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A guide to selling safely online.
Selling
3 Mins
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How to sell safely online

Ben Smith
Ben Smith

So, you’ve got some stuff to sell, whether you’re running a business, a side hustle or just having a clear out and are hoping to make a bit of extra cash.

You've come to the right place with William George but if you need some reassurance, read on below about how to sell safely.

Trusted website

First and foremost, look for the little padlock symbol. It appears either next to the url or sometimes at the bottom left depending on the browser you’re using.

That padlock, also denoted by the s in https://, means data flowing between user and the website is secure. Most up-to-date browsers will warn you if a website doesn’t have that functionality.

Many online marketplaces simply act as a conduit between seller and buyer, helping the one to find the other but leaving the act of paying up to the individuals involved, often involving meeting up in real life and exchanging cash. That’s not too bad if you’re flogging second-hand baby clothes and you know the area you’re dropping the stuff off at. But less positive if you’re selling sizeable quantities or value of goods.

Here at William George, we keep you and the buyer secure by handling all the payments. So, when an auction ends and after you mark the item as despatched, the buyer pays us and we keep the money safe until they receive what they’ve paid for. It keeps everyone happy and everyone safe.

And you don’t have to take my word for how good we are – check out Trustpilot, an independent website that aggregates reviews, allowing users to easily see how trustworthy a website is. Not wanting to brag, but we are considered “Excellent” and have a score of 4.8.

Customer service

When selling online, you risk losing that personal touch. That helps build trust between customer and business, helping everyone keep safe and secure in their shopping. When selling online, you want a website that provides a person at the end of the phone to talk to if necessary. We have real people who are highly valued by our regular customers, both buyers or sellers, for their top notch service. Investing in customer service helps build a loyal, trustworthy customer base and makes all your sales that bit more secure.

Don’t blindly share contact details

While we’re on the topic of customer service, it might be tempting to include a phone number or contact details in a description of your lots. Avoid doing this. Scammers will happily take advantage of your freely available data. That might put you at a disadvantage on other online marketplaces, where you have to conduct conversations through a proprietary messaging system, but here at William George we have dedicated account managers who can handle your queries. It gives you that personal touch and an edge over other sites.

In summary

With all that said, selling online can and is an incredibly safe and secure way to make money, especially if you use us. After all, we’re part of the National Auctioneer Association, so we have very high standards, and we hold all our customers to those same standards. Just another reason you can trust us.

Head over to our seller area to find out more about getting starting selling online.