Trouble Completing an Ebay Sale

[Foxbrook]

We have needed more space and purchased a 31ft Airstream. We are trying to sell our 23ft. We have it posted on Craigslist and on eBay. I feel like the description is pretty thorough, as it should be for a 1972 that is not at all stock. We have had several bidders but no one pays. Does anyone have any experience with this or other places I can post it for sale? Any and all insight would be appreciated. Thanks,
Andrew

[Skatiero]

Post it on the Airstream Classifieds right here on AirForums. If you're on the app, look for the "marketplace." you have to login separately but listing is free and you connect with other airforums members. We have had great success with it!

[perryg114]

I have never tried to sell anything big on Ebay but I thought there was a certain amount you had to put down and then pay the rest when you took ownership of it. If you made a bid you could not back out Scott free.

Perry

[Wayward]

It has been a while since I sold anything on eBay but it used to be quite common for big ticket items, to ask sellers with no feedback or a feedback less than say 80% to contact you via eBay, or their bid will be cancelled.

It is usually easy to spot them.


The objective is to get them to contact you outside ebay so you have their real email address or better yet, their phone number. A serious newbie to ebay who really wants your trailer will have no objection to giving you their phone number.

Why people do that is beyond me, maybe they are kids, or just trying to take your item off the market in favor of theirs?

[Foxbrook]

Originally Posted by Skatiero

Post it on the Airstream Classifieds right here on AirForums. If you're on the app, look for the "marketplace." you have to login separately but listing is free and you connect with other airforums members. We have had great success with it!

I have just taken care of that now, thank you for the advice.

[Foxbrook]

Originally Posted by perryg114

I have never tried to sell anything big on Ebay but I thought there was a certain amount you had to put down and then pay the rest when you took ownership of it. If you made a bid you could not back out Scott free.

Perry

Ebay's "Buyer Protection" trumps this now, they don't have to send the required deposit if they decide after "buying" that they don't want it. Now your best bet is to convince the buyer to agree to cancel the sale because that will free it up to re-list faster.

[Foxbrook]

Originally Posted by Wayward

The objective is to get them to contact you outside ebay so you have their real email address or better yet, their phone number. A serious newbie to ebay who really wants your trailer will have no objection to giving you their phone number.

Why people do that is beyond me, maybe they are kids, or just trying to take your item off the market in favor of theirs?

My wife was wondering if this was true... taking it off the market in favor of theirs.

I was thinking that maybe they thought I could finance it for them or something like that? We need to sell the 23 so I can get back to grad school in California in mid February.

Thank you for your replies,

[polarlyse]

We bought our first Airstream through E-bay. The sale went through without any hitches. I sent the seller a healthy deposit ( about 10%) by PayPal. They were not in any hurry to have it taken away so they let it stay for a month or so. We did not yet have our truck to pull it so it was a win win for both of us. During that time I was planning to pay the rest using PayPal also. But since they were willing to let it sit I offered to send them a personal check for the remainder. That way they would not have to pay the 4% that PayPal would charge. In the meantime there was ample time for my check to be deposited and clear before we would be picking the trailer up. So it worked out good for both of us. Beware of people trying to scam you on E-bay. Good sales can be transacted easily but there are scammers out there.

[KenSanLan]

We have both bought and sold a trailer through Airstream Classifieds. Worked well for us.

[Foxbrook]

Originally Posted by polarlyse

We bought our first Airstream through E-bay. The sale went through without any hitches. I sent the seller a healthy deposit ( about 10%) by PayPal. They were not in any hurry to have it taken away so they let it stay for a month or so. We did not yet have our truck to pull it so it was a win win for both of us. During that time I was planning to pay the rest using PayPal also. But since they were willing to let it sit I offered to send them a personal check for the remainder. That way they would not have to pay the 4% that PayPal would charge. In the meantime there was ample time for my check to be deposited and clear before we would be picking the trailer up. So it worked out good for both of us. Beware of people trying to scam you on E-bay. Good sales can be transacted easily but there are scammers out there.

I wish I could conduct a slow and easy transaction more in line with what you are describing. With me heading back to school, I am hoping to have it gone by the end of February. To help with the schedule, I am willing to tow it to help close the sale. Let's hope my eBay experience is more like yours!

[Foxbrook]

We put it on eBay, Craigslist and the Airforum classifieds. Hopefully that will cover all the bases.

[Foxbrook]

Happy Day! We opted to not use eBay in our selling attempts due to nonpaying bidders and just used craigslist and the Airstream classifieds. We are happy to report that the Airstream has sold! Thank you for all the advice and support here on the airforums.

[SStar]

Glad to hear everything is working out for you. Did you sell through a Craig's List contact or through Air Forums?

[HowieE]

E Bay is not what it used to be. Originally they looked upon both buyer and seller as customers of their service and thus offered some level of support to both. They are now 100% in favor of the buyer. The sellers are completely at risk now.

I sold collectable world wide for years on E Bay but not any more.

[Jim Lee]

I agree with HowieE. Used to be..... I have better luck selling on craigslist. I frequently search using searchtempest.com. Our daughter is a horse person and if think scammers are out there with Airstreams, you ought to see the horse traders!