Any experience with eBay train selling? Is it totally dangerous?

No. Be honest and take good photos and you shouldn't have a problem.

Same rules apply to the for sale forum too, except if you screw someone over they have no recourse.

 Btw The for sale forum here is free and you can still get payment via paypal.

READ and UNDERSTAND how Paypal works as a seller. Buyers have ALL the rights. Seller has ALL the risk. Pack well, make SURE you have tracking. If you can do the shipping through ebay....it can be cheaper and tracking info is automatically copied into the ebay and Paypal system.  I list all items now AS IS but tell buyers to check my 100% positive feedback.  Good luck. 

PS I have had great buy and sell via the forum here too.  Plus you keep that 10% ebay paypal keeps.

I have no intent to screw someone over, I was asking in hopes of protecting myself from having that happen to me.

Had a very pleasant transaction on here already with one person and had no complaints. Would love to repeat that process for everything I have listed and just forget about eBay, but I see duplicates of my same stuff moving up there all the time. Here, not so much....yet, at least

Thanks Ricko.

AMCDave posted:

READ and UNDERSTAND how Paypal works as a seller. Buyers have ALL the rights. Seller has ALL the risk. Pack well, make SURE you have tracking. If you can do the shipping through ebay....it can be cheaper and tracking info is automatically copied into the ebay and Paypal system.  I list all items now AS IS but tell buyers to check my 100% positive feedback.  Good luck. 

PS I have had great buy and sell via the forum here too.  Plus you keep that 10% ebay paypal keeps.

Great response. Thanks, will do.

"I hear they typically side with a buyer in the case of a dispute."

If you google Ebay, you will find a great article from the "Guardian," an English paper. This article is a perfect example of buyer prejudice.

Having said the above, I have bought and sold several train items via the bay without problem. Hopefully, they will level the playing field between buyer and seller.

Actually, the holdback is closer to 14% with PayPal added. Otherwise I've had almost total good experiences in my many years of eBay trading. It just keeps getting more expensive!

c.sam posted:

Actually, the holdback is closer to 14% with PayPal added. Otherwise I've had almost total good experiences in my many years of eBay trading. It just keeps getting more expensive!

 

In the past I'd quote 15% but got beat up pretty bad by folks here.....but true cost of ebay, paypal, packing, tape, time and driving to PO it's more than that!! 

I sold lots of trains and other stuff on eBay over the years and never lost any money to nefarious characters.

People being people, though, you do have the occasional hiccup that makes you wonder:  One buyer asked to withdraw his (admittedly generous) bid because his young son, who "didn't understand how eBay works" had entered it.  And twice I had bid winners complain that "you sent me a Lionel thing instead of the Marx item you advertised", due to the fact that they hadn't opened the inner "Lionel" box that contained their buy.  But both apologized after I pointed out that they should open the second box.

I've bought and sold train related items on ebay for about 10 years now.  I have had only one small issue as a seller.  I do set buyer requirements for my listings to weed out the dirtbags.  I have had 2 issues buying where I felt I got stung..but in 10 years that's not too bad.  

No, eBay is not totally dangerous, as others have replied, or it would not be in business after 21 years. However, I don't list/ship internationally, perhaps more out of ignorance or laziness than reason.

What, me worry?

I've sold several hundred items on ebay over the years and maintain a 100% feedback score.   Sell with confidence

-Greg

EBay is NOT dangerous, nor is selling/buying here on the forum. Common sense goes a long way. Don't buy or sell junk, look at feedback, reviews, and ratings. 

My Ebay experience, as a buyer and a seller has been very good.  I use Ebay to help support my hobby.  I can count on one hand the number of less than perfect transactions I have had both as a seller and as a buyer.  As long as you list the items you are selling honestly, pointing out defects and posting lots of pictures, you should do fine.  Try to ship items you've sold soon after the buyer has paid.  Answer questions as quickly as possible.  If you are doing as I do and selling train items to gain funds for new purchases, don't price you items too high.  The idea is to get rid of unwanted items, even if you break even or sell it for less than you originally paid for it.  After all, you got your enjoyment out of the trains you are selling so look at that as part of your profit.  

I have done fine as a buyer with most issues being resolved. Selling is different and I have been ripped off several times. The worst time was when I was selling off plug door boxcars and a buy bought them super cheap, complained and threatened me, filed a complaint, claimed he threw them away , and I had to refund his money after several further threats. Frankly selling risking that is not worth it to me.

Alfred E Neuman posted:

No, eBay is not totally dangerous, as others have replied, or it would not be in business after 21 years. However, I don't list/ship internationally, perhaps more out of ignorance or laziness than reason.

What, me worry?

I can't find the reply that said it WAS dangerous.....other than OP. It IS like most things in modern life.....a blessing and a curse. 

Very positive experience selling on EBay. As mentioned previously, be careful to describe the item completely and note any problems with it. And show plenty of photos, especially any areas of the item which may have a possible issue.

I do a tremendous amount of buying and selling on ebay. I've only had a couple of non payers to deal with and can't remember a less than good experience buying. It's a 24/7 train show with a huge worldwide pool of buyers and sellers. Do be an informed buyer and honest seller. List for at least 7 days. I start all my auctions at 99 cents and that draws a larger audience. 99% of the time I get a fair selling price. Understand the costs of selling and do take advantage of the ebay seller shipping discount with the USPS and Fedex. 

I have sold a lot on ebay. I have had some bad deals but that's the buyer not communicating with me first. I have 100% feedback myself. I list things also as is. But do try to show/state anything I see wrong. I test things before I ship. I don't like doing electronic type items ( ie circuit boards etc ) as someone could just swap out there bad one and say it was bad when they got yours. If I have a bad buy or sale with someone I add them to my block list. True it don't stop me from buying from them but prevents them from buying from me. 

I think the only thing I do dislike about ebay is the 10% policy. I know they had to include it on shipping as some would do buy it now $0.01 and then do like $75 shipping to get around the 10%. But did feel since they added to the shipping at that time anyway they should've lowered the % of the sale. But that is another gripe lol.

Sell and enjoy  it. But you may want to try here first. 

I have nothing but good things to say about Ebay.My brother sold off his share of my dad's large train collection.It was everything from real train items and model trains from G to Z gauge.He got a decent price on everything with no troubles from any buyers.A lot of work to list and ship the stuff,but I doubt there was any other way to get such a high price for the items.I was amazed at how much demand there was for used model trains from the past 30 years.  

I have two issues with EBay and PayPal, which can be easily addressed:

1 - you have to remember that they charge their commissions on shipping costs too.
2 - Don't rely 100% on EBay's shipping calculator. I have had occasion where the calculator underestimated shipping costs on a very heavy item (not a train). I am not saying not to use it. I am saying that one has to check and see whether the numbers are reasonable.

I am reluctant to sell on EBay because of the heavy bias towards the buyer. I prefer to sell at shows.
I have only had one issue: A fellow didn't know what he was buying and thought I ripped him off. So I had him send the item back and refunded his money. The item resold quickly.

Laidoffsick posted:

EBay is NOT dangerous, nor is selling/buying here on the forum. Common sense goes a long way. Don't buy or sell junk, look at feedback, reviews, and ratings. 

Probably the best advice.  Common sense.

DdotCdot posted:

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask this here, and if not my apologies to admins (please delete). 

Does anyone have any personal experience with eBay selling and trains? I have only bought, never sold. Is there anyway as a buyer to protect your train sale?

I hear they typically side with a buyer in the case of a dispute.

Thanks for any advice, just nervous.

I sold the better part of my collection via the auction. Take good clear photos of all sides of each item. List everything in the description and be clear about any and all defects. People always want a deal, and ebay buyers especially want everything on the cheap. Price fairly and give deals on as much as you can. Shipping is a nightmare. If you use the auctions calculator its always wrong on the low side. If you enter a hard number based on experience, for deliveries close to you, you'll be fine, but if the buyer is across the country, you'll lose a few bucks on shipping. Look for used boxes at warehouse stores, they are free. USPS priority mail boxes are free. Learn the better box to use, Flat Rate, Regional Rate, Regular Priority Mail, or an unmarked box. Its a learning experience. I use the auctions shipping label service. You can enter your weight and demensions, and plug it into different shipping choices to get the best price, and they give a decent discount. Always be sure to pack securely with bubble wrap, foam, paper or what ever it takes to keep the object from shifting during shipping. In well over 1000 pieces sold As Is No Returns, I only had one request for a return, and allowed it. I had one loser who caused a lot of trouble, and even though I did everything right, they still favored the buyer. The auction regretted that move. Anyway, if you want to get to the biggest audience and move product the fastest, it does happen to be the medium to do so. If you have a top notch large collection, some sellers consider consigning to one of the big auction houses. I sold a collection off that way once and things went missing, and although I had everything labeled as to rarity and suggested amount it could bring, they listed half of the super rare items as common items, because Greenbergs didn't mention the rare variation. Unhappy I was. Your only other alternative is to drag it out and go to shows, packing your stuff, driving it to the show, unpacking, then standing around and waiting for possible sales. I did this on the side, and it was OK, only because I was willing to bargain my arms off and get the sale. The shows were poorly attended as the hobby seemed to be dying. I made a few bucks, but it was a lot of work to get them.

Tin

In many areas of country,and especially where I live,There are no longer any  train meets/shows worth dragging items out to sell. In the past 15-20 years,there are no longer any train meets/shows worth attending at all. The interest here is really drying up. The few "train shows" in the area are very small and mostly geared to the HO and N scale crowd. When I'm working in the Northeast US,the Upper Midwest or out on the West Coast, I'll seek out and attend the local and regional meets. Since I'm away from home, I'm only there to buy. Presently,I only attend 3-4 large meets a year nowadays. (The Big E ,York, Cal Stewart and Allentown). Ebay is great because I can attend a huge 24/7 train show and still be relaxing in my hotel in India and attend a "virtual train"  meet.

I sold on ebay a lot but got burned by what I consider a criminal. Sold a railking imperial engine for almost $300. Was perfect. Guy got it said board fried due to shorted wire inside. I never had engine opened and doubt it was factory issue as i used it with no issue. Could not provide any photos of damage. I paid return shipping in prep for refund to him and got a box of junk not even trains! Ebay forced full refund via paypal even after i opened cade and reported fraud. Like they say buyer has all the cards.

I have been on eBay since 1998, and have logged thousands of transactions as both a buyer and a seller, retaining a 100% positive feedback rating.  On two occasions I have written detailed buyer/seller guides here on the forum, only to come back and find the threads deleted, so I won't bother with that again.

The only real "problems" with eBay are lack of discernment on the part of users.  If the auction feels shady, the description is vague, the pictures blurry, or the seller  doesn't respond to questions in a way that gives you a comfort level, just walk away from the auction--the same way you would walk away from an unreasonable seller at a train show. Nothing is so rare that it won't come up again at some point.

As a seller, take hi-res pictures in good lighting, provide thorough descriptions, and tell the story of your item.  Pack well and protect yourself with full tracking and insurance.  Don't sell to addresses outside the US.  In almost 20 years, I had only one situation go south, and I was fully covered as the seller.

Bottom line for both buyer and seller... be educated about the product and the process and things are going to go right nearly 100% of the time.  I know some folks have gotten burned, but those are the situations that get talked about, not the 10,000 times everything went right.

NYCBuffalo posted:

I sold on ebay a lot but got burned by what I consider a criminal. Sold a railking imperial engine for almost $300. Was perfect. Guy got it said board fried due to shorted wire inside. I never had engine opened and doubt it was factory issue as i used it with no issue. Could not provide any photos of damage. I paid return shipping in prep for refund to him and got a box of junk not even trains! Ebay forced full refund via paypal even after i opened cade and reported fraud. Like they say buyer has all the cards.

Wouldn't forcing you to refund money on a retuned box of junk constitute fraud by ebay and PP?

I don't sell on the bay, but my wife does (I just don't want to tie my bank account to PP - she has a special account for that).

If you're going to sell, as others said, be honest. My only issues with eBay purchases has been non-disclosure of condition. Case in point:  a train guy buys a bunch of stuff either at a garage sale or from another collector. Then sells them on the bay without really understanding what they're selling.  I've purchased a few Atlas O switches on auction, from different sellers. I've had 3 that were listed as NEW, and even stated in the description as NEW, that were in fact used.  Could immediately tell - things like the screws being installed in the switch motor & controller, the plastic ramp being installed in the frog, center rail oxidation worn down, etc.

Before I left negative feedback, I took pictures of the "offenses", sent to the seller, and explained the issue. In every case, they knocked down the price a bit and gave partial refund. Since they worked electrically, I was a happy camper.  Every time, though, the response from the seller basically said, "Well, THEY told me it was new and I didn't know, since I'm not a train person" etc.

I'm just saying, if it's untested, say so. If it's new, make sure it's new.

There is very big issue. OyVay sides with the buyer in all situations. Even if you list with NO returns, you will be forced to accept an item in return simply on the word of the seller that  the item was either broken or not as described. Happened to me and I spent hours trying to prove fhe 100% provable. Buyer made all sorts of false claims when I had photos or receipts showing the opposite. Waste of time and money. Cuidado !!!

I have purchased some very fine deals on EBay. From the buyer perspective the search engine has changed and it is no longer so easy to search day after day to find what you want. Most people are really very honest. If I am not sure I send a message to the seller and check IF and when there is a response. Some sellers will never respond .. I will not do business with these collectors. Photos on- line are limited. They only show the side of "meat" they want you to see. I have grown much more picky and now I purchase almost everything from large train shows. These are dealers I mostly know .. are honest .. and they most likely are in tune with the true value. I like the art of gentle negotiation. I learned horse trading with marbles at the age of five. I used to have an FFL for fine collector guns. Some guys are born with stars in their eyes. Buying Lionel collectables is honestly much more fun.  The LCCA has very fine train meets. Try & see.   

Wouldn't forcing you to refund money on a retuned box of junk constitute fraud by ebay and PP?

EBay and Paypal are two separate companies now.
This is probably covered by their terms of service contracts.

The terms of service is VERY long and lots of legal-ize that I sometimes can't follow and I worked on some of the largest corp mergers in history. Add to it I get a 'change to service agreement' e-mail once a month.  You might be able to drag them to court....in a state opposite side of the country you live.....they'd send 5-6 lawyers and tie you up in procedure and postponements until IF you won the suit for $300 it would cost you $10K. The way it works today.  

I sold an item and the seller said it was damaged.  I asked him to either file a claim with the USPS or to return the item for a full refund.  He did neither and his Neutral Feedback stated I was not reasonable.  I asked ebay to delete the feedback but they would not because "that is how the buyer feels".  John  on ebay as   Rttler21

Want to say thanks (form the OP) for all of these incredible responses from both sides! Great reading all of your input. I finally gave eBay a call and read them the riot act, AND, they actually agreed with me and apologized for the fact that they know the way they are set up (for sellers) is wide open to amoral, unethical, and underhanded behavior and there's nothing they "can or are" willing to do about it. ...Of course, there's plenty they can do about it, but not taking action to resolve a wrong only aids criminal activity - and that makes them accessible to crimes. Here is what their fraud department said over the phone, "In the case of buyer fraud, a buyer can still force a return and refund, regardless of proof from the seller, and the seller will have no recourse, despite being able to prove that they are in the right or that they received a different item back from the buyer in question than what they had originally sent. The loss is on the seller, not on us."

DdotCdot posted:

Want to say thanks (form the OP) for all of these incredible responses from both sides! Great reading all of your input. I finally gave eBay a call and read them the riot act, AND, they actually agreed with me and apologized for the fact that they know the way they are set up (for sellers) is wide open to amoral, unethical, and underhanded behavior and there's nothing they "can or are" willing to do about it. ...Of course, there's plenty they can do about it, but not taking action to resolve a wrong only aids criminal activity - and that makes them accessible to crimes. Here is what their fraud department said over the phone, "In the case of buyer fraud, a buyer can still force a return and refund, regardless of proof from the seller, and the seller will have no recourse, despite being able to prove that they are in the right or that they received a different item back from the buyer in question than what they had originally sent. The loss is on the seller, not on us."

What a slime-bucket operation. Totally biased in favor of the buyer. I almost don't want to buy through them anymore with that kind of mentality. If I was filthy rich with nothing better to do, and no trains to run, I would love to take action against eBay, on behalf of all honest sellers (and buyers) for the pure satisfaction of it, and make it just as safe a place to sell as it is to buy. Without sellers and their items, what does eBay have? They have nothing, just like they have nothing if no one is buying. Deserves 50/50 consideration for both parties.

I haven't even sold anything on there yet and I'm already appalled. Will stick to the OGR forums where I've been enjoying talking to and dealing with fellow people of integrity.

If you're interested in buying something I have for sale, get in touch with me - I'll work out a good deal with you and make it the best possible transaction experience. Thanks

Although I have enjoyed success buying on the forum and on E-bay  I would advise you to remember that there are no absolutes whether it be on the Forum Buy/sell board, E-bay or life in general.

Never had a problem in fifteen years............

OKHIKER posted:

DdotCdot posted:

Want to say thanks (form the OP) for all of these incredible responses from both sides! Great reading all of your input. I finally gave eBay a call and read them the riot act, AND, they actually agreed with me and apologized for the fact that they know the way they are set up (for sellers) is wide open to amoral, unethical, and underhanded behavior and there's nothing they "can or are" willing to do about it. ...Of course, there's plenty they can do about it, but not taking action to resolve a wrong only aids criminal activity - and that makes them accessible to crimes. Here is what their fraud department said over the phone, "In the case of buyer fraud, a buyer can still force a return and refund, regardless of proof from the seller, and the seller will have no recourse, despite being able to prove that they are in the right or that they received a different item back from the buyer in question than what they had originally sent. The loss is on the seller, not on us."

What a slime-bucket operation. Totally biased in favor of the buyer. I almost don't want to buy through them anymore with that kind of mentality. If I was filthy rich with nothing better to do, and no trains to run, I would love to take action against eBay, on behalf of all honest sellers (and buyers) for the pure satisfaction of it, and make it just as safe a place to sell as it is to buy. Without sellers and their items, what does eBay have? They have nothing, just like they have nothing if no one is buying. Deserves 50/50 consideration for both parties.

I haven't even sold anything on there yet and I'm already appalled. Will stick to the OGR forums where I've been enjoying talking to and dealing with fellow people of integrity.

If you're interested in buying something I have for sale, get in touch with me - I'll work out a good deal with you and make it the best possible transaction experience. Thanks

Although I have enjoyed success buying on the forum and on E-bay  I would advise you to remember that there are no absolutes whether it be on the Forum Buy/sell board, E-bay or life in general.

 

Been breathin' for 27 years now and am very well aware of that, but I appreciate that reminder and you're absolutely right. I just like to limit my risks when I can...if I can.

AND, they actually agreed with me and apologized for the fact that they know the way they are set up (for sellers) is wide open to amoral, unethical, and underhanded behavior and there's nothing they "can or are" willing to do about it. .

I am certain that I am not the only one who remembers using EBay before they became so pro-buyer. It used to be that there were a noticeable number of dishonest sellers, just waiting for a sucker. And if a buyer was unlucky enough to wind up in a bad deal, their money was lost.
I think it got to a point where buyers were leaving EBay, and it was either adopt this policy  or slowly  die.

Whether the opportunity to cheat somebody is on the buying or selling side, there are folks who will take advantage.

Folks can get some protection by joining the TCA and only doing business with fellow TCA members. But even then, the most the TCA could ever do is expel the bad actor. They cannot help the wronged person recover anything.

There are some dishonest people out there (SHOCK!)

I sold a few postwar items and you can't imagine the complaints that I received.  This was a number of years ago, before I discovered other methods of selling.  One buyer accused me of having swapped an original roof on a diesel fueling station with a reproduction roof.  I never did anything of the kind. There was no reason to do so, since the original roof was in perfect condition.  (I didn't even know, at the time, that repro roofs were available.)  Another buyer complained that an icing station did not have the original coils of hook-up wire, even though the description stated that it was a used item.

Another buyer bought some Sakai signals, in the original boxes, complained about the condition of them (they were brand-new old-stock) and returned them in different boxes, without the track contactors or instructions. I complained to Ebay and they were useless. 

My advice is only to deal with members of clubs of which you, yourself, are a member. That gives you some leverage. And use the buy/sell feature of this forum. I haven't had any problems doing that.

I can only speak from my point of view as a buyer, but in 15 or so years, I only had one problem, but it still agitates me to this day. Others talked about favoritism given to buyers, but I was surprised by how little flexibility eBay had in resolving my problem. I bought an extra copy of Bruce Greenberg's Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Trains, 1901-1942. The main issue was the picture of the book used was not of my actual book, more like a stock photo. I knew my book was used, but my actual book had a noticeable crease on the front cover (3/4's of the cover had a crease) and pages that were curled over, none of that was mentioned in the description. So, in my opinion, the book was not described accurately as the picture used was immaculate and not of my book which they should have explained in the description. I mentioned all that to the seller, a used book store. They seemed agreeable and said I had to submit a complaint through eBay's Resolution Center. I did that and it was very disappointing. I was told by eBay that my complaint was valid because the item was not properly described and then they suddenly closed out my complaint at one point! I reopened it and they again said I was correct (after providing pictures). All I wanted was a $10-20 refund and the only option I was given was to return the book for a full refund. I was told by eBay to contact the seller and I left at least 3 eBay messages and no response. Altogether, I probably had 10 eBay associates involved in my case it took maybe 2 months, all agreed the seller was wrong, but nobody could force the seller to issue a partial refund. In the end, I just kept the book, but I was surprised that eBay could not force the seller to issue a partial refund. 

Other than that, I've had lots of success stockpiling the majority or my Lionel prewar steam switchers, prewar parts, books, etc., all through eBay. 

Tom