Just Sold a Guitar on Ebay ...

DefaultM

Should have said I won't rape you in case it puts you off the sale.

TINMAN82

I’ve sold guitars on eBay up to around £1200 with no problems. Used to organise and hand in directly at UPS depot but Interparcel website is actually more convenient and cheaper. Insurance is arranged through that website and a courier of your choice collects from your door, easy. The only pain sometimes is finding the right guitar box and packaging. It actually annoys me a bit when I’m looking at a guitar on eBay and the seller isn’t willing to post! Usually it’s their loss as the net is so much smaller. 

The situation OP mentions is weird and the buyer clearly a nutter. I don’t see the problem with PayPal and posting guitars in general though. At the end of the day, you don’t post anything until the payment comes through. Your ad should stipulate the acceptable timeline for payment (their side) and postage (your side). If they don’t pay on time, you cancel and relist.

The main problem with eBay in particular is the fees and for a guitar I’d wait until they’re running a £1 selling fee promotion. Id probably try gumtree first if there’s no promotion happening and I’m in a rush.

skullfunkerry

TINMAN82 said:

I’ve sold guitars on eBay up to around £1200 with no problems. Used to organise and hand in directly at UPS depot but Interparcel website is actually more convenient and cheaper. Insurance is arranged through that website and a courier of your choice collects from your door, easy. The only pain sometimes is finding the right guitar box and packaging. It actually annoys me a bit when I’m looking at a guitar on eBay and the seller isn’t willing to post! Usually it’s their loss as the net is so much smaller. 

The situation OP mentions is weird and the buyer clearly a nutter. I don’t see the problem with PayPal and posting guitars in general though. At the end of the day, you don’t post anything until the payment comes through. Your ad should stipulate the acceptable timeline for payment (their side) and postage (your side). If they don’t pay on time, you cancel and relist.

The main problem with eBay in particular is the fees and for a guitar I’d wait until they’re running a £1 selling fee promotion. Id probably try gumtree first if there’s no promotion happening and I’m in a rush.

The other risk (although it's a minority that do this, and I have to say it's never happened to me) is that if the buyer puts in some sort of claim then eBay/PayPal can take the money back off you and the onus is on you to prove that there's no problem. I've read some proper horror stories about people claiming that they've received an empty case and the seller losing the guitar and the money

TINMAN82

skullfunkerry said:

TINMAN82 said:

I’ve sold guitars on eBay up to around £1200 with no problems. Used to organise and hand in directly at UPS depot but Interparcel website is actually more convenient and cheaper. Insurance is arranged through that website and a courier of your choice collects from your door, easy. The only pain sometimes is finding the right guitar box and packaging. It actually annoys me a bit when I’m looking at a guitar on eBay and the seller isn’t willing to post! Usually it’s their loss as the net is so much smaller. 

The situation OP mentions is weird and the buyer clearly a nutter. I don’t see the problem with PayPal and posting guitars in general though. At the end of the day, you don’t post anything until the payment comes through. Your ad should stipulate the acceptable timeline for payment (their side) and postage (your side). If they don’t pay on time, you cancel and relist.

The main problem with eBay in particular is the fees and for a guitar I’d wait until they’re running a £1 selling fee promotion. Id probably try gumtree first if there’s no promotion happening and I’m in a rush.

The other risk (although it's a minority that do this, and I have to say it's never happened to me) is that if the buyer puts in some sort of claim then eBay/PayPal can take the money back off you and the onus is on you to prove that there's no problem. I've read some proper horror stories about people claiming that they've received an empty case and the seller losing the guitar and the money

Never heard of that happening and find it astonishing that eBay would do that, particularly for a seller with a perfect record. I guess on a high value item you could stipulate that buyer must have at least 10 positive feedbacks or something like that. That is criminal activity on behalf of the buyer and would have to be dealt with accordingly.

Simon_M

For many stories like this:

http://www.reddit.com/r/choosingbeggars

McToot

It's just occurred to me: has anyone had a gander at Mumsnet to see if there are any threads by, I don't know, someone like 'Waynetta of Wankcaster' (somewhere in Northants I believe) explaining (in poorly written English) about how she narrowly avoided being snared by a vicious rapist posing as a guitar seller and warning people of the dangers of buying on eBay?

You never know...

  

skullfunkerry

Simon_M said:

For many stories like this:

http://www.reddit.com/r/choosingbeggars

Some jaw-dropping stories on there!

boogieman

This whole thing sounds very reminiscent of a certain architectural photographer Who Shall Not Be Named and the way he operated (pretended to be a woman selling photo gear, had to work shifts so couldn’t meet up in person for a handover etc etc)  Not saying it’s actually him, but it’s a very common method of scamming sellers. 

DefaultM

TINMAN82 said:

skullfunkerry said:

TINMAN82 said:

I’ve sold guitars on eBay up to around £1200 with no problems. Used to organise and hand in directly at UPS depot but Interparcel website is actually more convenient and cheaper. Insurance is arranged through that website and a courier of your choice collects from your door, easy. The only pain sometimes is finding the right guitar box and packaging. It actually annoys me a bit when I’m looking at a guitar on eBay and the seller isn’t willing to post! Usually it’s their loss as the net is so much smaller. 

The situation OP mentions is weird and the buyer clearly a nutter. I don’t see the problem with PayPal and posting guitars in general though. At the end of the day, you don’t post anything until the payment comes through. Your ad should stipulate the acceptable timeline for payment (their side) and postage (your side). If they don’t pay on time, you cancel and relist.

The main problem with eBay in particular is the fees and for a guitar I’d wait until they’re running a £1 selling fee promotion. Id probably try gumtree first if there’s no promotion happening and I’m in a rush.

The other risk (although it's a minority that do this, and I have to say it's never happened to me) is that if the buyer puts in some sort of claim then eBay/PayPal can take the money back off you and the onus is on you to prove that there's no problem. I've read some proper horror stories about people claiming that they've received an empty case and the seller losing the guitar and the money

Never heard of that happening and find it astonishing that eBay would do that, particularly for a seller with a perfect record. I guess on a high value item you could stipulate that buyer must have at least 10 positive feedbacks or something like that. That is criminal activity on behalf of the buyer and would have to be dealt with accordingly.

That's cos you're most likely a decent person, but it does happen all the time. There's been articles in the guardian about it.

TINMAN82

Mabye I’ll stick to gumtree after all. 

Sassafras

delorean said:

Anyone wanna buy a guitar? 

(It's not shit I promise)

Not now I know you're a bloody rapist!

mbe

TINMAN82 said:

Mabye I’ll stick to gumtree after all. 


I always get a constant stream of messages asking, "is it still for sale" to which I reply, "yes" and then I never hear from them again. 

  

BeardyAndy

Sadly eBay always favours the buyers but it’s rare for the worst to happen, we only ever read about the horror stories not the millions of positive sales.
just don’t scrimp on the insurance, make sure it’s covered enough to replace if lost/damaged. Some carriers will have a cap for certain things like musical instruments.

Good luck with the sale

steveledzep

BeardyAndy said:

Sadly eBay always favours the buyers but it’s rare for the worst to happen, we only ever read about the horror stories not the millions of positive sales.

^^^^ This.  Just be careful.

delorean

Sassafras said:

delorean said:

Anyone wanna buy a guitar? 

(It's not shit I promise)

Not now I know you're a bloody rapist!

The reports of my rapiness are greatly exaggerated  

Adey

BeardyAndy said:

just don’t scrimp on the insurance, make sure it’s covered enough to replace if lost/damaged. Some carriers will have a cap for certain things like musical instruments.

I've posted lots of guitars over the last few years and not had any problems with damage.

I haven't insured any though, as when you actually read the small print (on Parcel 2 Go website), they will happily insure musical instruments, but the value of them is capped to a really low value - about £100 i think, so not really worth while.

If it's lost, it's not difficult to prove it was in their care and they are responsible, even if they try to exclude it in their Ts&Cs

JezWynd

Transglobal Express will insure musical instruments but I've not made a claim so can't say how bulletproof it is. I figure it's better to invest in an extra shipping box and some more packing rather than trust to an insurance company.

Adey

I must admit, I've wondered why the postal company asks me to insure my package.

After all, it's not me who is going to drop it or drive a 40t artic over it. As long as I have taken reasonable steps to package it well enough to withstand reasonable handling that is all I reasonably have to do. If they think they will damage it when it's in their care, then they are free to insure it themselves...

If it gets damaged, I just have to take them to the small claims court, which has been a bit of sport from time to time with various companies.

jpfamps

Obviously not want to trivialize rape, but it seems to me that selling guitars on eBay and offering to deliver them would be a very inefficient method of finding victims.

mikeyrob73

jpfamps said:

Obviously not want to trivialize rape, but it seems to me that selling guitars on eBay and offering to deliver them would be a very inefficient method of finding victims.

Only if the rapist likes middle aged GAS victims.