refusing a winning bid?

mrs_baggins

my item clearly said collection only due to its fragility and sheer size. had an email asking about courier but i didnt respond as i felt it was a wind up. that person won and wants it couriered to elsewhere (at their expense) but I have a few warning bells. the item i sold was £200 the only feedback he has is for an item worth 99p plus he has only just joined. I thought I had things in place to stop people bidding with low feedback score. However even though buyer says he will pay for courier I am very twitchy about this. It leaves me to sort out packing which is not easy for this item. plus its very fragile and if it gets broken in transit I will no doubt be blamed so I have told him my reasons and that I do not want to sell it to him for those reasons but no reply yet. I am just worried that my very good feedback will be wiped out if he doesnt agree. what do you think? its prob too late now but just wanted opinions really

mrs_baggins

I sold an item which clearly stated collection only due to fragility. Had an email asking about courier but i didnt reply as thought it was wind up.
That person won and wants to arrange a courier at buyers expense. I am not wanting this. item is large, fragile . I do not have packing plus if it gets broken i have not arranged courier therefor I am to blame. buyer only just joined ebay with feedback for a 99p item only (my item sold for £200) I have mialed him telling him my reasons and also through ebay resolution. but if he doesnt agree I am guessing I will have to pay final fee plus he could trash my excellent feedback to date.

Just wanted peoples views on wether I was reasonable or not. Guess ebay will not do much about it from my point of view.?

newbie1980

dont send it
you will have no ebay protection as you did not arrange courier
maybe ask them to send the money to paypal for you to arrange courier im not sure how that would work

This_Year

Email back and say that it's collection only as stated in the auction terms and that you are waiting for them to contact you to arrange a convenient time to collect.

Do not arrange a courier nor allow them to.

soolin

As above do not allow buyer to send their own courier.

All you can do, and collection items are always a gamble as we all know, is wait until day 4 and if he hasn't agreed to come and collect then just open an NPB. That in itself is a problem though as buyer can just pay with paypal , which you should refund- so your FVFs stand and your feedback is at risk.

The only other alternative is to hope that buyer is reasonable and will do a mutual cancellation if you ask, and it might be worth trying to negotiate that with him.

There seems to be a real issue at the moment with buyers thinking that collection only means they can send a courier, it is a subject that comes up over an dover again on here

I sell a lot on ebay but my high end items that cannot be sent are sold elsewhere, I will not gamble my account on buyers who cannot tell the difference between 'collect in person' and 'send a courier and expect seller to have item professionally packed and wait in all day for some stranger to come and get their goods which they have taken paypal for'

sham63

soolin wrote: »

There seems to be a real issue at the moment with buyers thinking that collection only means they can send a courier, it is a subject that comes up over an dover again on here

For this reason I now put a statement on my collection-only items like;

"Winning bidder to collect and pay in person - I do not allow third-party courier collections"

shaun_from_Africa

You could always contact the buyer and tell them that you would be happy to send it via courier provided that they are willing to pay by cheque, postal order or bank transfer.

Strapped

soolin wrote: »

There seems to be a real issue at the moment with buyers thinking that collection only means they can send a courier, it is a subject that comes up over an dover again on here

And this site, MSE, is guilty of telling buyers that they can do this, in fact promoting it as an option :mad::mad::mad:

RFW

Strapped wrote: »

And this site, MSE, is guilty of telling buyers that they can do this, in fact promoting it as an option :mad::mad::mad:

Well buyers can arrange their own courier without much of a problem to them, any seller agreeing to it would be an idiot though. One of many situations where advice a buyer gets on here can be the opposite of that given to a seller.

soolin

Strapped wrote: »

And this site, MSE, is guilty of telling buyers that they can do this, in fact promoting it as an option :mad::mad::mad:

Yes, I do recall the newsletter than went out from Martin suggesting this as an option- shame the regulars on the ebay board were not asked first.

I also recall another newsletter suggesting that it was common for buyers to email a seller and make an offer on an item regardless of price actually listed for .

Doesn't the newsletter got to near a million people or something huge like that? In that case we shouldn't be surprised that buyers get these daft ideas.

Strapped

soolin wrote: »

Yes, I do recall the newsletter than went out from Martin suggesting this as an option- shame the regulars on the ebay board were not asked first.

I also recall another newsletter suggesting that it was common for buyers to email a seller and make an offer on an item regardless of price actually listed for .

Doesn't the newsletter got to near a million people or something huge like that? In that case we shouldn't be surprised that buyers get these daft ideas.

Oops, guilty as charged of this one this morning The seller agreed though!