Accepting Paypal for a collection only item

thegreatsoprendo

I've just sold a bike on eBay for just over £500. It's listed as collection only and the buyer paid immediately by Paypal. This strikes me as unusual and it concerns me that the buyer may be able to claim the funds back after collecting the bike. 

eBay lists the sellers feedback as (25) 0%. Delving more deeply, he has 25 pieces of feedback, all positive but all listed as being from "more than a year ago". None of this proves he's a scammer, of course, he could just be a bloke who doesn't use eBay very often, yet I still feel uneasy. Any advice appreciated.

fenwick458

refund them, and tell them to pay in cash when they collect. For one, you'll save £17.20 in paypal fees, and secondly, there is no chance they can collect the bike and then do a chargeback later.
I recently sold my bike and the buyer insisted on paypal, saying it was too hard to get £2000 out etc and it was my fault for putting paypal on the listing (it's not possible to remove it though) In the end they had to go to the bank and get the cash as I wasn't willing to take the risk
I did notice (just after they had collected it) an option on the ebay app to get the buyer to scan a QR code when they collect to confirm receipt, I think this would work too but it's a new feature, I've never seen it before.

Rantband

By refunding you will NOT save the £17.20 paypal fees they are not refunded to the seller.

[Deleted User]

I would refund. 

soolin

It’s all covered here 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4949988/collection-only-items#post65282064

As per that link a seller cannot refuse PayPal and cannot insist on cash on collection. If you choose to refund then you would lose your PayPal fees, and also buyer can then refuse to pay cash and you lose your eBay FVFs as well as you can’t open an NPB as buyer did pay. Any attempt to cancel the sale to get your eBay FVFs back may get you restricted as it is likely to be seen as trying to sell ‘off eBay’ to save fees. 

Once we are all on managed payments this becomes less of an issue as eBay are using a collection scannable code that appears to protect against INR claims, but until then I chose not to sell collection only items on eBay. Although the QR codes are often given even for current payments they DO NOT cover against an INR claim via PayPal. 

Bikes incidentally are a highly scammed item.

thegreatsoprendo

Thanks for the responses so far. The buyer messaged me aboutn 20 mins ago saying he was on his way to collect and could he have my address.

Having read through the replies, I've decided to refund his Paypal payment. I've messaged him back and asked if he is willing to pay by cash on delivery or by bank transfer to be completed while he's here. Waiting on his response....

thegreatsoprendo

Final update (hopefully). Buyer was fine with paying cash. He turned up checked the bike over throroughly, handed over the money, had a bit of a chat about my other bikes and generally seemed very genuine. It's a Christmas present for his son apparently. Very relieved to have reached a positive conclusion. Thanks for everyone's help.

soolin

thegreatsoprendo said:

Final update (hopefully). Buyer was fine with paying cash. He turned up checked the bike over throroughly, handed over the money, had a bit of a chat about my other bikes and generally seemed very genuine. It's a Christmas present for his son apparently. Very relieved to have reached a positive conclusion. Thanks for everyone's help.

That's a good result, thank you for the update.

fenwick458

Rantband said:

By refunding you will NOT save the £17.20 paypal fees they are not refunded to the seller.

I refunded the buyer when they bought my bike, and I didn't pay the fee. £1941.70 went in to my account, I refunded the payment and £1942 went back out. so apart from 30p, I didn't pay the fees

thegreatsoprendo said:

Having read through the replies, I've decided to refund his Paypal payment. I've messaged him back and asked if he is willing to pay by cash on delivery or by bank transfer to be completed while he's here. Waiting on his response....

Did you pay any fees or not? 

soolin

fenwick458 said:

Rantband said:

By refunding you will NOT save the £17.20 paypal fees they are not refunded to the seller.

I refunded the buyer when they bought my bike, and I didn't pay the fee. £1941.70 went in to my account, I refunded the payment and £1942 went back out. so apart from 30p, I didn't pay the fees

thegreatsoprendo said:

Having read through the replies, I've decided to refund his Paypal payment. I've messaged him back and asked if he is willing to pay by cash on delivery or by bank transfer to be completed while he's here. Waiting on his response....

Did you pay any fees or not? 

Yes you paid the PayPal fees, it is shown in a very odd way as the original payment is refunded but there is a second charge hidden in there. PayPal have been retaining the fees for several months now and there are no exceptions. 

Rantband

As of Thursday the 5th of March 2020 PayPal will start to retain all fees from transactions that you refund.