Ebay Selling Question

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have had some shady dealings in the past with Ebay (buying and selling.) I am a very infrequent Ebay user so I don’t know the best practices. In this case I have a watch to put up for sale. It’s a ladies Cartier watch and based on some online searching it’s worth somewhere around $3,000.

My question is, how do I protect myself against someone buying it and then claiming it’s not real or some other scam once they have it in their hands? In my experience, dealing with Ebay in these situations can be hit or miss. Are there safeguards I can use to prevent any shenanigans?

2

Have it appraised and get documentation?
And/or meet with a potential buyer at a qualified jeweler/watch dealer to make the sale in cash.

ETA: Settle for somewhat less by selling it to a jeweler/watch dealer.

3

That was my initial thought. I was hoping to get the most return, but avoiding the potential headache is probably worth taking less.

4

From what I have seen on the internet, it is a crapshoot. eBay will pick a favorite out of the buyer/seller and support them, evidence be damned.

5

You might consider selling somewhere like Craigslist instead, there would be no return protection on that. Insist on cash only and meet in a very public place like a police department parking lot.

6

Another way to go is to join one of the online watch forums, they usually have a buy/sell function. You are more likely to find someone who actually wants the watch, not merely a scam artist. I belong to a fountain pen group like that; some pens regularly go for that much. I use paypal for these transactions.

7

Watch you need is a serious auction house which as a specialty in this area. While Sotheby’s and Christies’ come to mind when we think of serious auction houses one $3,000 watch probably wouldn’t interest them. For example perhaps an auctioneer on the LiveAuctioneers platform:

8

I agree with this approach (note: I have only ever been a buyer, not a seller). It seems to me, however, that Paypal is no better than eBay at careful adjudication of disputes, and seems to favor the buyer (unless the buyer is very inept at scamming).

9

My standard for both buying and selling on paypal is that the seller receives the money in their account and then sends the item.

10

also, except for a hack I think 10 years ago, they seem to be safe site

11

I would be wary of doing so if you can’t afford to lose the watch. I’ve sold lots of things in eBay and never had someone try to scam me, but my impression is that the deck is stacked against the seller in disputes.

The expected rate of fraud is low, but if you end up with the 1% tail end, you’re going to have a hard time winning.

12

There’s absolutely no way I’d sell that on ebay.

13

I sold a non working Rolex on Ebay. I listed it as non working and included the repair estimate from a reputable jeweler. The buyer questioned the authenticity of the watch, I told him to have it inspected by a well known jeweler in his home town. He did and the jeweler not only verified the watch, he offered to buy it for more than he paid for it. You can also have the watch verified for authenticity by Ebay, that should satisfy any buyer and it protects you.