Buyer on ebay from China wants to pay by cash

terra_ferma

It amazes me how someone who has an item valude $21k is so blas! about it...
Have you got it insured? Is it stored safely?
I would run to one of the big auction houses pronto if I were you, can't understand why you'd want to go through all this hassle and take these risks with such a valuable item.
I can understand that you did not know what it was worth, but now you do and you need to do things properly, not sell them to some dodgy buyer who behaves very oddly...

Oliver14

OP so if I get this correct you have a old chinese Teapot that someone offered £20,000 on ebay.com. That is the only valuation you have you have not have it professionally valued?

You have a so called Chinese buyer who has only ever communicated by email and text. You have never spoken on the phone. They now want to come and hand over £20000 to you in front of a London tube station. They want to give you over this money after seeing your ebay listing alone. They have not had the teapot verified as genuine from some independent source. I don't know about you OP if I was going to buy something worth that money from another country I would pay some local expert to verify it's authenticity. This just doesnt add up.

Any honest buyer would communicate via other methods rather than text or email. They would happily travel to your house and get independent experts to verify how guenuine the item was. There are so many fakes of these teapot I cannot believe any serious collector would hand over money with out verifying it's authenticity.

From your post the only valuation you have is from your ebay sale. Follow RFWs advice take it to an auction house get it valued there. Then if it is worth what your 'buyer' thinks let them auction it all above board.

IMO at best you have some hoaxer who has taken some Chinese name off the internet (knowing you wouldnt phone as you dont speak Mandarin) who is waiting to see if you suspiciously hang around outside some London tube station. At worst you have someone trying to scam you.

Go to an Auction house get it properly valued then sell it above board,

soolin

The reason I stressed caution on this is because certain countries, China included believe that they have a right to their own heritage back. Millions of items were removed from countries in the past and shipped to the UK and the problem is the original countries believe they should have them back without payment.

If you follow the news in the antique world items have been reclaimed forcibly in some instances, or lawyers turning up demanding items be placed in their care pending International court cases. An open environment would be an ideal place for this political act.

terra_ferma

soolin wrote: »

The reason I stressed caution on this is because certain countries, China included believe that they have a right to their own heritage back. Millions of items were removed from countries in the past and shipped to the UK and the problem is the original countries believe they should have them back without payment.

If you follow the news in the antique world items have been reclaimed forcibly in some instances, or lawyers turning up demanding items be placed in their care pending International court cases. An open environment would be an ideal place for this political act.

..fascinating, sounds like it could be an international plot...
sincerely hope the OP doesn't have the pot at their home address.. and without insurance..

Enterprise_1701C

I think you did the right thing - there is a strong possibility that the cash would have been fake.

Oliver14

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I think you did the right thing - there is a strong possibility that the cash would have been fake.

I'm confused am I missing a post? The OP has stated what they have or are going to do yet.

appleblossom

A couple of things spring to mind-as agreed with pp, if they are going to travel from China, they are going to travel the extra 70miles to collect it- did you offer delivery as an option as this is basically what they are asking - the notes would more then likely be fake - it's easy to switch the case of money and give you a case of newspaper (like the known laptop/bottled water scam), I would have cancelled the sales by now, sought independant advice and a true valuation and had it in Bonhams by now. The whole thing spells Avoid to me.

Geneticdeviant100

Thank you for all your helpful comments, very appreciated. I have spoken to the person on the phone a few times. She seemed to be quite pleasant and spoke in English, ensuring us that they want it, they like the shape, and thanking us for being patient.

We didn't know nothing about the teapot until late last year. It is made mostly from pewter, but also has jade, zitan wood and silver parts to it. We knew nothing about the teapot until late last year, until a UK based collector helpfullyy told us it was made by an important Chinese scholar, who invented the pewter encased Yixing teapot etc. Many of his works are apparently in museums in China (including Hong Kong and Shanghai), USA and UK etc. The UK collector said it was only worth $1000, and offered us that money for it. He later bidded $8000 for it during the sale, and still wants it badly, and enquires whether the sale was completed, offering this amount of money.

The teapot caused alot of interest in the sale across the world, and had 1000 page views with 80 watchers. During the sale, we had offers from ebay members to end the sale early for a buy it now price. After the auction there were offers from other buyers if the sale did not go through, including one for $23,000.

We trusted the buyer. I myself feel such an idiot to be taken in by this. Down to inexperience.

Mistral001

A couple of suggestions. Take it to one of specialist auction houses who regularily sell items like this and ask them to give you a valuation. Be up front with them tell about the situation and be willing to pay them a fee just for the valuation and advice.

You could even ask them to be the go-between or middle man in the money transaction and if they ask for a % fee then surely it would be worth it for peace of mind with regards to money laundering and export/import regulations and cultural matters. Some big auction house might even have a man in China who could visit the buyer in China an check him out. The main thing is they will have experience of this sort of thing.

Geneticdeviant100

Hi Appleblossom!

The answer to your question. We offered delivery as an option to China. We were told by Mailboxes etc, that due to the value it would cost at least £600 to insure, pack, and deliver maybe more, and it would have to be sent by special courier for 48 hours delivery. It seems the buyer did not want this, and there was a possibility that due to object's value it would be held by Chinese customs.

I stated to the lady that we did not want cash. We preferred a bank transfer or a banker's draft as it is tracked payment method from source.

We also later asked the buyer if she would be willing to conduct the hand over in somewhere like a solicitor's office, where he can do the necessary checks and act as an official witness. She then texted she has no time.