Online buying and selling

They say the world is split into people who are naturally optimistic and people who are naturally pessimistic.

I’m definitely the former. As a philosophy, I would much rather think the best of people and occasionally feel let down than to be a miserable cynic, always
waiting to be ripped off or insulted.

Except that is, when I venture onto online auction sites.

I remember once being incredibly excited to find a box set of one of my favourite TV shows, which had never been broadcast in the UK. I bid, paid, and ...
nothing happened. Nothing arrived, not even an apology. The seller sent me a
message in the end that was a less polite version of: “I have your money, you
loser, what are you going to do?”

Another time, I shipped something to a buyer and the courier accidentally delivered it to the wrong person. It was quite an expensive amp, so I asked the inadvertent
recipient if he could send it back. He declined, and later claimed he thought
it was rubbish so he threw it in the bin.

And I get confused with all the payment options and who is responsible for what – I’ve had people claim that goods never arrived and apparently Paypal says that’s my
fault and gives them their money back – which absolutely INFURIATES me,
particularly if I have proof of postage, but the stupid online system doesn’t
accept the reference number on my receipt. Argh.

I must admit, experiences like that have put me right off online buying and selling. I’m never quite sure how to root out the dodgy characters, and when things go
wrong, I take it far too personally, and get ridiculously upset. These days, I
give my old stuff to the church which I guess earns me credit with Him upstairs
if not adding any credit to my bank balance.

What are your top tips for online buying and selling? Or do you steer clear? Next week, we'll be putting together a guide to online shopping do's and don'ts, and including the best of your tips so please do share!

Thanks

Sally

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Comment by Sally Whittle on June 24, 2010 at 5:03am: I remember being blocked from selling my engagement ring (don't ask) because it was Tiffany & Co - no matter that I had all the paperwork, store receipt, diamond valuation etc - the site was so convinced it was a fake, I had to leave the brand out of the description.

Comment by glowstars on June 24, 2010 at 4:57am: I guess I've been lucky with shopping so far - I tend to stick to amazon for most things and ebay seems to get used for 99p phone accessories.
It's well worth being aware of fake designer goods scams, like with UGG boots, and make sure you're getting genuine goods from verified distributors. If in doubt don't bother.

Comment by Sally Whittle on June 24, 2010 at 3:52am: Good point - I don't understand why proof of postage seems to be so insubstantial. I started sending photos of things in packaging to show it was properly packaged and addressed.

Comment by Lesley Harrison on June 24, 2010 at 3:49am: I carefully examine the feedback of sellers before buying anything on eBay. I look for consistent, recent good feedback, and also make sure that the feedback is for sale of similar items. If someone has 100+ feedback from selling 99p ebooks, that doesn't mean that they can be trusted to really deliver that £200 mobile phone they're selling.

Two common scams are:

a) As I just mentioned, Inflating feedback with ebooks / cheap items, then scamming a few people at once with really expensive items. Abandon account, repeat with a new account.

b) Stealing old / abandoned ebay accounts with positive feedback, and using those to scam people. If previous selling activity is all from a year ago or more, can you really be sure the current account holder is the same, trustworthy person?

It's hard to protect yourself as a seller. Insuring everything you send, and requiring a signature, can help, but Paypal often side with the buyer even if you have proof of delivery. I rarely sell big ticket items, but when I do I refuse to ship to addresses outside of the UK - that seems to be enough to reduce the number of scammers bidding.

Online buying and selling

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