Ebay- I state cash on collection but people keep paying by paypal

...Time_for_a_brew_then..

My sister actually works at the PayPal Dundalk office, She and many, many other advisors have been told by their supervisor to tell sellers asking about seller protection on large collection only items to "only accept cash - unless you have an online trackable delivery service (a man with a van doesn't count) there is no PayPal seller protection"

The only way you can enforce 'cash on collection' really is to get an online quote from a courier who will collect furniture, bikes, large TV's etc. add on the cost of the relevant packaging (I've never heard of any courier accepting a consignment with it being packaged in some way) and point out to the potential buyer in the listing that to provide full PayPal protection, "If you insist on paying by PayPal, this item must be sent via an online trackable courier service - the costs to be met by the buyer."


I've done this for quite a few years and never had a buyer insist on paying for their collection only item via PayPal, they are happy to come to my address and inspect their purchase prior to handing over the cash - something I encourage - as it's much easier to cancel a sale while they're there than mess about with a buyer wanting to return an item later (with the threat of negative feedback etc. - and after you've spent the cash!)


Just my ten penneth worth....

bxboards

...Time_for_a_brew_then.. wrote: »

The only way you can enforce 'cash on collection' really is to get an online quote from a courier who will collect furniture, bikes, large TV's etc. add on the cost of the relevant packaging (I've never heard of any courier accepting a consignment with it being packaged in some way) and point out to the potential buyer in the listing that to provide full PayPal protection, "If you insist on paying by PayPal, this item must be sent via an online trackable courier service - the costs to be met by the buyer."

I dis-agree with that for at least two reasons:

If you want a 'collection only' sale then don't offer a courier - if you are willing to post this anyway, you will get a much better price offering postage to all.

Secondly - and this is the main one - if you allow a courier and and the courier loses or damages the item, you will still end up getting the money taken back by Paypal. So you have no protection really...and couriers do lose or damage items, so you'll end up losing an 'item not recieved claim'.

It's really better just simply to tell the buyer if they want the item to pay cash - I do agree that Paypal are quite happy to admit that Paypal is not a safe or acceptable payment method for collection only items, so write 'cash on collection' on the listing, and leave it at that.

Superdad

If you're worried about the PayPal scammers (people paying by PayPal then collecting and then claiming non-receipt), make sure to note down their car registration number and get them to sign a receipt for the goods. I make it clear in my listing that I expect cash only for collection items but I also add that if they still pay with PayPal, I will require them to sign for the goods before the goods are released. I also note their reg No. but I don't tell them this.

After twelve years with eBay I have only ever had one person pay with PayPal and in that case I refunded and politely explained why and reminded him that I require cash on collection and he was okay with that.

As has been said above the scammers are in the minority, the problem is knowing beforehand.

regards

Brian

soolin

Superdad wrote: »

If you're worried about the PayPal scammers (people paying by PayPal then collecting and then claiming non-receipt), make sure to note down their car registration number and get them to sign a receipt for the goods. I make it clear in my listing that I expect cash only for collection items but I also add that if they still pay with PayPal, I will require them to sign for the goods before the goods are released. I also note their reg No. but I don't tell them this.

After twelve years with eBay I have only ever had one person pay with PayPal and in that case I refunded and politely explained why and reminded him that I require cash on collection and he was okay with that.

As has been said above the scammers are in the minority, the problem is knowing beforehand.

regards

Brian

Out of interest what would you do with a random car registration and a strangers scribbled sig on a bit of paper?

I know people say they could go to small claims, but how does that work. You serve papers on the buyer who claims someone else must have collected, you travel half way across the country to their local court where a complete stranger turns up and says he is the buyer...and you plan to prove what exactly?

nikkit72

Right it in large letters,
If they pay via PayPal, instantly refund them, message say, it states cash on collection, your money has been refunded, when would u like to collect ?

NEVERE EVER accept PayPal, and then let them collect, you have no evidence of tracking, and will get caught out by scamming buyers, ( yes there are 1000s of them ) who will say never received and will get there money back and get a item, and then you will be minus the money and minus your item. !!

love_lifer

Yes Im putting it in big letters now and emailing winning bidders soon after auction. I think people do it with no malice so im not being !!!!!y with them, ive just taken it on the chin


Thanks for all the advice. im a novice so inevitably I make mistakes

soolin

nikkit72 wrote: »

Right it in large letters,
If they pay via PayPal, instantly refund them, message say, it states cash on collection, your money has been refunded, when would u like to collect ?

NEVERE EVER accept PayPal, and then let them collect, you have no evidence of tracking, and will get caught out by scamming buyers, ( yes there are 1000s of them ) who will say never received and will get there money back and get a item, and then you will be minus the money and minus your item. !!

I will add my usual warning for newbies that although a seller can't be forced to sell the buyer also can't be forced to pay cash. So if you refund and they refuse to pay by cash, then that's it, you get to pay your FVfs and face the possibility of poor feedback, low stars and a non performing seller complaint.

lijaloo

I really don't understand any of this. I won an item on ebay a few months back which was cash on collection. I contacted the seller and got no response. I was unable to pay for the item using paypal. If i could have done I would have and then started an item not received so seller would have to respond. I contacted ebay, got the sellers phone number and queried how they could bar me from paying by paypal. Was told they can just set their sellers preferences to not accept payments from "my location". Maybe that's the way around it.

Ben84

I've managed the problem by only allowing buyer collects for low value items. For anything valuable I always list as postage only and choose a suitable courier. Higher value items should be given a better chance of selling anyway, and lower value items will sell better when people can save on delivery costs. Where you draw the line between high and low is up to you, but it does limit the risk and give advantages to both types of sale.