How To Avoid The Pitfalls Of Selling PM's On Ebay!

[Organics]

Hi All, 

So I thought this would be a useful thread. 

I have been been buying and selling on ebay since 1999. The days where I used to put $50 in an envelope to a complete stranger in the USA, and pray that my record arrives 🤪.

So as you can imagine I've seen all the scams over the years, and have been using the platform for longer than most of the customer service agents have been alive. However I have never tried selling Precious metals on there, and can imagine its a completely different beast. You may ask why someone would want to sell on there with all the fees and possible scammers. Well, one,  I've personally tried selling on here with not much luck. Two, it's a far bigger platform, with a far bigger worldwide reach, and three, I've always sold and got top prices for the items I've listed on there. 

So I thought it might be an idea to reach out to those with experience of selling PM's on ebay, and if you could provide a list of do's and dont's to avoid these pitfalls. This thread will help others who are thinking of doing the same thing. I'll probably list on here first and then ebay if there are no takers. 

Look forward to hearing from you

T 🙏

 

Edited February 11 by Organics

[Zhorro]

29 minutes ago, Organics said:

Hi All, 

So I thought this would be a useful thread. 

I have been been buying and selling on ebay since 1999. The days where I used to put $50 in an envelope to a complete stranger in the USA, and pray that my record arrives 🤪.

So as you can imagine I've seen all the scams over the years, and have been using the platform for longer than most of the customer service agents have been alive. However I have never tried selling Precious metals on there, and can imagine its a completely different beast. You may ask why someone would want to sell on there with all the fees and possible scammers. Well, one,  I've personally tried selling on here with not much luck. Two, it's a far bigger platform, with a far bigger worldwide reach, and three, I've always sold and got top prices for the items I've listed on there. 

So I thought it might be an idea to reach out to those with experience of selling PM's on ebay, and if you could provide a list of do's and dont's to avoid these pitfalls. This thread will help others who are thinking of doing the same thing. I'll probably list on here first and then ebay if there are no takers. 

Look forward to hearing from you

T 🙏

 

Given you have been on eBay for so long, maybe you should be telling us how to avoid the pitfalls of selling on eBay!

[Organics]

13 minutes ago, Zhorro said:

Given you have been on eBay for so long, maybe you should be telling us how to avoid the pitfalls of selling on eBay!

I've been selling everything else under the sun except PM's. That's why I'm asking. Are there any specific things you should be doing like taking a video of the packing process, etc, etc. How do you avoid people saying that when they opened the box there was nothing inside? Just a couple of thoughts 🤔

[AaaGee]

Collection only? 

If they are too far away or unwilling to travel, dont do the deal.

Sell on here.

[Organics]

6 minutes ago, AaaGee said:

Collection only? 

If they are too far away or unwilling to travel, dont do the deal.

Sell on here.

What if the person is not in the U.K. and want to ship internationally? 

[AaaGee]

They go without.

[ChrisSilver]

There are some members that sell on eBay. Though the majority of members who buy and sell choose to specifically sell on TSF because it isn't eBay and because they can deal directly with the sellers.

TSF supports itself through optional paid memberships which are purchased mainly by buyers and sellers, which goes a long way to our running costs.

Thank you to those members who choose to support TSF with Premium Membership. 

[Organics]

23 minutes ago, ChrisSilver said:

There are some members that sell on eBay. Though the majority of members who buy and sell choose to specifically sell on TSF because it isn't eBay and because they can deal directly with the sellers.

TSF supports itself through optional paid memberships which are purchased mainly by buyers and sellers, which goes a long way to our running costs.

Thank you to those members who choose to support TSF with Premium Membership. 

Hi @ChrisSilver 👋

As you can see I am a paid member. Granted only a silver member but I feel I contribute to the Forum. In fact I had actually planned on putting a post up tomorrow encouraging those unpaid members to become paid members. Not because of the buying and selling, but from my personal experience the amount of help I have had from here in such a short amount of time, has not only increased my knowledge but saved me thousands in possible mistakes.  

Wether it be because I am based in Portugal or for some other reasons, I have only sold one item on here which went very smoothly. I would off course prefer to sell on here first and deal directly with buyers, heck I even offer to send the item first, which I’d NEVER do on any other site. That’s the confidence I have with the majority of members on here. I even said I would post on here first and then Ebay as an alternative, and was looking for sellers experiences. I just need to downsize my collection without giving it away. 

Thank you for providing this platform and may it long continue 🙏

[flyingveepixie]

22 hours ago, Zhorro said:

Given you have been on eBay for so long, maybe you should be telling us how to avoid the pitfalls of selling on eBay!

I'm in the same position as @Organics  I've been using ebay since 2001 and have seen it all.  It's always been a bit of a dodgy platform in my experience, both for buying and selling, but the nature of the risks and scams have changed a bit over the years.

In the early years I found the main risks to be :

1. from hackers who simply wanted to bugger up your account and lock you out of it. That happened to me twice and I lost two ebay accounts and two paypal accounts because of it. Fortunately there were only pennies in the Paypal accounts in both cases.

2. from ebay itself, and from Paypal. Both entities were extremely dodgy cowboy outfits at the beginning, and both had a cavalier attitude towards their customers ( pretty much like they have now lol ), but where nowadays you can just send an email or (perish the thought) lift the phone and ring them and actually speak to someone, or even get them to ring YOU,   it was almost impossible to contact them back in the day, and if you lost money or got locked out of your account by a hacker, it was the general rule that they couldn't give two hoots about it and told you, tough luck and you can get stuffed.   Again, this happened to me twice in the early years.

Royal Mail, and other carriers can also all be unhelpful in the extreme should something go wrong. This has always been the case.

Nowadays, as we all know, there are all kinds of risks on ebay involving fake items and phishing scams, especially in the realm of pms. Not that it didn't exist before, but it's all just a lot more prevalent and blatant now, and ebay are pretty hit and miss with regards to helping you out if you get into trouble. Sometimes they will help and sometimes they wont - it all depends on whether you can jump through all of the hoops they set before you when a problem arises.  As a fledgling stacker I purchased a few silver coins on ebay and as far as I know I wasn't scammed, but I've met too many people who have bought fake silver or gold on there and wouldn't take the risk myself now. I've also sold a couple of silver coins on there - a couple means two only - but was never comfortable about doing it, and in both cases spent the entire time from listing until confirmation of delivery on tenderhooks like a quivering nervous wreck, hoping I hadn't entered into a scam transaction.

Everybody is different and everybody has different experiences, but for me at least, ebay pm trading is not an option and I wont do it, but lots of others do it with regularity and with great success.  It's an individual choice.   I still sell the occasional item on ebay, but take every precaution I can think of, using photographs and videos, and I always send by some kind of recorded or special delivery, even for low value items.  What I particularly recommend is to take a photograph of the packaged and labelled item at the post office counter when it's just about to go into the bag, that way you can prove conclusively that you have posted it.

For bigger things like guitars I wont send at all these days (although I used to).  For stuff like that it's collection only from me, and if buyers don't like it, they can buy elsewhere.

BTW, there are loads of threads on ebay sprinkled liberally throughout TSF.  I recommend anyone who wants to start using ebay scrolls through them for some good anecdotes and advice, as well as some spectacular horror stories and nightmare scenarios.

Edited February 12 by flyingveepixie

[Organics]

41 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

I'm in the same position as @Organics  I've been using ebay since 2001 and have seen it all.  It's always been a bit of a dodgy platform in my experience, both for buying and selling, but the nature of the risks and scams have changed a bit over the years.

In the early years I found the main risks to be :

1. from hackers who simply wanted to bugger up your account and lock you out of it. That happened to me twice and I lost two ebay accounts and two paypal accounts because of it. Fortunately there were only pennies in the Paypal accounts in both cases.

2. from ebay itself, and from Paypal. Both entities were extremely dodgy cowboy outfits at the beginning, and both had a cavalier attitude towards their customers ( pretty much like they have now lol ), but where nowadays you can just send an email or (perish the thought) lift the phone and ring them and actually speak to someone, or even get them to ring YOU,   it was almost impossible to contact them back in the day, and if you lost money or got locked out of your account by a hacker, it was the general rule that they couldn't give two hoots about it and told you, tough luck and you can get stuffed.   Again, this happened to me twice in the early years.

Royal Mail, and other carriers can also all be unhelpful in the extreme should something go wrong. This has always been the case.

Nowadays, as we all know, there are all kinds of risks on ebay involving fake items and phishing scams, especially in the realm of pms. Not that it didn't exist before, but it's all just a lot more prevalent and blatant now, and ebay are pretty hit and miss with regards to helping you out if you get into trouble. Sometimes they will help and sometimes they wont - it all depends on whether you can jump through all of the hoops they set before you when a problem arises.  As a fledgling stacker I purchased a few silver coins on ebay and as far as I know I wasn't scammed, but I've met too many people who have bought fake silver or gold on there and wouldn't take the risk myself now. I've also sold a couple of silver coins on there - a couple means two only - but was never comfortable about doing it, and in both cases spent the entire time from listing until confirmation of delivery on tenderhooks like a quivering nervous wreck, hoping I hadn't entered into a scam transaction.

Everybody is different and everybody has different experiences, but for me at least, ebay pm trading is not an option and I wont do it, but lots of others do it with regularity and with great success.  It's an individual choice.   I still sell the occasional item on ebay, but take every precaution I can think of, using photographs and videos, and I always send by some kind of recorded or special delivery, even for low value items.  What I particularly recommend is to take a photograph of the packaged and labelled item at the post office counter when it's just about to go into the bag, that way you can prove conclusively that you have posted it.

For bigger things like guitars I wont send at all these days (although I used to).  For stuff like that it's collection only from me, and if buyers don't like it, they can buy elsewhere.

BTW, there are loads of threads on ebay sprinkled liberally throughout TSF.  I recommend anyone who wants to start using ebay scrolls through them for some good anecdotes and advice, as well as some spectacular horror stories and nightmare scenarios.

Amazing response thank you. Looks like we’ve gone through more or less the same ups and downs. I think if I was living in the U.K. I’d have a lot more joy on here. I think buyers are worried as I’m sending from Portugal, although I mention I’m covering all the shipping and taxes. So I don’t see another option for me to reach a broader international audience. The market here in Portugal is just way too small. I guess I’m going to have to give it a go and see what happens 🙏

[flyingveepixie]

17 minutes ago, Organics said:

Amazing response thank you. Looks like we’ve gone through more or less the same ups and downs. I think if I was living in the U.K. I’d have a lot more joy on here. I think buyers are worried as I’m sending from Portugal, although I mention I’m covering all the shipping and taxes. So I don’t see another option for me to reach a broader international audience. The market here in Portugal is just way too small. I guess I’m going to have to give it a go and see what happens 🙏

Yes, international selling adds another set of variables and potential problems, so you have your work cut out for you, no doubt about that.  I forgot to mention in my last post : I don't post abroad under any circumstances nowadays, although I used to.  I guess that and the fact that I now offer collection only for larger items shows how the world has changed, and in my opinion for the worse as the years have passed.  Good luck.

[sovereignsteve]

On 11/02/2024 at 10:03, Organics said:

I have been been buying and selling on ebay since 1999. The days where I used to put $50 in an envelope to a complete stranger in the USA, and pray that my record arrives 🤪.

I can't quite match you but I've been buying and selling on Ebay since late 2001 and recognise what you say. My memories are of waiting for cheques to clear before sending the goods and each transaction seemed to take forever.

I can only remember being scammed once in the early days by someone taking my money and not sending the goods. I think it was a CD drive from Newcastle, I can't remember if Ebay was any use. The main weapon in those days was the feedback system which actually did as it was intended; all scammy buyers and sellers were soon exposed so if you only dealt with those with good feedback you were generally OK.

From my own experience, the main weapon to avoid scammers when selling is to have an impeccable selling feedback and to make sure customer service comes first. Keep the customers happy and they will keep returning. I find a major proportion of my sales these days are from returning buyers.

Always send by tracked and insured post and video all packing even for small value items eg 1 oz silver coins. - and tell prospective customers you will do this!

Overseas shipping can be a nightmare either the Ebay GSP is far too expensive or other shipping options are unreliable. Insurance either via the carrier or Secursus is essential. I find the US a major headache as their tracking seems to be unreliable; I had a Coronation 1/4 oz proof gold coin go missing over there last year, good job it was sent via the GSP.

My only real problems have come with buying gold on Ebay not selling. But here again, always video the opening of any valuable parcel and Ebay tend to be good with these issues. i have always received a refund no issues, I suspect if you have a good selling record it helps with any purchasing problems.

 

[flyingveepixie]

8 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

My memories are of waiting for cheques to clear before sending the goods and each transaction seemed to take forever.

Funny how you sometimes forget stuff...  Now that you mention it, I remember that too.

I can even remember being paid by postal order, or cash sent through the post in some instances.

Edited February 13 by flyingveepixie

[SidS]

Gosh cheques, yes I remember the days when it was postal order, cash in the post or cheques to pay for eBay purchases! I don't think I ever used postal orders, but I certainly used many a cheque and sent cash, generally bundles of dollars over to the States.

I bought A LOT from the US back before the current extortionate postal service system came in on eBay where they add about £18 postage onto your order plus taxes. I got a lot of my early days silver from the US.

Fakes were always a risk but now they seem as common as real coins.

I've been buying on eBay since 2003 and most of my issues have been in the last few years, none of which were PM related.

I stick to sellers I've used before, with good feedback. If buying from a new seller, I check their other sale items to gauge quality or issues. Then I check their feedback. I also only buy if the photos are clear enough to be certain that the item is genuine (assuming the photo hasn't been stolen from elsewhere). I do as much as I can to protect myself.

I sold PMs on eBay from about 2012-2018 (mostly lots of junk silver but also sovereigns and half sovereigns). I never had any problems.

I never posted abroad.

I always included clear photos of obverses and reverses and also a photo of the coin/s on a set of scales.

In group lots, I'd list all the dates individually. I would also give clear descriptions of the coins, drawing attention to any problems, cleaned, holed, polished. In fact I made more of a fuss about the defects than anything else. If you make it clear from the off, the buyer doesn't have a leg to stand on complaining about a clearly listed and photographed defect.

I also nearly always had a £1 starting price with no reserve and left it to the whims of the Gods to see where the price ended up. I didn't want to pay for Buy It Now.

[Vern]

Be mindful putting listings up as auctions. 

The scammers will come in with just over 12 hours before auction end and retract their highest bids. 

This just happened to us this morning on several listings.

I've blocked that bidder but probably the damage is done. 

Live & learn I suppose. 

Edited April 1 by Vern