Don't Get Burned on eBay By Shauna Wright Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: March 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10178-3 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610178-7 Pages: 174 Table of Contents | Index Lots of books tell you how to buy and sell on eBay But what if something goes horribly awry? Do you have to chalk it up to a "lesson learned," lick your wounds and move on? Not a chance Don't Get Burned on eBay offers relevant lessons based on real-life stories posted on eBay's Answer Center With sharp, witty rhetoric, veteran eBay user Shauna Wright (co-founder of the popular web site WhoWouldBuyThat.com (www.whowouldbuythat.com), shows eBay veterans and newcomers alike how to avoid those nasty scenarios, and how to pull themselves out of the muck if they've already fallen in Six entertaining (and hair-raising) chapters cover real problems that people have encountered with bidding, payment, shipping, packaging, dealing with other eBayers, and coping with the eBay system This book is for anyone who's ever used eBay, because even veteran buyers and sellers often don't know the intricacies of eBay's and PayPal's rules Don't Get Burned on eBay will leave you well-informed and better protected from potential pitfalls The book's extensive glossary and numerous in-depth sidebars also make the book useful to people who haven't yet taken the plunge into eBay Don't Get Burned on eBay By Shauna Wright Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: March 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10178-3 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610178-7 Pages: 174 Table of Contents | Index Copyright Preface Introduction Audience for This Book Organization of This Book Conventions Used in This Book We'd Like to Hear from You Safari Enabled Credits Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Don't Get Burned on Bidding Section 1.1 Don't Act Like A Newbie Section 1.2 When Sellers Go Bad Chapter 2 Don't Get Burned on Payment Section 2.1 PayPal: Read the Fine Print Section 2.2 Money Order Mayhem and Chaos with Cashier's Checks Section 2.3 Personal Checks, Cash, and Others Chapter 3 Don't Get Burned on Packaging Section 3.1 Don't Use Inadequate Packaging Section 3.2 Don't Use Odd or Potentially Embarrassing Packaging Section 3.3 When to Take Special Precautions Chapter 4 Don't Get Burned on Shipping Section 4.1 Pros and Cons of the Major Shippers Section 4.2 Insurance Issues Section 4.3 Shipping and Handling Chapter 5 Don't Get Burned by Other eBayers Section 5.1 Save the Drama for Your Mama Section 5.2 What's Your Preference? Section 5.3 Beware of Fakes and Friends Chapter 6 Don't Get Burned by Scammers Section 6.1 When to Be Afraid of Your Email Section 6.2 Web of Lies Section 6.3 The Switcheroo Scam Glossary About the Author Colophon Index Copyright © 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (safari.oreilly.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Editor: Michele Filshie Cover Designer: Mike Kohnke Production Editor: Colleen Gorman Digital Artist: Suzy Wiviott Proofreader: Colleen Gorman Interior Designer: David Futato Indexer: Ellen Troutman Illustrators: Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash Printing History: March 2006: First Edition Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O'Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc The association between the image of an animal and the topic at hand is a trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc All other product and service names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein ISBN: 0-596-10178-3 [M] Preface Introduction Audience for This Book Organization of This Book Conventions Used in This Book We'd Like to Hear from You Safari Enabled Introduction In early 2005, my friend Drue Miller and I received an email from Sarah Milstein, an O'Reilly editor Through a convoluted series of contacts, she'd gotten our names as people qualified to write a different kind of eBay booknot a "how to" manual per se, but something combining personal stories with take-away lessons Drue and I have a web site called WhoWouldBuyThat.com that had the voice Sarah was looking for I believe the word used early on was "snarky." (Accurate, that.) Drue's schedule ultimately didn't allow her to participate as an author (we snagged her later as a tech reviewer), but I was game What followed were several conversations between Sarah and myself about what exactly we wanted this book to bea book that's fun to read and extremely informative That's what you'll find here The stories within this book are all true, recounted (usually on the message boards in eBay's Community section) by the people who experienced them Minor artistic license has been taken where necessary, and all names have been changed to protect the innocent, the ignorant, and the guilty Audience for This Book This book is for you if you have a working knowledge of eBay (just enough to get you in trouble if you don't know what to look out for) In this book, you'll get information in a way you'll remember real stories about real people After every story, I'll tell you how to avoid that situation or, if you're already neckdeep, escape it Even if you're a long-time eBayer, I'm fairly certain you'll come away from this book with a few nuggets of wisdom As an example, I'm always amazed at the number of experienced sellers who routinely accept payments via PayPal yet don't know the policies PayPal has in place to protect them against frauduntil it's too late If you're new to eBay, this book is also for you It may be a bit more advanced than you're ready for right now, but if you read it you'll avoid the traps many people fall into simply because they don't know any better I certainly wish I'd known what's in these pages when I first stumbled onto eBay back in 1998! Organization of This Book This book is sometimes aimed at buyers and sometimes at sellers Here's a brief overview of what's in the book: Chapter 1, Don't Get Burned on Bidding This chapter gives you information about common bidding and communication errors, shill bidding, and bid histories Chapter 2, Don't Get Burned on Payment Chapter 2 walks you through PayPal's rules, Unpaid Item Disputes, money orders, and Western Union wire transfers Chapter 3, Don't Get Burned on Packaging This chapter talks about inadequate packaging (what packages to use, what not to use), and gives tips for where to find materials and when to use local pick-up Chapter 4, Don't Get Burned on Shipping In Chapter 4, learn about major U.S shippers, international shipments, insurance, and customs Chapter 5, Don't Get Burned by Other eBayers Read about feedback, eBay's Seller Preferences, counterfeits, and selling for others Chapter 6, Don't Get Burned by Scammers Chapter 6 provides information about phishing, account take-overs, identity theft, escrow scams, and buyer scams Glossary There's a glossary at the end of the book which explains some of the terms I use throughout the book Veteran eBayers will know them already, and while I don't want the eyes of anyone less-experienced to glaze over, I also don't want to spend a lot of time in the main text defining standard terms Plenty of other tomes serve as a sort of "eBay 101," but that wasn't my goal here ... Chapter 1, Don't Get Burned on Bidding This chapter gives you information about common bidding and communication errors, shill bidding, and bid histories Chapter 2, Don't Get Burned on Payment... Don't Get Burned on Bidding Section 1.1 Don't Act Like A Newbie Section 1.2 When Sellers Go Bad Chapter 2 Don't Get Burned on Payment Section 2.1 PayPal: Read the Fine Print Section 2.2 Money Order Mayhem and Chaos with Cashier's Checks... Money Order Mayhem and Chaos with Cashier's Checks Section 2.3 Personal Checks, Cash, and Others Chapter 3 Don't Get Burned on Packaging Section 3.1 Don't Use Inadequate Packaging Section 3.2 Don't Use Odd or Potentially Embarrassing Packaging