I once heard an old Indian tale of a well funded syndicate of eBay buyers , who turned out be a a serious inconvenience for a problem seller. Evidently, they had plenty of accounts in good standing , and they would continually purchase all the auction coins from a predatory seller who insisted on taking advantage of people by cracking out deets coins.
They’d buy on a credit card, wait a few days and return the item for a full refund, using SNAD if necessary, or using an option that puts it on the seller. Paid with Cc anyway just in case. Seller keeps getting clipped for shipping and other miscellaneous fees , their cash flow stalled immensely and when they finally decide to surrender, > @4Redisin said:
@4Redisin said:
I've heard stories of buyers claiming they never got the goods. There is no protection for that. Have any of your sales been returned when they were perfectly legit?
@4Redisin said:
From what I'm reading, Ebay is a lot like it was before grading services - except a buyer can return a coin for any reason and know the dealer will still be around. That's why my boss does not use Ebay.
Ebay provides a very safe venue for sales due to all the built in protections. Their fees are modest, especially when you consider the value of those protections. I'm a nobody but I can sell 5 figure coins and comics on eBay because of those protections. I can also sell $5 coins on eBay because of the low fees and the ebay standard shipping.
I sell 2000 items per year on eBay and have done over 100,000 sales around the globe. Only once did anyone claim to get an empty package and USPS. Paid the insurance claim. So, contrary to your assertion, there is protection for empty packages.
As for returns, i get 4 or 5 per year. They are almost always for silly reasons like "changed mind" or "found a better price". It is the cost of doing business.
ANYONE who buys a coin in any way other than cash can always file a charge back. So if you sell a coin on FB or IG and take PayPal, you can have a return, claim of empty packages or anything else. You can only sell coins for cash. That will restrict your sales far more than the occasional return will cost you. Penny wise, pound foolish, as the saying goes.
I know dealers who refuse to use ebay. You know what they do? They sell stuff to me and I make money on eBay. So, they are costing themselves money, though they may be adding aggravation.
YMMV
Your experience beats my hearsay from others. You have a very good record for returns. I guess I just hear 1 horror story from 25 people and it seems like Ebay is a bad place to sell stuff.
What does YMMV stand for?
Average cost of items sold is something people often dont take into consideration. I dont sell a lot on eBay, most are smart enough to make it to my website. Out of a handful of eBay transactions (4 lol), 2 of them were retuned. Both were ms 64 cac double eagles with nice true views and exceptional photos. Reason was "changed my mind" for one, and the other "coin has scratches" (a couple slide marks, hairlines as it is a gold coin lol. If anyone doubts this, please go ahead and ask me for the pictures and descriptions.
JmLanzaf doesn't like to point out that he is the exception and not the rule, but I dont think he sells a high volume of expensive coins where buyers are more likely to experience buyers remorse, or try to pull a fast one with the "box showed up empty" trick. For this reason, I pack and unpack all my coins on video recordings.
Many around the country are experiencing hard times and they will try to take advantage of sellers on eBay if they get away with it. Sure we have insurance as aquatic protection, but see how long your insurance company keeps you after a claim or two.
@PeakRarities said:
I once heard an old Indian tale of a well funded syndicate of eBay buyers , who turned out be a a serious inconvenience for a problem seller. Evidently, they had plenty of accounts in good standing , and they would continually purchase all the auction coins from a predatory seller who insisted on taking advantage of people by cracking out deets coins.
They’d buy on a credit card, wait a few days and return the item for a full refund, using SNAD if necessary, or using an option that puts it on the seller. Paid with Cc anyway just in case. Seller keeps getting clipped for shipping and other miscellaneous fees , their cash flow stalled immensely and when they finally decide to surrender, > @4Redisin said:
@4Redisin said:
I've heard stories of buyers claiming they never got the goods. There is no protection for that. Have any of your sales been returned when they were perfectly legit?
@4Redisin said:
From what I'm reading, Ebay is a lot like it was before grading services - except a buyer can return a coin for any reason and know the dealer will still be around. That's why my boss does not use Ebay.
Ebay provides a very safe venue for sales due to all the built in protections. Their fees are modest, especially when you consider the value of those protections. I'm a nobody but I can sell 5 figure coins and comics on eBay because of those protections. I can also sell $5 coins on eBay because of the low fees and the ebay standard shipping.
I sell 2000 items per year on eBay and have done over 100,000 sales around the globe. Only once did anyone claim to get an empty package and USPS. Paid the insurance claim. So, contrary to your assertion, there is protection for empty packages.
As for returns, i get 4 or 5 per year. They are almost always for silly reasons like "changed mind" or "found a better price". It is the cost of doing business.
ANYONE who buys a coin in any way other than cash can always file a charge back. So if you sell a coin on FB or IG and take PayPal, you can have a return, claim of empty packages or anything else. You can only sell coins for cash. That will restrict your sales far more than the occasional return will cost you. Penny wise, pound foolish, as the saying goes.
I know dealers who refuse to use ebay. You know what they do? They sell stuff to me and I make money on eBay. So, they are costing themselves money, though they may be adding aggravation.
YMMV
Your experience beats my hearsay from others. You have a very good record for returns. I guess I just hear 1 horror story from 25 people and it seems like Ebay is a bad place to sell stuff.
What does YMMV stand for?
Average cost of items sold is something people often dont take into consideration. I dont sell a lot on eBay, most are smart enough to make it to my website. Out of a handful of eBay transactions (4 lol), 2 of them were retuned. Both were ms 64 cac double eagles with nice true views and exceptional photos. Reason was "changed my mind" for one, and the other "coin has scratches" (a couple slide marks, hairlines as it is a gold coin lol. If anyone doubts this, please go ahead and ask me for the pictures and descriptions.
JmLanzaf doesn't like to point out that he is the exception and not the rule, but I dont think he sells a high volume of expensive coins where buyers are more likely to experience buyers remorse, or try to pull a fast one with the "box showed up empty" trick. For this reason, I pack and unpack all my coins on video recordings.
Many around the country are experiencing hard times and they will try to take advantage of sellers on eBay if they get away with it. Sure we have insurance as aquatic protection, but see how long your insurance company keeps you after a claim or two.
I don't think I'm the exception. One other person in this thread related identical experiences to mine. Every one i know gets some returns and/or claims of damage but they are not a high percentage.
Yes, the majority of my sales are not 4 and 5 figure coins. But in absolute numbers, I've sold more than 4. Lol. I sell maybe a dozen 4 or 5 figure coins per year. I did have one very annoying return. I also had the empty box that I mentioned, but that was 20 years ago.
YMMV
By the way, how would you prevent the same thing from happening on your website? Do you only accept wire transfers?
I agree with @jmlanzaf. I don't sell very many $1000+ coins, but it's been my experience that my problem buyers are for the lower dollar items. I get more messages, questions about packaging and asking for more photos etc from people looking at coins under $20 that I ever do for more expensive coins. This year I sold around 400 items on ebay. I've had 4 returns. Two for the same $90 coin with a chipped slab that was disclosed in title, photos and description. I've had to file 2 claims for lost ebay standard envelope deliveries for items under $20, and had one person tell me the slab was damaged and asked for a partial refund. When I told them to return for a refund they decided to keep the coin.
I could see where your experience would be different because of the type of Items you sell. But as far as scams go, $3000 is a lot of money for an ebay fraudster to spend to try and scam you. Likely they were just picky buyers, or people who bought something they didn't understand(CAC) and when they found out they could get it cheaper(non CAC) they made up an excuse to get a refund.
Edited to add.
Even though I prefer to have buyers on my website than on ebay, I'm usually more worried about higher value purchases from my website. I'd rather let ebay seller protections kick in when there is a problem than have to deal with the chargeback or whatever.
Comments
I once heard an old Indian tale of a well funded syndicate of eBay buyers , who turned out be a a serious inconvenience for a problem seller. Evidently, they had plenty of accounts in good standing , and they would continually purchase all the auction coins from a predatory seller who insisted on taking advantage of people by cracking out deets coins.
They’d buy on a credit card, wait a few days and return the item for a full refund, using SNAD if necessary, or using an option that puts it on the seller. Paid with Cc anyway just in case. Seller keeps getting clipped for shipping and other miscellaneous fees , their cash flow stalled immensely and when they finally decide to surrender, > @4Redisin said:
Average cost of items sold is something people often dont take into consideration. I dont sell a lot on eBay, most are smart enough to make it to my website. Out of a handful of eBay transactions (4 lol), 2 of them were retuned. Both were ms 64 cac double eagles with nice true views and exceptional photos. Reason was "changed my mind" for one, and the other "coin has scratches" (a couple slide marks, hairlines as it is a gold coin lol. If anyone doubts this, please go ahead and ask me for the pictures and descriptions.
JmLanzaf doesn't like to point out that he is the exception and not the rule, but I dont think he sells a high volume of expensive coins where buyers are more likely to experience buyers remorse, or try to pull a fast one with the "box showed up empty" trick. For this reason, I pack and unpack all my coins on video recordings.
Many around the country are experiencing hard times and they will try to take advantage of sellers on eBay if they get away with it. Sure we have insurance as aquatic protection, but see how long your insurance company keeps you after a claim or two.
Founder- Peak Rarities
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I don't think I'm the exception. One other person in this thread related identical experiences to mine. Every one i know gets some returns and/or claims of damage but they are not a high percentage.
Yes, the majority of my sales are not 4 and 5 figure coins. But in absolute numbers, I've sold more than 4. Lol. I sell maybe a dozen 4 or 5 figure coins per year. I did have one very annoying return. I also had the empty box that I mentioned, but that was 20 years ago.
YMMV
By the way, how would you prevent the same thing from happening on your website? Do you only accept wire transfers?
I agree with @jmlanzaf. I don't sell very many $1000+ coins, but it's been my experience that my problem buyers are for the lower dollar items. I get more messages, questions about packaging and asking for more photos etc from people looking at coins under $20 that I ever do for more expensive coins. This year I sold around 400 items on ebay. I've had 4 returns. Two for the same $90 coin with a chipped slab that was disclosed in title, photos and description. I've had to file 2 claims for lost ebay standard envelope deliveries for items under $20, and had one person tell me the slab was damaged and asked for a partial refund. When I told them to return for a refund they decided to keep the coin.
I could see where your experience would be different because of the type of Items you sell. But as far as scams go, $3000 is a lot of money for an ebay fraudster to spend to try and scam you. Likely they were just picky buyers, or people who bought something they didn't understand(CAC) and when they found out they could get it cheaper(non CAC) they made up an excuse to get a refund.
Edited to add.
Even though I prefer to have buyers on my website than on ebay, I'm usually more worried about higher value purchases from my website. I'd rather let ebay seller protections kick in when there is a problem than have to deal with the chargeback or whatever.
My Ebay Store
It was in the Denver Coins “original collection” for 1 week. 🤪