How to Buy Safely on eBay

1. Thoroughly Read the Listing

Make sure you read and understand all the information provided on the listing page; listing description, terms of sale, and pictures. Check payment options, S&H fee, insurance, delivery method and time, refund policies, etc. If specific information is not supplied or you have a question, be sure to contact the seller BEFORE placing your bid. Avoid making assumptions about details that are not included. If there is anything that seems odd or out-of-place contact the seller.

And remember, if it seems to good to be true..... it mostly likely is!

2. International or Cross-Border Shopping (USA and Canada)

Before placing your bid, be sure the seller offers shipping to your country AND if there any additional costs. Buyers are responsible for any duty, taxes or brokerage fees that might apply. Ask the seller to include a copy of the listing or an invoice, and mark on any shipping (custom) forms the actual price paid, not including S&H fees. Please do not ask the seller to mark it as a gift.

3. Check the Sellers Reputation (Feedback)

This only takes a few minutes of your time. From the item page, or wherever you see the seller’s User ID, click on the number in brackets after the seller's User ID. You will be able to read what previous Buyers have said about doing business with that seller. If you have doubts, either contact the seller or move on. Let your conscience be your guide.

While there are bad sellers, there are also excellent sellers who have received undeserved negatives. Let your conscience be your guide.

4. Learn about the Seller

Most Store owners have custom Store Pages and many also have a ME page. You can learn about more detailed Store Policies (Terms of Sales) and about the seller or their products. Look for custom links or buttons on the seller’s Store home page and the ME icon beside the seller’s User ID after their feedback rating.

5. Ask the Seller a Question

If you have any questions, contact the seller. You can do this by:

(i) Within a listing page, click on "Ask seller a question", located on the top right side of the listing, under "Meet the seller".

(ii) Click on the seller’s feedback number, you will be directed to their Member Profile. Click on the Contact Member button.

(iii) The seller may also include their email address on their Me Page or on one of their Store custom pages.

When contacting the seller with a question, be sure to include the eBay Item Number and Title of the listing. Many sellers have hundreds of listings. If you have not heard from the seller within a reasonable amount of time, be sure to check any "spam" folders first, in case your email program filed their reply email there.

6. Accurate Buyer’s Information

Be sure your personal information on eBay is correct and up-to-date (if your address is incorrect, you are not eligible for eBay or PayPal Buyer Protections). Since you registered on eBay, you might have moved or changed email addresses.

7. Place your Bid

8. Pay Promptly and Correctly

Sellers will send you an invoice or email advising you of the total cost of your purchase. Many sellers have specific payment methods and also a time limit on when payment should be made. If making a multiple purchase from the same seller, most will require one combined payment in order to qualify for a combined shipping price.

9. Understand Transit Time

Sellers may advise you of the estimated delivery time for your item to arrive, however, they cannot be responsible for the service of the post office or courier company. Keep in mind that carriers count business days, not weekends or holidays. If cross border shopping, there may also be border delays.

10. Leave Feedback (Voluntary)

Understand how the feedback system works before you leave feedback. Feedback should be left after you consider the transaction complete. If you are happy with the transaction, be sure to leave positive feedback for the seller. If you had a problem or you are not satisfied, before you leave negative feedback, try and work it out with the seller first, give them an opportunity to "make it right". If you leave negative feedback before contacting the seller, the seller is less likely to work with you for a solution.

Please be sure to also read our post about eBay's New Detailed Seller Rating post (below)

11. Communications

If any problems do come up, contact the seller first, before taking any action. Be factual, reasonable and polite. Give the seller an opportunity to address your concerns. Keep in mind, most eBay sellers are just one person with a life outside of eBay and do their best to make you happy.

12. After the Transaction

Once you have bought from a seller and you like their products and service, be sure to save them in your favourites and sign up for their Store Newsletters if available.

New To eBay

eBay Buying Overview

eBay's New Detailed Seller Rating

I hope before any buyer completes the new Detailed Seller Rating that they take the time to read this.

Please note that this article was written not to offend buyers, but to educate buyers on the new Detailed Seller Rating and the many factors to keep in mind when rating a Seller on the criteria below.

When the announcement of the new Detailed Seller Rating first came out, I immediately recognized there were many flaws in this new system. I also anticipated this would have a far greater (negative) impact on Canadian sellers with our high Canada Post rates, as well as most International sellers, and corporate eBay not understanding the difference between shipping and handling time or listening to their sellers and Store owners.

First I would like to state that overall we have excellent buyers, and for that we truly are so thankful. But I have read many feedback related disasters on the discussion boards from other sellers and Store owners.

My first reaction and concern was what about new and inexperienced buyers? Agreed, we all started out new at one time, but over the past few years, eBay has become overcomplicated and can be very overwhelming to those new to eBay. I am concerned that many buyers will not read about or correctly understand this new feedback system. In the past, I have seen where buyers have left a seller a negative feedback with a comment such as “have you sent my item yet” or something else totally unrelated to a negative transaction.

Sellers are now being further rated on the following four areas:

Item as Described: Unfortunately, some buyers don’t read the complete listing and problems arise out of it. I have read posts on the discussion boards where a buyer is complaining about something that was clearly provided or explained in the listing.

We have received Q4S emails asking what the size or the color of our item is, when it was already included in our listing description.

The one neutral we received was from a buyer whose comments were “Auction did not adequately describe construction”. Not that the listing was inaccurate, but that we didn’t say how we made it. Why didn’t he just ask us before he bid? I would have gladly told him.

How would these buyers rate our descriptions?

Communication: We have had several buyers who, for whatever reason (spam blockers, ISP problems, etc), don’t receive our emails. And there are also constant problems when using the eBay mail system.

Although we use a combination of both emails (direct and through eBay), we have received emails from buyers asking if we have shipped their item or did we receive their payment. The only reason a buyer would write us about this is that they didn’t receive our emails, even though we stay in constant contact with our buyers. We send emails to our buyers at every step of the transaction, they receive a minimum of five emails from us, from when their bid is placed right through until their purchase is received.

If our emails are not being received and they feel they have to write us to find out what is going on, how will they rate our customer service?

Shipping Time: I will never understand why eBay allows a buyer to rate a seller on shipping time. Delivery (transit) times are always longer with international sales, different methods of mailing have different and longer arrival times, there can be periodic increased security in place as well as border delays and there is often times when the postal service is just slow. I also believe that some buyers don’t realize that transit time is only counted in business days (not weekends or holidays) and Day 0 (day of mailing) is never counted.

eBay states that sellers are not responsible for delays in mail services, and should only be rated on aspects of shipping they can control. The above are all factors that are not within a seller’s control and are the only factors that control shipping time.

We are fortunate and have had very few problems with our buyers, but there are times I get a little nervous and hold my breath. Some are new buyers and some are buyers who have made many purchases, but from sellers in their own country. Our listings state 6 – 12 business days for US destinations, which of course will always depend on destination.

We have had a few buyers write to let me know that they hadn’t received their purchase yet (after only 2 business days).

On another transaction, in our Shipping Confirmation email, I advised our buyer it would arrive in approximately 11 to 12 business days. This buyer wrote very upset that it had been three weeks and they hadn’t received their purchase. From the day after mailing (Day 0 not counted), there was two weekends in there (4 days not to be counted) as well as two national holidays with no postal service (2 days not to be counted), so in fact at that point it had only been 8 business days and still well before the 11 to 12 business days we quoted.

On the following examples, we did receive positive feedback but the buyer had included the following comments:

“awesome product, shipping took a little longer than expected, but overall, GREAT” – sent from Canada to KS, quoted 9 business days, received in 7 business days

“slow shipping-but understood from Canada” – sent from Canada to TX, quoted 8 to 9 business days, received in 4 business days

“Canada shipping a bit long, but worth the wait” – sent from Canada to NY, quoted 6 to 7 business days, received in 5 business days

“slow shipping” – sent from Canada to VA, quoted 7 to 8 business days, received in 4 business days

How would these buyers rate our shipping time? And although they loved our products and did leave us positive feedback, by their not understanding transit time, their comments may hurt future sales and turn away potential buyers who may believe we have slow shipping times.

Shipping and Handling Charges: The biggest concern by Canadian sellers is the high costs of postage by Canada Post. This always puts us at a disadvantage with both Canadian and US buyers. We can send parcels at a much lower cost to international destinations than within our own country, so this affects our Canadian buyers. The same item can cost double to send within Canada when compared to sending to the US. And it doesn’t work the same way in the US. A US seller can send parcels within their own country at a much lower cost than we can, so this also affects our US buyers. So as a Canadian seller we are at a disadvantage with both situations.

To make this point, we recently had a very rude and very angry email from a Canadian Buyer who accused us of ripping of our fellow Canadians, as well as a few other things. We had replied to his Q4S on what shipping charges would be for a belt buckle to where he lived. He based his opinion on the fact that we were charging a much lower S&H fee to US and Australian buyers. I took the time to educate this buyer and wrote a very professional and business-like response, explaining that Canada Post rates between International and Canadian destinations were in fact different and lower to destinations outside of Canada. I included the package dimensions, weight, and our postal code, and suggested he verify the rate I was quoting on the Canada Post website was accurate. By the way, the S&H quote given was for mailing costs only, there was no handling fee included. His anger was very much misdirected as we have no control over Canada Post rates.

Sellers and buyers alike have a hard time understanding and agreeing with what handling is, and I base my opinion on what I have read on the discussion boards. There are many personal and varying opinions. Some folks think they should only pay the actual postage, and anything over that a seller is gouging. There are always additional costs to get a parcel in the mail; padded or specialty envelopes, boxes or tubes, bubble wrap or peanuts, brown kraft wrapping paper, shipping or packing tape, shipping labels, etc. and don’t forget those of us who have to drive to the Post Office and the high cost of gasoline. These are all legitimate expenses to include for handling. What I find surprising is when I read on the discussion boards when a buyer complains about the S&H after the fact, when the seller clearly listed this cost in their listing.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. As I said, overall we are very fortunate and our buyers are excellent, but I write this in the hopes of educating buyers to the flaws of the new Detailed Seller Rating.

Please keep the above points in mind when rating a seller on your transaction.

I hope you found this information helpful and if you did, please feel free to rate our eBay Guide at eBay's Detailed Seller Rating Guide.

As a seller, I suggest that you should send your comments to eBay at Sending Suggestions to eBay.

Kathy
Canadian eBay Store Owner