[rjcj2017]

The problem with all of this, as I see it, is that you as the seller basically have to wait at least 30 days for your card to "clear" before you can use any of the funds.

Many times I have sold cards out of necessity financially, and many more times I have sold cards to buy others.

Case in point - back during the "Linsanity" era of basketball cards, I sold about half a dozen low-end Jeremy Lin rookie cards for at least $25 apiece in about a two-week span, and used the $150 or so to buy a nice Kevin Durant auto.

If that was the policy back then - especially the way Lin cards cooled off pretty steeply - I might have been SOL on those sales if the flippers decided to return them.

Effing stupid eBay.

[Hofcollector]

The problem with all of this, as I see it, is that you as the seller basically have to wait at least 30 days for your card to "clear" before you can use any of the funds.

Many times I have sold cards out of necessity financially, and many more times I have sold cards to buy others.

Case in point - back during the "Linsanity" era of basketball cards, I sold about half a dozen low-end Jeremy Lin rookie cards for at least $25 apiece in about a two-week span, and used the $150 or so to buy a nice Kevin Durant auto.

If that was the policy back then - especially the way Lin cards cooled off pretty steeply - I might have been SOL on those sales if the flippers decided to return them.

Effing stupid eBay.

This right here ^^^. If your a legit seller you should be able to use your funds as soon as they clear, not be held ransom for 30 days. We aren't selling blenders or vacuum cleaners that people can test out and return if they don't like. We are selling investments.

[djohn]

Just had it happen to me this weekend. I rarely sell on eBay, and while cleaning up and continuing to unpack from moving I found a sealed box of 2009-10 Upper Deck basketball. I was so excited considering how hot Stephen Curry rookies have been. I tried to sell the box on Blowout Forums, but they don't allow box sales. So I went ahead and listed it on eBay and it sold within a day. The person paid and I shipped via USPS priority mail with insurance. I checked and the box was delivered on April 5th. Now almost a month later I get a claim from Paypal that the buyer has requested a refund stating that the box was damaged. Now, why he waited almost a complete month to file a claim make no sense, unless he was trying to flip the box and it didn't sell. I checked completed listings and didn't see a listing from the buyer for the same box on eBay, but there are other places he may have been trying to sell it.
While I did put USPS insurance on the package, I am sure they are going to question why the damage wasn't reported for a month after receiving the box. Now what is really annoying is that Paypal put a hold on my account for the sale price of the box, so I cannot pay for anything with Paypal until I load enough funds back into my account for them to hold until this issue is resolved. So now I have stuff to pay for that I bought on eBay over the weekend, but cannot pay unless I load $200+ into my account for Paypal to hold. All because someone is trying to scam. One more reason this really hurts the original seller.

[Hofcollector]

God damn it. That's exactly what they were doing. Sorry you are on the receiving end of one of these bud. You can bet they marketed the hell out of that box but when he got injured the demand went way down.

---

Also, may have tried selling it under another account.

[pacrimcollectibles]

One thing you can do to try and cut down on these incidents is set a restocking fee percentage. eBay allows sellers to set one at up to 20% of the sale price. I have seen my incidents of returns almost completely wiped out since I started using this feature. It probably works because people are less likely to file for the refund when they find out they will be losing some of the price they paid. Unfortunately they can file for a refund as Item Not Described and still get a full refund but what I've found is that most of these scammers aren't intelligent enough to file correctly and abandon the effort when they see that they are going to lose some money.

Another thing you can do is set the requirement that the buyer pay return shipping. I've had several people stop the process when they find out they are on the hook for shipping costs to return something. Unfortunately again Item Not Described makes the seller pay.

Another thing that can be done is to set the return period to the lowest amount eBay allows, 14 days. This also prevents scammers from spending a month with something before taking advantage of the eBay policy. eBay also expects the return to be made promptly once agreed to by the seller and must be trackable. I seem to recall that the item must be confirmed as delivered within five days of the return being accepted.

You also can set your listings to no returns but eBay tends to choose to ignore this selection in favor of their own default policy.

Basically, it is better to trick eBay into thinking you are following the policy they have set when in fact you have made it more difficult for scammers through the restrictions you place with eBay's blessing. I have found that by advertising through eBay settings in my listings that it will not be easy or financially advantageous to return something that it has kept the abuse to a minimum. These people don't want to pay to begin with or else they wouldn't be abusing the system in this way, and they don't like being rushed into their decision.

[djohn]

Interesting about the restocking fees, but as you pointed out a person can still return for a full refund by claiming "not as described". I will look into all the settings you recommended, as some sound interesting.

[scottbdoug]

This right here ^^^. If your a legit seller you should be able to use your funds as soon as they clear, not be held ransom for 30 days. We aren't selling blenders or vacuum cleaners that people can test out and return if they don't like. We are selling investments.

anyone who invests in baseball cards is a bad investor usually. its a hobby. want to invest go get som gic's.

of couese if u are buying high end stuff and turn it over then u can usually make some money. but most stuff goes down in price over time or up in price at such a slow rate that inflation kills any profit if you are a sports card seller then u can make some money but then u r a seller not an investor.

[rjcj2017]

anyone who invests in baseball cards is a bad investor usually. its a hobby. want to invest go get som gic's.

of couese if u are buying high end stuff and turn it over then u can usually make some money. but most stuff goes down in price over time or up in price at such a slow rate that inflation kills any profit if you are a sports card seller then u can make some money but then u r a seller not an investor.

Great point.

The problem is, these people are taking advantage of the situation. They can buy a $100 card from you and basically have 30 days to try to get more than $100 for it, and if they don't, they can just demand a refund from you, no questions asked as far as eBay is concerned.

So really, it takes the "investing" right out of it, because there's an understood and inherent risk in any kind of investing - real estate, stocks, any kind of IPO or futures market, etc. - that eBay has somehow made it possible for these people to avoid.

It's the exact equivalent of taking $50 to a casino, playing all of it in the dollar slots, and if you lose your $50 you can just go to the window at the casino and demand your money back. And they would just have to give it to you, if we're using the eBay model here.

[Hofcollector]

anyone who invests in baseball cards is a bad investor usually. its a hobby. want to invest go get som gic's.

of couese if u are buying high end stuff and turn it over then u can usually make some money. but most stuff goes down in price over time or up in price at such a slow rate that inflation kills any profit if you are a sports card seller then u can make some money but then u r a seller not an investor.

If you read my comments it said we are selling investments so I'm not sure where to go with that last statement.

As to your point about investing in sportscards... you'd be correct. Most people don't do the research to make smart investments and make any sort of money... like any other market. There's a reason investors (not even collectors) have jumped into the sportscard market: There's money to be maid, particularly in high end vintage. The returns on high end vintage and high end prospecting (should you be able to play your cards correctly. *Would also be considered a short term investment) are far better than any stock or GIC available. GIC's are great if you want to make very short money over long periods of time but even then the Banks insuring them can go belly up. Not sure why we're stuck on investing is the same as it was 30, 20 even 10 years ago. It's fast paced. Anything you buy with the intent to resell for profit is an investment. Time frame in which you sell doesn't matter, be it 20 minutes or 5 years.

[scottbdoug]

If you read my comments it said we are selling investments so I'm not sure where to go with that .

what i was saying is that you are not selling investments. u are selling sports cards. when i buy a card from u im not buying it to sell later. im buying it cuz i want to add it to my collection. with ur definition of investment everything is an investment. the lamp i bought last week could be a resellable antique in 50 yrs. and i could have bought it to resell or i could have bought it cuz i like lamps. the main purpose of it is not investing in other words it collecting. same with sports cards. if all that sports cards were were investments then the hobby wouldve died out soon after it first started. if you ask 99 percent of ppl who buy sports cards it isnt to invest their money lol it cuz they like collecting.

---

Anything you buy with the intent to resell for profit is an investment. Time frame in which you sell doesn't matter, be it 20 minutes or 5 years.

this is a false statment. a card store owner who opens a shop in the neighbourhood or on ebay is not investing in sportscards he is selling sports cards. he gets his profit not buying a card at a price it is sellable at the time of purchase but at a discount to sell it at that sellable price afterward. he will offer you a third a quarter or perhaps half of what he thinks the going rate for the card is. he is a seller of sportscards. he also buys from the card makers at a price then sells it at a higher amount to his customers. if he was an investor then he would be giving topps or upper deck his money in return for shares in the company and share in the profits through dividends or the resale of his shares to
another investor.

an investor takes his money and gives it out to a 2nd party to receive a higher amount back at a later date. it may be guarenteed or risky.an investor doesnt buy product from a company to sell it at a profit to a collector. doing this makes you a seller not an investor. and your product a product not an investment.