Am I about to get scammed?

[Vincent-Vega]

I have a couple of watches for sale on Ebay (not mentioning what they are so as not to break any rules) and have received a couple of offers that are acceptable. They want to pay by PayPal outside of Ebay?

They have lots of decent feedback but something doesn't feel right. I haven't ever sold anything on ebay previously so am a little green on how best to proceed.

Should I insist on payment through Ebay and then send special delivery or should i insist on cash on collection?

How do others conduct buying or selling watches on Ebay?

Thoughts and advice appreciated.

Thanks

[Danm1les]

There is no advantage for the buyer to buy outside of eBay, unless its something dodgy.

[dundarach]

Who knows.

I'd never sell anything on eBay I couldn't afford to loose.

I'd insist on payment through eBay & paypal and depending upon the amount, use a specialist courier, or a signed for delivery.

I'd explain to the buyer that you're sending signed for and ask them to confirm they will sign for the goods to the address shown on their account.

I'd photo the goods being packaged, and at the post office and pay for insurance too.

I expect ebay\paypal will still side with the buyer if they're chuck a wobble.

However I'd do the very maximum I could to follow all their rules!

[mat205125]

Danm1les said:

There is no advantage for the buyer to buy outside of eBay, unless its something dodgy.

This!!

[Temo_Wil]

Walk away...., sadly it will be a scam where they either get the watch and say it never arrived or they want to return it and you receive a fake back. PayPal will nearly always side with the buyer just like eBay.

[Vincent-Vega]

Ok, so should i insist on cash on collection?

Is there a safe way of selling and posting it where i cant lose the watch and the money?

[JEA1K]

mat205125 said:

This!!

And again.

Anyone could be operating behind an account which has been hacked.

Do not send the watch, payment will be reversed and you'll be out of pocket.

Only deal face to face, cash or bank transfer on collection.

[GCH]

Danm1les said:

There is no advantage for the buyer to buy outside of eBay, unless its something dodgy.

Well there is if you are meeting in the middle price wise - the buyer pays a lower price and the seller gets more because the ebay fees are avoided. I've done this loads of times as both a buyer and a seller.

Whether or not it is a scammer is an entirely separate issue. There are, after all, plenty of scammers even when doing the sale through ebay!

[catso]

Ask them to pay by Paypal 'friends and family', avoids the fees and, I believe there is no protection as in they can't claim back the money saying not received etc.?

[SarlechS]

lots of scams of people buying on ebay and then things turn nasty when they pickup the watch at the agreed sale place, i presume they would prefer to pickup the watch rather than it being man handled in a typical courier service.

Search Paul Thorpe on YouTube and you'll see the current scams going on specifically with high end time pieces /rolex's

[eccles]

I have sold hundreds of watches on ebay, nothing too expensive but quite a few up to and just over £1k.
Whenever I get an offer that I find acceptable I just say to the buyer I'll change the listing to a buy it now at the agreed price. That way we are both protected.
I've only ever had a couple of buyers stick to their guns to try any buy off ebay and I've knocked them back as you loose a lot of the ebay protections.

Always use signed for delivery and declare the value so you get the right insurance cover. Don't be tempted to lower the value on the customs form if you are selling abroad to help out the buyer with import duties,as this is the value they'll pay out if the watch goes missing.

So far I've not had too much trouble in 20 years of selling all over the world.

[sandman77]

Insist they pay via eBay’s checkout system. They aren’t limited to PayPal either and can use a credit card if they wanted. Assuming the watch is over £2k you will be asked to send it to eBay’s verification centre who will check the watch isn’t a fake and send it on to the buyer. You will be completely covered by eBay if you follow their rules. If the buyer wants to return the watch for any reason they need to send it via the same verification centre who will ensure it is the same watch you sent.
Do not do anything other than the above.

[Piginapoke]

Vincent-Vega said:

Am I about to get scammed?

Yes.

[Coxey]

Don’t this is definitely a scam. Personally I would want cash on collection if at all possible. I bought something off eBay guy asked for me the pay outside eBay via PayPal friends and family to avoid the fees. The items never showed up and because outside of eBay couldn’t open a case. PayPal not interested because I paid via friends and family

[LC23]

Do not do anything other than cleared funds on collection or via the eBay process. This is a scam. The eBay process where it goes via the authenticator works very well. Bought and sold via this a number of times and it usually adds 24 hours to the process which is well worth it for both buyer and seller.

[Vincent-Vega]

Well I had four enquiries, all of which wanted to pay by some means outside of eBay or cash on collection.

Cancelled the Ebay sale and took the Superocean into Watchfinder, for a no risk no hassle sale.

[harleywilma]

Recently chatting to a chap on ebay who was selling his sub, basically just to find out his experience of his final sale as was interested in flogging mine. The new system on ebay sales of that calibre now require the sold watch to be sent to a third party at the expense of ebay under their Authenticity Guarantee scheme, this requires on the actual sale that the goods are checked that they are as described, when all is good the seller gets his money, the third party then sends the watch to the buyer and obviously cant claim he recieved an empty box as was authenticated and sent buy ebay third party, so seller gets the right amount for his watch at auction, probably gets way more than a dealer would ever pay even after fees and buyer gets what he actually bid for , win win..