How am I protected as a seller

[buy-my-video-games]

I'm new here and have a few scenarios ,how am I protected for example if I sold for example a iphone 5 ,I get a tracking number with delivery confirmation and canada post shows it as delivered,but my buyer says for example that there was no phone in the box but only a cell phone case, some idiots may say things like that but even though the phone was sent how can I prove that it was sent ,I have a big imagination and tinge about things like this,just wondering how why people would lie and say u sent a $3 case instead of a $500 phone ,what happens to my money then ?

[pierrelebel]

Yes, there are many instances of fraud and abuses on eBay and other online sites.  The problems are not exclusive to eBay.

There can be fraud and abuse by both buyers and sellers.  We do not live in a perfect world.

eBay and PayPal offer limited protection to both buyers and sellers.  Unfortunately the system is not perfect - no system is - and buyers or sellers will experience a loss from time to time.  After reading these boards for a while, you will find instances of both buyers and sellers ending up with the short end of the stick, despite the so-called protection programs.

If you are risk averse, it may be easier to buy or sell "stuff" face-to-face where you see what you buy and get paid on the spot for what you sell.  Online commerce is growing but it is not for everyone, more so for someone who cannot afford to take any risk.

And life does go on.

[buy-my-video-games]

So your saing that a seller isn't protected here and the idiot buyer gets his $500 refunded and keeps my iphone?

[iankimmerly]

No, he's saying that what you describe is a "he said, she said" situation. Neither buyer nor seller can show absolute proof of anything and in any case, eBay and Paypal are not part of the civil court system.

This may have been an expensive lesson. It is a bad idea to sell items you cannot afford to lose. While most people are honest, the scammers look for low feedback naifs to prey on.

The scammers are on both sides of the transaction, by the way. That's why Paypal held your payment for 21 days, to allow the buyer time to receive and inspect the shipment and be sure that he got what he paid for.

If you can, for example, show the weight of your shipment, you may have some chance of an appeal.

If you have not yet put your phone up for sale, don't. You don't know enough about the system, you have low feedback which means most customers will not trust you, and you are already too nervous about being scammed.

Sell locally through Kijiji or Craigslist of the Pennysaver. Meet your buyer at  a busy coffeeshop. Only accept cash, not Paypal.

[iankimmerly]

You may find it interesting to sort both pierrelebel's and my own listings by Highest Price First.

It is possible to sell quite valuable items here, and feel confident about doing so. But it requires experience.

[rockp5233]

You are so rigth iankimmerly... And especially with iphone/smartphone.

[atxpoint1]

Could you specify what kind of "experience" is necessary? I take this to mean that, after selling many items on ebay and paying more fees, ebay is much more likely to trust the seller's word in case of any disputes. So after selling maybe a few hundred items, it might start to become safer to sell higher-priced things.

[pjcdn2005]

I don't think that when the poster mentioned experience that it had anything to do with ebay trusting a seller's word more because they have sold more items. 

Here's my take on it...

When you have had many sales and more experience, you have had an opportunity to deal with different types of people and many different situations.  With each situation that comes up, you learn how best to deal with it and how you can avoid the most common problems. It is better for a new seller to learn these things and to make mistakes when when they are selling $20 items rather than when they are selling high fraud $400 items. 

There is a huge learning curve on ebay these days and it is impossible to know everything when first starting out. The best way to learn the rules and about possible pitfalls is to sell and to gain more experience while doing that.  That isn't true just on ebay but with any job that involves customer service.

[mr.elmwood]

Buy, you are hypothesizing a "what if" situation. Make an effort and you could come up with thousands of 'what if" situations. Then, each would have subtle variations, say, ten each. So, now you have a base of 50,000 what if situations that you are fully prepared for.

Regardless of how many you are prepared for, the next one will be new.

You are wasting your time of focusing externally. It is all about risk tolerance. Some people have none. Others, like myself, have a risk tolerance level so high, that in a practical sense, it does not even exist.

That is more your question: "At what level do I feel safe selling and shipping".

"When you have had many sales and more experience"

Would ya try learning to swim by jumping off a ship in the middle of an ocean? Learn to drive on the 401, at 125 kph, at night, in a rainstorm? Learn brain surgery from an at home DIY kit? The last one did not go so well, I have a permanent tic and a nasty scar.

Do some hobby selling to get the hang of listing, selling, collecting, packaging, shipping, postage, customers, etc.

[pierrelebel]

"It is all about risk tolerance"

Bingo!

As stated so many times before, selling by mail is not for everyone.  Selling online is not for everyone and certainly not for everything.

Some of us have some experience dealing in mail order (stamp dealer) where products are sent to buyers on approval, expecting buyers to eventually either return the goods or send payment.  We are talking about tens of thousands of dollars outstanding "on approval" at all times.

Are stamp dealers crazy?  No.  That is the way their business works. Most customers are honest and we accept the fact a few will take advantage from time to time. Those losses are built in the gross margins. That is the secret to mail order business.

It is a bit like the credit companies allowing folks to buy cars on credit. 

Some buyers have a good steady job and excellent credit rating.  They can borrow from the bank at relatively low rate.

Others have bad credit rating and may be between jobs.  Still some credit issuers will advance the funds to help purchase the car.  Are they crazy?  No - they charge higher, much higher, interest rate to make up for the losses.

It is all about Risk Tolerance.