I'm not sure if this is the right place for this thread,so please move if it isnt.
I'm wanting to sell some online codes for games on eBay, I'm wanting to sell the codes only and I don't want to mail the paper the codes are on to the buyer. So my questions are
1. When someone buys a code from me does eBay give me their email address tO send it to them or will I have to go another way around to get their email?
2. Do people still buy items from people who have only 5-10 ratings on their profile or should I even bother?
3. How do you get paid exactly? I know it's from paypal but I don't exactly know if i get their money automatically or if I have to do something certain in order to get it?
Sorry for all the stupid questions but I've never tried to sell anything on there before.
First of all you shouldnt do it at all because it's against ebays ToS if you arent sending anything. You can easily be screwed doing it because if the buyer decides your code doesnt work or some bs, they can dispute the transaction and they'll get your code and their money back.
Having said that, a lot of people do it anyway so if you're not worried about it:
1. When you login to paypal after they've paid you can get their email address. Just click the details link of a transaction and its there. Also you can send it by ebay message.
2. I imagine so as long as you have 100% feedback. I wouldnt expect to sell stuff for quite as much as you might like but who knows.
3. Being a newer user paypal may withhold your money until a positive feedback is left or for 30 days (I'm not sure the details of this but it's something like that).
Personally I always do buy it now auctions and require immediate payment so I dont have to wait around for people to pay me. Again though I dont know if you'll be able to do that and even if you can like I said paypal may withhold your money for awhile.
Thank you so much for the info. I didn't even know it was against eBay rules to email codes. I think I'll give it a shot on some codes I really don't care about at all just to tear it out. I'll be sure to make it buy it now like you said,that really does sound like the best option for me.
Could the buyer still dispute it if I were to send them the psyical sheet with the code on it? Also,are there any other scams I should look out for?
If they were really persistent and a horrible person, yes, they could still file a dispute and say your code was invalid even if it wasn't. It would be hard for Ebay to verify whether or not it was valid, and they usually side with the buyer anyway. Some of my digital auctions have been reported and removed for not being in the "Classified" section, but I've sold a lot of them and haven't had any problems so far.
The one time I thought I would have trouble, it turned out to be nothing. I sold a code for Rugby World Cup 2011 last year for $40 Buy It Now in September (it was brand new retailing for $60) and on Black Friday the buyer contacted me asking where the item was. It had been too long and I couldn't reply to the buyer, but they never filed anything. I had a lot of proof that I e-mailed the code, they used it, and they already left me positive feedback for it.
I really don't think people will go through the hassle of filing a dispute over a code, especially if they're not sure of the outcome. By the way, I've got 78 feedback on Ebay but I'm considered a new seller and all of my payments are withheld for 30 days or until I receive feedback.
You can't classify your auction under Video Games, it has to be under something like codes/downloads, since you won't be shipping anything. You'd not really be in trouble but your auction could be deleted if you have it under Games but don't ship anything.
If you are selling online codes it might be better to do buy it now. It minimizes the chance that ebay will take down the listing.
I've only had 1 online code auction taken down, I believe it was from someone else selling the same code and reporting all the other sellers.
Use ebays message system for all communications and sending the code. If someone wants to screw you over they probably still can, so there is some risk.
The biggest problem is usually non payers not scammers.
