eBay Sellers, How to Protect Yourself?

[finbar]

I ship to Canada and the US only, for tracking reasons.

I list auction style so below are my preferences.
A Buy it Now with Immediate Payment is worth considering for certain categories. Amazon is a good alternative for this selling format.

Paypal confirmed address only. Pay for and print the shipping label through payal with delivery confirmation, this eliminates many scams. It also gets you a discount with Canada post.

Accept returns. Scammers look for listings that specify no returns accepted.

Set your selling preferences,
Log on to ebay> My ebay > account > site preferences >

Payments from buyers;
Use checkout ............. yes
Offer paypal ............... yes
Accept credit/debit cards . no

Promote similar items;
Select no or ebay advertises other auctions on your listing.

This one is a biggo,
Buyer requirements;
Block buyers who don't have a PayPal account
Block bidders and buyers who have received 2 Unpaid Item strike(s) within 12 month(s)
Block buyers whose primary shipping address is in a location I don't ship to.
Block buyers who have 4 Policy violation report(s) within 6 month(s)
Block buyers who have a feedback score of -1 or lower.

Unpaid Item Assistant;
Select yes, 4 days
After UIA kicks in deadbeat bidders cannot leave neg feedback.

Per ebay

Costs can be considerably higher for international destinations.

Generally, buyers pay additional costs such as duties, taxes, and customs clearance fees. For example, international rates may or may not include pickup and door-to-door delivery with customs clearance.

Make sure that your listing clearly specifies who is responsible for paying these additional fees. You can cut and paste this directly into your listing:

International Buyers - Please Note:

Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility.

Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying.

Use toolhaus to see what kind of feedback your bidders have left in the past. Add the undesirables to your Blocked Bidder list and cancel their bids.

Here and here are some helpful types.
Avoid the feedback forum.

That's a bit to chew on, it's really not that bad selling online. Just keep it simple and honest, most folks are fair minded.
Enjoy!

[Szeto]

^thx for sharing! Will change my settings.

[godwin]

Setup a warehouse in HK to ship out.. shipping from Asia is much cheaper than in North America.. for generic cables you can never beat the price and their shipping in Canada.

Originally Posted by Verdasco

hmmm interesting information here guys. Jah and skinny giving same stuff with signature and tracking hahaha

I am planning to start a business soon with computer parts and cables. Looks promising.

edit: any tips?

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by finbar

Use toolhaus to see what kind of feedback your bidders have left in the past. Add the undesirables to your Blocked Bidder list and cancel their bids.

Cool tool... looked up my own profile, and can't remember some of the stuff I bought in the past. LoL

[finbar]

Toolhaus is a seller's secret weapon against the bums but discretion is required.
Rubbing a deadbeat's face in toolhaus will bring it down. Do not want.
Happy ebaying

[NLY]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

Forget about worldwide guarantee, they don't even know if the delivery even leaves Canada !!

One of my worldwide buyers finally received the package after 1.5 months.

Hopefully this trend follows!

[finbar]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

Forget about worldwide guarantee, they don't even know if the delivery even leaves Canada !!

Canada Post tracks with delivery confirmation to the US.

[Autorice]

only expediated parcels. small packets to USA don't have any delivery confirmation. expediated parcels are quite expensive, much cheaper if you ship out of point roberts

[finbar]

Quicker too, the border typically adds a day to everything I send to the US.