Featured The Coin Guy offered $450 for My 14K Watch Fob,then I looked on Ebay.

Went by My local Coin Shop yesterday to get a 14K Watchfob tested & weighed-tested right & 19.3 grams.He offered me spot price of $460,I said I'd think about it.Got home,went on Ebay and researched-$700 to $900+. Unfortunately, I guess I'll have to go back to listing on Ebay again ! It's been years,but what are you gonna do ?
PS-The Coin Guy's really a good fellow,but he's got a retail space,taxes,employees,etc.
God,I can only imagine how weird Ebay's gotten in the last 10 years.

 

@bosko69 , I figured out that after ebay takes their 15% cut (rounded up slightly because I cannot figure out their accounting system), I pay my 20% IRS taxes (rounded up slightly because I cannot figure out their accounting system), and I go through the time and expense to photograph and list it, wrap it, mail it (an incalculable amount of time to spend selling stuff), well, 60/40% turns out to not be such a bad deal, by my way of thinking.

Suggest you can see if you can counter at $550 and settle at a compromise...

 

and you get a scammer claiming it's not as described getting their money back from feebay

 

Yep! It's the old "bird in the hand" money theory!

 

A Lot...your imagination fails.

 

Good counsel...save effort & potential anguish.

 

BTW "spot" would be about $620 today

Find an honest local buyer

 

^^There ya go!

 

Thanks much Terry & Davey-I'll see who might give me a fair margin re the 'spot price'. Ebay sounds freakish these days.

 

That's an understatement. I've been selling for almost 18 years and it will remain at Almost. It's gotten to the point where it's not worth the work any more. Better to sell for a lot less locally, but for cash in hand and all sales final. No credit card chargebacks to deal with that way.

 

I remember selling a decent piece ($300 up),and then sitting on pins & needles praying not to get a chargeback ! When You buy a car You get 3 days (sometimes up to a week,rare) to change Your mind and return it.Do Ebay Buyers get up to a month to return stuff ? That gives them a lot of time to develop buyers remorse,or realize at the end of the month They're broke !

 

I don't have much nice to say about eBay. I sell on the site when active, but I've made some complaint posts on policy changes in the eBay community to the point I have a lifetime ban.....lol

 

I know for a fact that you are in good company. Not me, but some highly respected forumites.

 

Tough to figure out another venue than Ebay- Craigslist,FB,Etsy-cheap return & slow turnover.

 

If they go the Paypal/credit card chargeback route, they can return it up to 6 months later. I don't sell expensive stuff on eBay any more, and by expensive I mean much of anything over $100.

 

Good Lord,waiting six months for the financial blade to drop on Your life,$500 to a $1000+ chargeback could destroy a persons financial life,most especially a Senior.Ebay seems to have turned into a very bad bargain with the Devil.How can all those Listers sleep ? Strategy-No PayPal /No Returns ? How else could one have a dependable 'cash flow' ?

 

There is Catawiki, a Dutch online auction venue that has gone global. It has quite a few American sellers, but I have no idea what it is like to sell there. Fellow member @Gianluca72 sells on Catawiki, and he seems happy with it.

 

I don't disagree, but in since 2012 on my current account, I have had one paypal chargeback for 10 dollars on a video game. The reason provided was unauthorized charge by the child. (no, the parent didn't send the item back....so tells you where the child got the notion they were entitled....) The chargeback fee was waived and so I did not bother to fight it. I actually like paypal. To put that in perspective, I have sold over 10K items ranging from a few bucks to an $8K for a rolex on ebay. The things I always worry about are the returns & fraud, especially on higher dollar merchandise. I do indeed worry about both until the 30 day return window closes. After that, I feel pretty home free.

There are certainly nightmare stories/events that do occur, but you can have that on any platform where shipping is involved and in person, you have a risk of being robbed and people negotiating on price at pickup (the worst). Chargebacks generally are fraud related and there are precautions you take for that. Really, when shipping items, the best advice I give on items you cannot afford to lose money on is signature required, restricted delivery with photo ID required, and fully insured. Here in the states, the post office offers these levels of shipping and claims are easy and paid promptly. Tends to take care of scammers and helps with damage and shipping related losses.

 

Any & George-Thank You both kindly for Your help.I'll keep doing my homework before jumping into the online auction melee.I remember the sub-prime mortgage crash of 2007-08 sent Ebay into a free-fall,hope that doesn't happen again soon.