UK address is Aramex Ltd, buyer is in Saudi Arabia

racerlady

I listed a buy it now item for UK delivery only.  It was bought within a few hours by a chap living in Saudi Arabia who gave the UK address for delivery as Aramex.  He has bought other stuff in the UK with good feedback, but only small low value items.  He paid £575 for a rare motorcycle part.  Despite being an Ebay seller for 18 years and having sold many items, Ebay are holding the payment until 27th March on spurious grounds.  Ebay say that as long as I have proof of delivery to Aramex, that is good enough.  I am worried, however, that he says he hasn't received it or it is damaged, and Ebay refund him instead of paying me.  If he is genuine, he is of course at risk of it being lost or damaged while being transported from Heathrow to Saudi.  Aramex UK Ltd is a registered company with 2 directors giving the business address and stating they are UK residents and the other being a resident of the United Arab Emirates. On the Ebay forum, there are lots of posts about Aramex losing stuff, and a few good reviews which may be fake.  My instinct is not to send it, but if I list it again, what happens if he just buys it again?

soolin

racerlady said:

I listed a buy it now item for UK delivery only.  It was bought within a few hours by a chap living in Saudi Arabia who gave the UK address for delivery as Aramex.  He has bought other stuff in the UK with good feedback, but only small low value items.  He paid £575 for a rare motorcycle part.  Despite being an Ebay seller for 18 years and having sold many items, Ebay are holding the payment until 27th March on spurious grounds.  Ebay say that as long as I have proof of delivery to Aramex, that is good enough.  I am worried, however, that he says he hasn't received it or it is damaged, and Ebay refund him instead of paying me.  If he is genuine, he is of course at risk of it being lost or damaged while being transported from Heathrow to Saudi.  Aramex UK Ltd is a registered company with 2 directors giving the business address and stating they are UK residents and the other being a resident of the United Arab Emirates. On the Ebay forum, there are lots of posts about Aramex losing stuff, and a few good reviews which may be fake.  My instinct is not to send it, but if I list it again, what happens if he just buys it again?

These third party shippers are very common, you just need to get it to the UK address and as it's an expensive item I assume you have charged for an enhanced postage option with full delivery confirmation anyway.

Once it shows as delivered to the UK address you are covered against an INR. If courier loses it then its their problem not yours.

If buyer tries an INR claim then at best you can find the bit in the ebay rules that state if something is forwarded on then buyer loses buyer protection for an SNAD, At worst your only responsibility would be to provide a label for the UK address, buyer would have to get it back to the UK and then find a way of using your label for the UK bit before they got a refund.

It's up to you what you do of course , personally I would send it as I always think I have more protection from a third party shipper, if you do cancel then you may get a seller warning, ut you can block the buyer from buying again.

I've no idea why people are saying they are losing money on this as Aramex is partnered with ebay, I can only assume some sellers don't understand how they are supposed to ship., it isn't a service I see many complaints about on my trawls through the forums.

Aramex and eBay partner to support business growth of Asia Pacific SMEs and entrepreneurs (prnewswire.co.uk)

GadgetGuru

Send it - as soon as the item gets to Amarex and you have delivery conformation, then your part is done and you are covered. 

Any return label that you would have to supply in the event of a return would be from Aramex to you, and it would be up to the buyer to get it from Saudi Arabia to Aramex in the UK...

GrubbyGirl_2

I have sold several things to different buyers and sent to a shipping company at Heathrow who ships to the east.  Never had a problem (I use Royal Mail) and it's clear from the photo they take they send a lot of stuff there as they take a pic of a large trolley with RM sacks on.  Once it's there it's marked as delivered.  I always get positive feedback really quickly, in fact quicker than UK sales, so they clearly either ship really quickly or they open and examine before shipping

emmbrook

I do this myself so I can buy from sellers in the US who won’t ship internationally. I have them send to a shipping forwarder in New Hampshire who combine the packages for me and send them on.  Always works fine.

KxMx

I've had several buyers from China where I send to a UK address or two that acts as a forwarding agent.
No problems.