Seller getting ratty about me collecting an item!

Chris56000

Hi!

. .  I won and paid for,  a fairly large wooden case tape recorder last Monday and paid the final bid price to the Seller promptly!

. . .I advised the seller straight away after winning the item, that whilst I have access to a car I am unable to drive it myself due to having had eye surgery and would be relying on my friend to drive me to collect it (some 95 miles from home amongst miles of Bristol suburbia with no local bus stop, and this item has no carrying handle!).

The Seller is now getting ratty at me saying he wants it collecting tomorrow (Friday) – have I been any way unreasonable to this seller?

I have collected many other large pieces of electronics from sellers before on public transport, and most sellers are usually quite reasonable about keeping the purchase safe for me whilst I can either book a train ticket or ask my friend, but I feel this one is being a bit unreasonable in complaining so soon after purchase!

Suggestions?

elsien

You haven’t actually said when you plan to go and fetch it from him? 

se2020

You have not really been unreasonable but it might have been worth discussing your availability/transport issues with the seller before bidding.
The distance and availability of public transportation is of no relevance.  Providing the item location given in the listing was correct, how you get there to collect it is completely your issue, no reason for the seller to be sympathetic on that front.

On the other hand, when I list a collection only item, I would expect collection within 7 days (unless the buyer had agreed otherwise with me before bidding) so he's being a bit pushy if he's asking for Friday after a sale on Monday.
Presumably by 'last monday' you mean the 29th?

Also, as a seller, I would prefer the buyer to pay cash on collection, not pay via ebay stright away and then delay collection for days. Mainly because the seller gets nagging notifications from ebay as the item has been paid for but not dispatched. 
Additionally,  you have a bit more bargaining power around collection of an item that has not been paid for yet.

Other things that upset some sellers are items that are listed with a reasonably priced postage cost yet the buyer still wants to collect (after paying via ebay) meaning the seller has some arranging and waiting around.

As for suggestions,  If you can't make it tomorrow then not much the seller can do about that.
I'd just message them and apologise that you are unable to make Friday but give them a list of days & times you can make it and see what they say to that

theoretica

Did you win it ten days ago or three?  I think a seller should not assume something will be gone in under a week as so many people may only be available on certain days, but it is very reasonable for the seller to expect that within a week some definite proposals have been offered for when the collection could take place. 

If the seller is keen for collection within the week it is wise for them to mention that in the listing, if the buyer can't offer to collect within little more than a week it would be courteous to try to consult the seller before buying.  It is the unstated hopes and assumptions on both parts which lead to upset.

Chris56000

The seller didn't offer postage – I would gladly have paid for postage had it been offered – I'm not going to try and cart a large tape recorder without a carrying handle four or five hundred yards to the nearest bus stop if it isn't necessary !

. . .Yes, it was the 29th I bought the item and eBay doesn't offer "cash on collection".

. . .In all fairness I think there might have been a clue in the way the seller worded his description that the buyer had to "jump through all the hoops" with this seller but it wasn't very obvious to me!

. . .I have collected over two dozen heavy electronic items all over the UK before by bus or train before, and sellers have always been reasonable about either waiting till I could book the next available ticket, or they've offered to meet me at their nearest local station or bus stop, or taken a little bit of trouble to put packing round the item and make it easier to carry for me, and said afterwards they were pleased to help!

. . .I did offer to try and collect no later than next Sunday, the 4th, the 7th day after purchase, by which time I could possibly ask my friend to drive me!

. . .This is the first unaccommodating, unhelpful and impatient seller I have ever encountered regarding "collection only items", and I've told him if he wishes to cancel, that's at his discretion, but he will still have to refund me!



. . .Fair enough, if I lose this item because of a seller's intransigence it's not the end of the world, I'll wait till another of the same make and model comes up at a price I can afford that the seller will post without all this nonsense!

Chris56000

. . .After many Rantings And Ravings from my friend (which I am well used to!) he has agreed to drive me to Bristol for this machine tomorrow (it is near to Bath which he is interested in himself!), but as I say, I do think the seller could have been a little more accommodating in the time he allowed before arguing the toss over it!

Chris56000

. . .Just to give the other side of the coin, I won a CD player the Seller said "Collection Preferred" but when I contacted the (CD Player) seller to say it might be a problem, he came straight back with an acceptable postage price, absolutely no quibble, nor did he grumble about me being unable to collect it – he treated me with the same courtesy as I have always had in the past!

 I didn't ask the Tape Recorder Seller for anything other than a request for a reasonable amount of time to arrange collection, and he complained about it, not me!

sammyjammy

If it was a bus ride away why couldn't you have just got a taxi?

elsien

sammyjammy said:

If it was a bus ride away why couldn't you have just got a taxi?

For a journey that is 95 miles each way?

soolin

sammyjammy said:

If it was a bus ride away why couldn't you have just got a taxi?

As has been pointed out OP states it is 95 miles away.

OP , just to reassure you I don’t think you are at fault at all here. Firstly paying immediately with the new managed payments is perfectly acceptable and can reassure a nervous seller that you aren’t a time waster. As for collection time I think as long as both a buyer and seller have some flexibility and stay in touch a week or even more before collection is perfectly acceptable.

Just remember to have the QR code for collection to hand when collecting. 

BargainJunky

I can see it from both sides however I try my utmost to fit in with others especially if they are buying something that I basically want to get rid of.

I do think you should have asked about collection prior to bidding but as you have paid for the item I think they are being unreasonable in expecting immediate collection.

Hope collection goes well.