams seem to be coming from there.

The only way to do it is Buy It Now, Paypal only, verified addresses only. It is as close to Nigerian-scammer-proof that you'll ever get. The scammer is unable to pay without a verified address therefore the transaction can never be completed.

Yes Ebay is broken, soo sad but at least you dont have to pay all of those listing fees because after all your account was hijacked right? I mean EBay said so and they should know.

Consumerist had an article (from AP) on 04/29/2008 about Craigslist For-Sale listings increasing 70 percent since July, 50% since last year. Stating it was in an effort for people to make ends meet.

[consumerist.com]

I really think it is because people are leaving Ebay and don't want to deal with their crap. People want to sell and buy their used items, under their own control. Not being told how they have to run a sale, who they can and can't talk to, why they can/can't leave feedback and then having to pay fees every step of the way for each and every one of these limits. And ultimately being treated like they don't matter when they contact ebay for help in any of the steps using their system.
Craiglist (and other sites) is the new Ebay and Ebay will find more and more people leaving them (except scammers and their victems), the more eBay tries to improve and expand their system. Ebay forgot the first rule, it's not the company that is your first concern, it is the customer! When you follow that rule, the business builds and grows along with it. Hurt your customers and it hurts your business! (Ebay is proof of this!)
Boy did I love EBay when there used to be people who cared, who you could speak with when you had a problem. Now that everything is automated, not to work right, everyone will follow suite and *Automatically* leave! Who's idea was it to get rid of the people and hire all the computers? It takes people to solve "people" problems!

-Former powerseller who just got fed up and never looked back! Nothing they can do will change it

I love craigslist, and I successfully sold a laptop using it about 2 months ago.

However craigslist is not immune to Nigerian scammers either (I got my share).

@MayorBee: This was a funny comment. Good show!

I didn't read the post, because this exact thing happened to me 5 weeks ago. It took me 3 relistings to finally get it sold to a legitimate bidder. GL to you.

@mac-phisto: uhh, sorry, that's 419 - not 401.

i've had this same problem with craigslist to the point that i started doing an IP trace to see whether interested 'buyers' were from my area or not. It's amazing how many originated from Nigeria. You would think Ebay would have the resources to be able to block Non-US IP addresses from placing a bid. At the least they should be able to give sellers that option.

@easy2panic: The problem I've had with Craigslist is that you get some real epic bargainers there. I had one guy go back and forth with me over the price of a receiver for so long that I just told him to forget it. Things will sell on craigslist - but you won't get top dollar.

That being said, conversely, eBay is hardly a bargain anymore. It boggles my mind, but whenever I go to eBay, I see hundreds of people bidding ABOVE RETAIL on used items. What's up with that? I think there's some psychological thing at work "It's eBay, I must be getting a deal.."

Craigslist, local, in-person, cash in hand. That's really the only way to do it.

You can bid on my auction for how to sell your laptop on Ebay. It's only 1.99 for a buy it now with free shipping cuz I do it by email.

Ebay plz note this auction is for my time in compiling this list.

Also check out my how to get a free WII auction.

j/k

@Milstar: No man, he forgot to put !L@@K! in the title. That's the clincher every time.

@ffmariners: I have no idea why an auction would be pulled for saying that you don't accept Paypal. As for charging 3% for credit card payments, that's just ridiculous on your part. You can't charge a credit card processing fee to the buyer, especially 3%. Consumerist rips businesses for trying to charge customers extra for paying by credit card, so why would it be OK for you?

I run an eBay consignment store and while there have been a couple of problems, eBay is the best place to sell things to a worldwide market of millions of people.

The OPs story is a fluke. I've sold many laptops and computers without 1 attempted scam. If you use Paypal the right way, you have extra protection. Of course you have to pay to use the service.

Featured items do get listed at the top because the seller paid for it. Non-featured items still get plenty of bids too.

Are you pissed at Airlines for letting people sit in 1st Class seats, just because they paid more for their tickets?

As others have noted: when selling on ebay, use USA confirmed addresses only, and ship with a tracking number. When selling on craigslist, use local buyers, cash only. Never been scammed that way.

[imgs.xkcd.com]
I'm thinking that this would have been an appropriate response to the Nigerian scammers.

EBay Scammers come in all varieties-check out this Judge Judy video:

+ Watch video

If you think this guy is having problems, try to be a company where counterfeit or fraudulent versions of your products are sold on eBay. (e.g. software, DVDs, photos, baseball cards, currency, coins, stamps, autographs, handbags, jewelry, clothing, shall I go on?) eBay gives you absolutely zero assistance unless you are one of the very few companies large enough to have a highly paid legal department. eBay has become nothing more than the world's largest pawnshop infiltrated by organized crime. And unfortunately I'm not using hyperbole to make my point.

I had my first experience selling on ebay a few months ago.

Never again.

Their fees are out of control, past anything that should be reasonable, and of course their conflict resolution is a joke.

I will still buy off of ebay, but selling is just too much of a bother.

I second the Craigslist posting. I have never had trouble selling stuff there. I have found that dealing with local buyers and sellers is much easier than dealing with shipping hassles from FedEx or UPS. I have been able to get some good stuff on Craigslist as well as selling off some stuff that I no longer needed. Like others have said: local only, cash in hand, meet in a public place. If you try to buy something for several hundred dollars cash and carry that much money to a strangers house, you deserve whatever fate you get.

@se7a7n7: You are LYING! Everyone, including myself got tempted by various scammers on eBay.

I have feedback a little bit under 100 and I've dealt with FOUR attempted scams already. TWO of those scammers tried when I was selling ONE laptop. And in my listing it was stated clearly that I DON'T ship overseas.

So either you work for eBay or you never attempted to sell one laptop there since 1994.

Ten years later, there's no competitor to eBay? Argghhh!!!!!!

@metaled: eBay + PayPal now charge around 15% of your item value, when sold. And they pocket fees when unsold. And they forbid to use wire transfers when selling (which is great protection from scammers, since it's a lot like cash).

I want a gBay!!!!