Buyer on ebay from China wants to pay by cash

Norfolk_Jim

Anyone who can wait 3 months, fly 11,000 miles to collect something costsing 20,000 but who has "no time" to do anything other than meet up outside a tube station with cash in hand is dodgy.

emma.b123

Out if interest - what were your payment options on the listing? I always put paypal only - then them bidding and subsequently winning, but refusing to pay by paypal would constitute as a void bid if you didn't agree to their terms. Hopefully this will help your concerns over being sued (?)

soolin

If you are really worried about going to a real auciton house then with legal assistance send a letter stating your terms of payment to the 'buyer'. Give them a time limit to adhere to your terms and if they cannot do that explain that the transaction becomes null and void.

Mistral001

Geneticdeviant100

Good, so you realise the situation with responsibility to buyer. And perhaps realise the possible mistake of selling something like this on ebay. It could turn out fine and you will end up selling something for £20,000 on an ebay auction with fees costing £40 whereas the specialist aution house might have charged 15% which means a fee of £3,000.

If you look upon it as saving £2960 buy selling on ebay, then perhaps paying a few hundred or even a few thousand on fees to experts will perhaps be worthwhile to enable you to get this deal to go through. You already have legal advice, but perhaps specialist legal advice will be required. Lawyers who specialise in art/antiquities or international trade might not just know a lot about the legalities, but have lots of contacts with auction houses and other experts who could help you. Your frind who is a barrister will not mind referring you to someone like that if he is not a specialist in this sort of thing himself.

Oliver14

Geneticdeviant100 wrote: »

Thanks for all your answers again.

"Oliver14". Due to the state of the Chinese art market, it is extremely difficult to value a Chinese work of art, even by a major auction house. Things are fetching way over estimate at the moment. Sothebys recently estimated a Chinese porcelain vase at $800-$1200, but ended up selling for many millions. A 18th century Rhino horn cup brought for only £100 in 1980 fetched over £100,000 last year. At the moment Chinese Yixing teapots are now a hot item at the moment. Some around £100,000. 10 years ago you would have been lucky if they made £1000. My parents were collectors, and my late father had a particular fascination for Chinese art.

I'm sorry if you're not an expert which you had admitted this is just stuff you have researched yourself.

This total refusal to go to see experts or go to an auction house to get an appraisal when you could make more money is very strange. Just becasue someone gives an appraisal of a price doesnt mean you have to accept it. You seem to be avoiding this despite it being the good advice both here and the ebay community boards.

Geneticdeviant100 wrote: »

You are quite right. What if we sold at a major auction house, without giving him a chance. He may well have sued us, if he had the money, stating that as he was the successful bidder, we were legally obliged to sell to him, if he could pay legitimately.

Interestsing you are now going down this line even though you've never mentioned it before. How would they sue you under US, Chinese or UK law? As it was listed on a US site your in the UK and they are in China it really wouldnt be worth there while trying to negotiate 3 legal systems.

Reading this thread and the community boards and your avoidance of going to official auctionners or official routes and your willingness to consider that cash from a person outside a tube station is OK. It seems to me that there is something wrong here. Either you know the item is dodgy so dont want it to pass through an auction house (may explain why you listed on .com and not .uk). Or this is just one massive work of fiction and a wind up.

Either way I'll leave you to it.

Geneticdeviant100

Oliver 14. For your information.

(1) Although the item was listed on ebay.com, it had international site visibility and also appeared on ebay.co.uk.

(2) We have not refused to show it to any auctioneers. We are now going to take it to Christies probably, of which my mother, who is the owner of the said teapot, is a client of, and sold through them before. They have previously shown interested in selling a Japanese antique object of hers. We are planning to email photos of it to them in due course. We are also planning email photos to other provincial auctioneers. My mother was beginning to lose patience with the supposed buyer, before me. I was an idiot to trust them.

(3) This whole case has put us off listing anything on ebay.

(4) As already said we have refused cash for the item. We asked for payment in a banker's draft as advised, or another tracked payment, infront of an official person, such as solicitor. It stated on the listing that we wanted payment by paypal, however they only have a seller's coverage of $10000 or £10000.

Geneticdeviant100

Dear Oliver14,

Regarding other Chinese items fetching large sums at auction. One does not need to research them. These stories appear in the national newspapers most weeks. They have also reported cases of Chinese bidders, at both major and provinicial of not paying for items once successfully bidding for them, or being extremely arkward.

blue_monkey_2

He has broken the 'terms' by a) not paying within the time specified and b) not paying by the method specified.

But have you actually realised that this is a scam, or not? Someone has paid for someone to travel, return fare, from China to get it but they will not pay £600 in shipping fees? And they'll not meet you elsewhere but they are still texting you since when..... Why do you not ask them to deposit the cash into your bank account and to tell you when it is done, you can check and then meet them there with the teapot?

If it was me I would call round all the solicitors and ask if there is anyone that can speak Chinese to investgate this for you. Ask them to call the international hotel in China and find out if the buyer is the man he claims to be? Alternatively, call him yourself, it is an international hotel, someone will speak English. I am sure he will be most unhappy to find out that someone is using his name to buy this item at this price to be honest. There is a reason they do not want it 'shipped'. That is because it is a fake name and address.

Get it put into a safe place until then. Do the banks have saftey deposit boxes? If it *is* worth that much money, you'll have no problem paying for it while this is sorted out.

blue_monkey_2

Geneticdeviant100 wrote: »

Dear Oliver14,

Regarding other Chinese items fetching large sums at auction. One does not need to research them. These stories appear in the national newspapers most weeks. They have also reported cases of Chinese bidders, at both major and provinicial of not paying for items once successfully bidding for them, or being extremely arkward.

So why have you not taken legal advice on it? Why not get the solicitor to do it for you.

I would suggest that you say to the buyer 'the matter is in the hands of my solicitor and he will contact you to arrange the payment and handing it over'. I promise you will not see them for the dust.

Who is filling your head with all of these scare stories anyway? I've never seen a national newspaper about chinese bidders not paying for them. And then let the auction house can be the one dealing with it. I am not sure why you are putting this off either. Unless it is made up or there is something you are not telling us.

Why did you not list it on eBay.co.uk? Listings are visible all over the world if you choose that option in the tick boxes so that is not a very good excuse. I feel you are hiding something too.

hermum

If I should find a tea pot or anything that someone tells me could be worth thousands, the very very last place I would try and sell it is ebay.
I would like most people put it in the hands of a specialist, especially if my Mother or the owner of said artefact was a client of a huge auction house.
I cannot believe this thread is for real, I think that you should get James Bond to meet the buyer in the tube station, or Mr T.