[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Selling Your Laptop on eBay here

[mw1311]

Thx for the story. just shows that ebay is a fraud - magnet. In the rare ocassion i sell something on ebay i only ship within the USA. But all the fees are ridicioulus; I sold an laptop at ebay for which they charged me $25 in fees, like that isn't enough; paypal (which is owned by ebay)also charged me a fee of $10. So after selling my laptop for $600 I ended up with $565 in my pocket.

[chucks834]

A true horror story! ALthough I've had many outstanding experiences in buying computers and computer-related items on eBay, I've also had a few bad ones. I've decided to follow two rules when on eBay: don't deal with overseas buyers/sellers (Canada doesn't count), and always look carefully at the other person's feedback history.

[zebrahost]

I have had only excellent experiences buying and selling on ebay. Like any other online transaction it pays to be cautious. At the risk of stating the obvious, make sure your disk drives have been thoroughly cleaned of any of your personal information.

[Wetpaws]

have Used Ebay for 10 Years, I will not ship anything out of the US some times Canada.
They Must have a PayPal Verified Acc. No Neg feedback There are options to set in your listing that will block out some of these for you.
Always wait 1 or 2 Business days for the funds to be cleared and always ship to the Regestered Paypal Verified address. One more tip Always use your credit card when buying it gives you protection from fraud.

[gcalhounsr]

At the end of November last year I had almost exactly the same experience on eBay while trying to sell a Dell laptop. The fraudulent buyer even sent me fake emails saying eBay and PayPal corrected THEIR mistake and I should now ship the laptop to Nigeria. Fortunately, I ignored it. Lesson: be very careful selling anything of value on eBay.

[nevertooamazed]

This is a pretty typical scenario of one trying to sell electronics on eBay...and also on Craigslist. I, too, have experienced similar situations. I've heard of far-worse fraudulant deals than the one described in the PC World article.
I learned very quickly that any elaborate offer, whether from overseas or within the good ole USA, is suspect. Fortunately, I never was defrauded out of any item I listed and/or sold over eBay. Most often, the potential buyer will contact the seller and delineate an elaborate shipping scheme, where the item is going to his/her self, friend, family member, or business associate in some foreign country or even a different state (the out-of-state shipping scheme was courtesy of Craigslist for a high-end digital camera I had listed). Most often the buyer will offer more than the asking price, attempting to suck the seller in with an over-inflated purchase price.
Run like hell from these too-good-to-be-true "deals" because they are that: too good to be true. The same goes for your buying anything on eBay or Craigslist...be wary. There are great deals to be had but I advise the buyer to avoid, at all costs, any electronics purchases from overseas, much less any item listed at a ridiculously low price (probably stolen, counterfeit, or non-existent). I have had excellent luck buying, as well as selling, on eBay and 99.9% success with my Craigslist sales. But I only sell to locals with Craigslist and I limited my purchase or sales of electronics on eBay to the USA.

[jojot197]

I have had ebay problems too with laptops - glutton for punishment. lap top #1 was brill, after two years needed new fan that cost #75 so I thought "buy a broken one the same and take the part" - great idea except the broken one that I bought turned out to have nearly no salvagable parts - motherboard looked scorched. Ok buy a lap top - laptop #2: listed with "Slight flicker on screen" which really meant "the screen works for 10 seconds". Needs inverter, will fix at later date. Christmas getting near and the new lap top being for my daughter I tried again: laptop #3: great except for the way it intermittenly shutsdown and refuses to start!.
Christmas nearer. Laptop 4: a cheap one now, arrived looked ok - christmas day worked for 4 hours then died. My house looks like a laptop grave yard!!! The cost of postage to receive added to return costs just made it not viable to return the products. Ebay is great - but also risky - trust and nievity make us victims! shame on those sellers!

[Tedster]

Now that ebay no longer allows negative feedback to be given to buyers, I will not sell on ebay anymore. I have been burnt too many times by problem buyers who fail to read the ad and those who are deadbeats and do not pay at all.

[AuroraDizon]

I can't even believe ebay took away the ability to give negative feedback to deadbeat buyers. I do my best to stay away from them since this all happened and haven't bought anything from them since.

[perstare]

I think it's a generous thing for people to describe their bad experiences in order to prevent other people from getting burned.
I got burned twice on eBay, once on a purchase and once on a sale. I was lucky on both counts... I got away with less than $50 loss on each occasion.
Now: consider Amazon for a moment. Is there any advantage to buying (from a private seller) or selling through Amazon? Is Amazon any better?
Mike B

[AuroraDizon]

I use to sell on Amazon as well as Ebay and if I had something depending on the market prices or if they were bundled together would help decide. Here's how it was at least a few years ago when I sold on Amazon. I would much rather sell on Amazon then on Ebay for several reasons. Amazon deposits upon request or a schedualed date when to place the money directly into your account. The fees are generally cheaper depending on what you sell and how much you sell. If you sell a lot of say books like I did on Amazon you can purchase a pro sellers account or something like that for 40 dollars a month and there is no listing fees that kill you on ebay. Ebay takes so much money out of what you sell. Amazon you can list for free without a pro account but if your item sells they charge a fee im not sure what it is something small like a dollar when I used it. I sold books so I would send via media mail which is the standard shipping for books from private sellers you get a flat shipping credit based on country destination along with (you don't have to sell overseas). Say it was like 2.45 I think at the time not sure what it is now, so you could at least get that if you sold a book even at a penny price tag. If your shipping as most books they are smaller so it wouldn't cost you say more then a dollar or so to ship it. I really enjoy the no listing fee's thing unless it sells because you can lose a lot of money on ebay if your product does not move. So depending on how much you get your items for etc depends on how much you sell. Now, even though I think you can create listings if it is not in the database there are some things that are only sold directly from certain sellers. I never ventured much away from books so I couldn't tell you what it is. However I do reccomend looking into selling on Amazon if your interested because its a nice business they handle everything for you as well charging the shipping taking the info money etc and let you know when it has all come in. They also help mediate if things go wrong a lot more professionally then I would ever expect from Ebay making it also a safer place to buy things from.

[perstare]

Well! Thank you AuroraDizon for a complete answer. Based on your experience, I will consider selling on Amazon rather than EBay. You were informative in that your recounting of your total experience gives substance to your opinion. It isn't as though you said, "Go with Amazon, not with eBay!" Your message will "stick" with me because you took the time to explain the whole story.
My selling experience on eBay was a time-consuming mess. When I posted my ad, I explained completely how I wanted to be paid (Certified Check or Money Order). The buyer (who later turned out to be a young kid) simply had NO UNDERSTANDING of how checking accounts work, how clearance times work, and the difference between a personal check and a Certified Check or Money Order. It took a long time for him to understand the "facts of life."
My buying experience was a mess too. I posted a well-deserved negative feedback on a purchase that I made. The buyer lied. Very simple. The buyer lied. But this guy turned out to be a borderline psychotic. What made things worse was those were the days that he had my complete email address and starting putting my email address to get mail from people on porn sites, white-power sites and all kinds of screwball sites.
So I got burned twice, and to be objective about it, I got off easy.
There is an expression, "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the winds blows."
Again, my thanks for your interest and your candor. You're one of the good guys (or gals?). There are a still a few of them around.

[cessna150G]

That is just plain awful. I can relate as I had a similar scenario on eBay. I sold to a PayPal confirmed member with a verified status and confirmed address. I shipped it promptly with tracking info. About 10 days later I get an e-mail from PayPal stating the funds sent to me may have been unauthorized, so they put a hold on them, forcing me to give the money back. Turns out the buyer with a confirmed address and verified status somehow used a stolen credit card and PayPal didn't catch it. As a result, I shipped it out not knowing and 10 days later I'm out the money. I thought I would be covered by PayPal seller protection, but they denied it to me because I did not have a signature on delivery--even though the tracking shows it was delivered to the address specified. So, I'm out $1225 + eBay and PayPal fees. I still sell some cheaper stuff on eBay, but never again will I sell anything over $250 on eBay. I determined that is the most I am willing to lose. I have been using a pawn shop, Jay Brokers, to get cash for all my expensive stuff. I don't get as much money as if I sold on eBay, but at least I get the money and don't have to worry about losing it later on.