I'm officially terrified.

[xcgrammer]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forums and the community. I have been so impressed with the sense of community TRF provides. I am currently selling a watch to fund the purchase of a pre-owned Sub. This will not be a small purchase for me as it took months of planning and saving to make this possible. The watch I'm selling is going to be roughly 4k. This is a huge amount of money to me as it was when I purchased it.

The reason I am posting this is because I set the transaction up through eBay and Paypal. The reason I am panic attack terrified is because of the story I read about the seller getting burned in Australia by his buyer and by Paypal. What can I do to prevent this from happening before I ship the watch? I remember reading a post by a fellow member in which he documented by video the packing abd shipping of the watch. I want to do everything I can do to be proactive and prevent this. Should I insist on a bank transfer at the risk of upsetting my buyer? My watch is not insured as of right now should I call my insurance company abd get it insured before I ship it?

Please advise, I am paralyzed with fear of getting burned...

[rjmarti]

I have over 600 transactions on eBay. Many are small, several medium, and one over 25,000.00 It does seem to be getting worse. People are crooked, but I think more are just 'nuts'. They seem to think this is a department store and they expect conceirge service, or lots of hand holding. Only once have I been truly scammed.

With that said, you can post the watch here for sale, as you have a smaller group of people and many seem to know each other. In addition you do not have to use paypal, you can ask that the money be wired into your bank account, thereby avoiding the paypal problems alltogether. If you do sell on Paypal, tell them up front in yout listing, if they have negative feedback or less than 10 you wish to talk to them first. Ideally you want someone who has had a LOT of transactions and is (hopefully) less prone to either erratic or illegal behavior.

You can also end the listing if you feel that its nuts, the only problem with this, is most eBay savvy types go for the kill in the last minute of the auction, so this may well hurt you from the serious bidders.

Go into it with eyes wide open, dont stress that you ARE going to be scammed, but understand that it can happen, and be aware of it. Make sure the item is fully insured and has a signiture for delivery. If possible send a few emails to the buyer to sort of get a feel for them, or better yet talk on the phone. You can learn a lot by doing this.

There are many wiser than I here, and I am sure they will help you as well.

:)

[dieseldragon]

If using ebay, set your buyer requirements to the strictest settings.
Cancel any bids from new users.
Check feedback of bidders to see what they have bought and sold before. If they have been buying and selling relatively high value items you can get a feel for what sort of person they are.
Try selling as buy now or best offer, if a best offer is submitted, sweeten the deal by offering a discount for bank transfer (better for you as well as no paypal fees), you can only really offer this though, if you have good feedback yourself.
If they do not have a confirmed address, try looking it up on google to see what type of place it is.
The more information you have about the buyer, the less chance of being burnt.

Just out of interest, what watch are you selling?

[mrbill2mrbill2]

As for insurance if you are talking about insuring the watch and not insuring the shipping read the fine print. A lot of policies do not cover the watch if it has been sold. There is a term used that I cannot remember. I'm sure someone will chime in.

[train-time]

Originally Posted by mrbill2mrbill2

As for insurance if you are talking about insuring the watch and not insuring the shipping read the fine print. A lot of policies do not cover the watch if it has been sold. There is a term used that I cannot remember. I'm sure someone will chime in.

Jewelers Mutual:

Voluntary Parting – “We” do not pay for loss caused by or resulting from voluntary parting with title to or possession of any “covered property” by an “insured” because of:
a. the acceptance of:
1) counterfeit money or fraudulent money orders;
2) checks or promissory notes which are not paid upon presentation;
3) credit cards that are illegally obtained and/or used; or
b. any other fraudulent scheme, trick, or false pretense.

Many others have added similar clauses because of the increase of internet deals gone bad.

[springer]

I've sold several watches and parts, but never on ebay. Besides the usual precautions, I never sell outside the USA. If the deal goes south, hopefully you can get some support from a law enforcement agency within the USA. If outside the USA, your chances are slim to none in getting help from a police agency.

There are many sellers stateside that do sell outside the USA and have not had any problems, but they do exist. I recently sold a GMT dial to a gentleman here that was also looking at a band from somewhere in Europe. I gave him the same advice and he went ahead and purchased the band anyway. He called me later when the band arrived and it was counterfeit!!! Be careful out there, there are sharks in the waters everywhere, especially in the "e" bay.

[eag310]

there is very little to zero on what you can do on international sales when accepting credit card payments, be prepare to fly over sea if thinks go south. Otherwise just do a domestic sale that way you can always take legal action a little bit easier.

[xcgrammer]

Thanks guys I love the sense of community you get on TRF. By the way it was a Panerai