eBay listing showed 'Free Postage' and 'Collection', but description said 'Collection Only'.

DAztagnan

Hi everyone,
I'm just looking for a little advice as to the best steps to take regarding an item I won on eBay.
I was sent a link to an auction item which was about to end, and by the time I had logged in, there was only just time to make my bid, (less than twenty seconds). I was the only bidder and won the item.
Here's where my problem started, the listing showed both 'Free 3-4 day Postage', and 'Free Collection', (which I had seen), however, within the description, (which I had not seen), the Seller had typed "Collection Only". I contacted them immediately after winning, requesting the 'free postage' option, which they promptly declined, stating that they 'will not be posting the item'.
Now I know I cannot force them to post it, and have no intention of arranging a courier or collecting it myself. I have not yet paid for the item, which I must do today, before the Seller cancels my order, and subsequently destroys my 100% feedback score, (the Seller also has 100% feedback and a significantly higher score).
My assumption is that I should pay for the item, then report the Seller for not shipping it, when it does not arrive, but is that my best course of action? If I pay, (via PayPal, which will expose my personal details), and don't collect, what will happen? Essentially what steps should I take to protect my feedback, and remain within the eBay rules/Policies?
Thank you for your time, and any advice in advance.

soolin

DAztagnan said:

Hi everyone,
I'm just looking for a little advice as to the best steps to take regarding an item I won on eBay.
I was sent a link to an auction item which was about to end, and by the time I had logged in, there was only just time to make my bid, (less than twenty seconds). I was the only bidder and won the item.
Here's where my problem started, the listing showed both 'Free 3-4 day Postage', and 'Free Collection', (which I had seen), however, within the description, (which I had not seen), the Seller had typed "Collection Only". I contacted them immediately after winning, requesting the 'free postage' option, which they promptly declined, stating that they 'will not be posting the item'.
Now I know I cannot force them to post it, and have no intention of arranging a courier or collecting it myself. I have not yet paid for the item, which I must do today, before the Seller cancels my order, and subsequently destroys my 100% feedback score, (the Seller also has 100% feedback and a significantly higher score).
My assumption is that I should pay for the item, then report the Seller for not shipping it, when it does not arrive, but is that my best course of action? If I pay, (via PayPal, which will expose my personal details), and don't collect, what will happen? Essentially what steps should I take to protect my feedback, and remain within the eBay rules/Policies?
Thank you for your time, and any advice in advance.

Firstly the seller cannot trash your feedback score in any way, they are only able to leave you a positive.

Tell seller they need to cancel the sale , if they don't do that and you are anywhere near the 4 day time limit for the NPB case to be opened and closed then just pay. It all goes via managed payments anyway so seller only sees your address as they would for any other payment. Then I suspect seller will either just refund you, or harrass you for a few days about collection- to which you reply calmly that item shows as free postage but you are happy to have a refund if that is the case.

If neither happens just open an NPB as soon as you can.

The fact that postage was showing is a seller error - and this is a very common error made by sellers, but usually they accept the error and just cancel the sale, means you would win an INR.

if you don't pay and seller does the NPB on you then you get a warning strike, that in itself isn't an issue unless you get 2 in a year for any reason , but with 2 a lot of sellers will automatically block you from bidding. 

Personally if you are approaching the 4 days I would pay but allow seller to refund with no loss of face or reputation on either side. A good seller would have accepted their error and cancelled the sale using one of the mutually accepted reasons. 

DAztagnan

Just for clarification, the four day time limit for payment is today. There is therefore a strong possibility that negotiation will not have resolved a cancellation within that timeframe. I had told them I was holding off on payment until they agreed to ship it, and that was three days ago.

I had thought, as the item also had a 'Make an Offer' option, that they would be reasonable, but it appears not. I do not believe that they will even entertain packaging the item so that I could arrange a courier to collect it.

For a little background the winning bid was £35, and the item is probably worth over double that, the postage cost will probably not be cheap, (around 2m long 10cm tube), and it would cost me £200 return trip to collect it.

My best guess is that they would have been willing to have posted the item, had sufficient funds been bid on it, but that was not the case, and as a result, they have no intention of doing so. With their 100% seller feedback score of 192, I doubt that this was a mistake, more like a deliberate error in order to attract a greater number of bidders, (like me), who saw the 'Free 3-4 day postage' option, thus inflating their potential earnings.

So, to clarify your advice soolin, my best course of action is to message them asking for a cancellation, (and they cannot call me a timewaster or affect my feedback). If that isn't resolved before the end of the day, then just pay the money, and see what happens.

soolin

If you are already on day 4 I’d just pay now, it doesn’t look like they are going to cancel and are probably hoping to give you an NPB strike.