selling higher value items, the safest way? Advice please

trigirl1979

Hi everyone, first time post in this section.

I am selling a carbon road bike on ebay, if it sells it will go for over £650 (30 watchers so I am hopeful).

Now what is the safest way of getting the money from the buyer? Is Paypal worth their £22 fee - once it is in PP is there anyway that PP can take it out?

If cash I guess I could get a note marker pen to check it isn't fake.

Does anyone have any tips or useful giudance?

Thank you

soolin

For a start you have to tak epaypal and the chances of anyone wanting to pay by any other means is remote.

So, to cover yourself for paypal purposes you need to post the bike, properly boxed and insured, and with fullt racking available to the buyer. Keep your proof of posting for 180 days.

If it has frame numbers or similar make a note of them all and ensure the buyer knows you have the details.

hermum

One of the biggest scams on ebay is paying by Paypal for a collection item, you then can't prove delivery & an INR dispute can be opened. If it is a collection item try & encourage the buyer to pay cash, you can't however refuse Paypal but offer a discount for cash on collection. Taking a photo of said buyer smiling happily while happily wheeling the bike down your garden path won't satisfy Paypal for an INR, or the registration number of their car, copy of passport etc.
If someone insits on Paypal then send it by courier who loads a signature online. Only send to the address that Paypal say it is ok to send to. Make sure that you have adequate insurance.
There are no doubt lots of other things to do, that's the first one that sprang to my mind.

ess0two

Cash on collection.

soolin

ess0two wrote: »

Cash on collection.

If only we could insist on it!

trigirl1979

TY for the advice, this is a pick up so I will ask for ID and take a pic as suggested. Hopefully they will pay cash as I have put this in the ad and I will knock of a tenner if they do - fingers crossed!

hermum

trigirl1979 wrote: »

TY for the advice, this is a pick up so I will ask for ID and take a pic as suggested. Hopefully they will pay cash as I have put this in the ad and I will knock of a tenner if they do - fingers crossed!

Sorry, you misread what I said,
"Taking a photo of said buyer smiling happily while happily wheeling the bike down your garden path won't satisfy Paypal for an INR, or the registration number of their car, copy of passport etc."

That will not help you, only a proof of delivery uploaded online by a company.
Hopefully they will expect to pay cash on collection, I always do if I'm collecting something.
If they insist on Paypal you will need to post it.

trigirl1979

Thanks for that, no way will i post it could be a death trap if they fracture the carbon! I will just stop the sale if it gets too much bother!

thanks for the info.

soolin

trigirl1979 wrote: »

Thanks for that, no way will i post it could be a death trap if they fracture the carbon! I will just stop the sale if it gets too much bother!

thanks for the info.

Without appearing rude I'm not sure you have thought this through.

At what point do you intend to cancel the sale if it becomes too much bother? Only once it is sold all yoru fees and such like will remain payable and they are likely to be substantial. What if buyer has a good reason for wanting to use paypal, for instance they are funding it on a credit card, will you be happy then? My one word of warning is that no one is a nice or as believable as a con man, I nearly lost a bank a great deal of money about 20 years ago due to the most charming and well mannered con man you could ever hope to meet.

You cannot protect yourself on a collection only sale on ebay and if you try to cancel the sale you will be well out of pocket. The only safe way is to sell it via a specialist site where you can set your own terms for payment.

botanical

trigirl1979 wrote: »

TY for the advice, this is a pick up so I will ask for ID and take a pic as suggested. Hopefully they will pay cash as I have put this in the ad and I will knock of a tenner if they do - fingers crossed!

If you've put Cash On Collection in your listing and your buyer insists on paying by PayPal, then you as the seller can refuse to allow them to collect the item and insist on arranging a method of delivery that's suitable for you and charge your buyer. Not a lot of buyers know that.

(BUT there's another option to report a buyer to eBay if they've bid against the terms in your listing.)

But back to real life- I think it's very good advice to mark your item. It's also much better to get cash because as has been mentioned, that prevents false claims.

soolin

botanical wrote: »

If you've put Cash On Collection in your listing and your buyer insists on paying by PayPal, then you as the seller can refuse to allow them to collect the item and insist on arranging a method of delivery that's suitable for you and charge your buyer. Not a lot of buyers know that.

(BUT there's another option to report a buyer to eBay if they've bid against the terms in your listing.)

But back to real life- I think it's very good advice to mark your item. It's also much better to get cash because as has been mentioned, that prevents false claims.

Actually botanical you are wrong. A seller cannot change the terms of the auction after it has finished. If this item is collection only then it is colelction only and a courier charge cannot then be added.

I think what you are thinking about is the way suggested by several people on the community boards of attempting to get round the paypal on collection issue. However that relies on the courier charge being stated clearly on the auction but with some clever wording suggesting that collection in person is possible if buyer wishes to pay cash, however if they wish to use paypal then the item will be sent via courier.

The wording needs to be clever and it is not foolproof and of course the drawback is that seller does need to be prepared to send via courier if buyer does want that. It also means that the item is not picked up if buyers do a search for collection only items.