Hiya, I am new to ebay and just start using it to sell item. Got emails from potential bidder asking for an immediate sale at a buy-it-now price. But I noticed a note from ebay about the disadvantages of off-ebay transaction.

Can any expert online sellers here advise of me
- how to react so as to avoid trick
- how to ensure a safe transaction? i.e. to receive money and not disclose personal info

Thanks & cheers

What you need to do is the following:

Check out the buyer's feedback rating (not an infallible guide, but it will give you more information);

Ask yourself why he/she wants to buy off Ebay - there may be a good reason (e.g. not having to wait until end of listing etc);

You can still undertake a paypal transaction off Ebay. This means that you don't have to give confidential financial information to a buyer or seller.

You could ask them to pay by cheque, but don't send the goods until the cheque is cashed.

Another way which is sometimes used is to have a bank account in which money can be paid into by buyers (keep it separate from your other accounts, so it can't be milked etc).

The warnings given by Ebay about off Ebay transactions are given for two reasons. One is to protect buyers or sellers. The other is more selfish - Ebay loses its cut of the sale when stuff is sold off Ebay.

I have bought a small number of items by bypassing Ebay with no problems so far. But I always go to some lengths to check out the other person first.

I bought a video card off someone and was reluctant to pay the £20 in paypal charges so payed the money straight into his bank account, technically he could have just kept it, it's a risk you take. Just using Ebay and paypal are still risky, they claim to have you covered but at the end of they day, they are not very good at recovering lost money. With Paypal it generally seems if you pay someone and they don't send the goods, once the money has been transfered out of their paypal account you don't stand much chance of getting it back.
Stick with people with good feedback whether private or through ebay..
good luck
:)

Originally posted by LordChaverly
What you need to do is the following:

Check out the buyer's feedback rating (not an infallible guide, but it will give you more information);

Ask yourself why he/she wants to buy off Ebay - there may be a good reason (e.g. not having to wait until end of listing etc);

You can still undertake a paypal transaction off Ebay. This means that you don't have to give confidential financial information to a buyer or seller.

You could ask them to pay by cheque, but don't send the goods until the cheque is cashed.

Another way which is sometimes used is to have a bank account in which money can be paid into by buyers (keep it separate from your other accounts, so it can't be milked etc).

The warnings given by Ebay about off Ebay transactions are given for two reasons. One is to protect buyers or sellers. The other is more selfish - Ebay loses its cut of the sale when stuff is sold off Ebay.

I have bought a small number of items by bypassing Ebay with no problems so far. But I always go to some lengths to check out the other person first.


So can we withdraw from auction and not to sell your listed item even it is just newly posted for bidding? How to do that? I tried before but couldnt find any "cancel" / "withdraw" button there? So haha....so stupid I am..

I had a similar problem finding out how to cancel/withdraw an item. This link should take you to the right place :
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/end_early.html

Originally posted by rachelkyma
Hiya, I am new to ebay and just start using it to sell item. Got emails from potential bidder asking for an immediate sale at a buy-it-now price. But I noticed a note from ebay about the disadvantages of off-ebay transaction.

Can any expert online sellers here advise of me
- how to react so as to avoid trick
- how to ensure a safe transaction? i.e. to receive money and not disclose personal info

Thanks & cheers

If the guy is offering a price youre happy with then depending on how long there is left on your item and if there had been any bids already then you can do two things.

1) If there are no bids and plenty of time left (think its more than 1 day) you should be able to amend your details and post a buy it now price for the amount you have agreed. Just inform the buyer youve done it and he can just click 'Buy it Now' . That way youre covered by ebay.

2) If you cant amend the price etc then just 'end your item early' and relist it on 1 day auction with 'buy it now'. Again infrom your buyer (send him a link or whatver) and again you will be covered under ebay rules etc.

Just one word of caution - Dont take the ebay and paypal 'guarntees' for read - in my (costly) experience they aint worth the paper thier written on.

I recently sold an item on Ebay and I was emailed an offer of a "I will pay you now" type thing but it was dodgy. It was a Nigerian money laundering scam. Please do be aware of people abusing Ebay. Obviously I didn't reply to this person or enter in to any contact with them but I reported them to Ebay straight away.

Check out the buyer feedback rating.
Ask yourself why they want to buy off ebay... my guess is generally because they want to get item before anyone starts bidding so get it cheaper than final price would be?

just about to sell my 1st item on ebay and i have had a response of can i buy it now please,thanx people for giving me this thread to relate to,i am just going to check his feedback now.

I sold my phone recently and received multiple can I buy it now and ship it to nigeria messages from people with 0 feedback.
If they look like that then just report them to ebay and the account will be deleted.
On the other hand, i missed bidding in an auction for something because i was stuck in a meeting. I messaged the person offered them £4 and asked if they were relisting if they didn't want to go outside ebay. I paid by paypal, they posted me the item.

If you're new to Ebay, I'd suggest you stick to doing things the long way round. If they don't buy through Ebay, they can't leave you any feedback, which surely you'd like to build up as a new seller?

Don't respond to emails about your items, reply only if they appear in 'My Messages' in My Ebay.

Be VERY Wary of ever ending your auction early, if someone really wants the item then they should be happy to bid and wait, and you could lose out on a lot of money.

Only complete your transaction through ebay, this ensures that both you and the buyer are covered. Send them an invoice and specify your payment instructions.

Accept only payment methods that Ebay supports; ket customers know that if they are sending a cheque/postal order or anything through the post then it is their responsibility until it arrives and you have the money in your hand/bank account.

NEVER send an item before someone has paid, and their payment has cleared. Any promise to pay can never be guaranteed, don't trust anyone!!

Don't be put off by the threat of negative feedback, don't let your guard down or let people get away with things; you can always dispute negatives and get them removed from your account.

If someone doesn't pay within a reasonable time, file a non-paying bidder alert (NPB). You can reclaim the extortionate fees that ebay charge and list your item again with no problem.


Good luck, hope you make lots of money :D

I sell a lot on eBay and if anybody asks me to end early I just say no as this would be unfair on other eBayers.Some other advise is only post to the address as supplied by eBay & paypal this way you will be covered under the seller protection plan.If anybody asks for it to be posted elseware ie my mothers I just say no sorry I cant do that.Also be very carefull when buying using cheques or money orders as eBay buyer protection only covers for £15 or over transactions,not including postage.I have fell foul of this and now only pay with paypal which will recover smaller amounts up to £500.I also recommend buying off paypal verified sellers as you are more guaranteed to get your money back if things do go wrong..

I sell quite a lot on ebay and basically keep things as simple as possible.

I never stop auctions early.
I never sell 'off ebay'.
I never post stuff until I get paid and the payment's cleared - I take most payments via Paypal now which has never given me grief.

Keeping it simple suits me! :)

You might find this useful as well: http://toolhaus.org/

Just one word of caution - Dont take the ebay and paypal 'guarntees' for read - in my (costly) experience they aint worth the paper thier written on.
I can confirm that the guarantee's are truly worthless..

I never post stuff until I get paid and the payment's cleared - I take most payments via Paypal now which has never given me grief.

same here.. paypal seems to suffer from a similar condition to ntl/telewest et al, in that it works flawlessly for some, whilst others think it is the work of the devil himself and would rather sell their children into slavery than use it!

joe, at what point do you consider payments "cleared"? once the money is in your paypal account, or do you wait the 5-or-so days for it to clear into your bank account?