I sold my old PC on ebay on Saturday as a local pick-up only item. Buyer initially contacted me saying he would like to collect it on Monday after 12pm. I apologised that I would be at work, offering as an alternative evenings after 6:30pm, all day Tuesdays and Thursdays (work at home) and weekends. I've also pointed out that it's difficult for me to change my commuting times because I have advance train tickets.
He lives in Slough but works in Reading Mon/Wed/Fri, and wants one of those days at either 8am or 4pm when he arrives/leaves. Also wants "2 minutes to check the PC". Mrs F is at home this Wednesday so offered 7:45, but she isn't happy having a stranger come in the house playing with a PC, so I have said it must be pick-up at the door only. Haven't got a reply yet. He hasn't paid yet either, but has said will pay Paypal.
Am I being unreasonable? I don't think the hours I'm offering are restrictive as a private seller, and that as the buyer of a local pick-up only item he should be prepared to drive over from Slough (35 mile round trip) at the weekend if he can't do a weekday evening, although I haven't told him that (yet). However it looks like I might have to compromise if I want to get positive feedback.
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You are being perfectly reasonable, and I wouldn't think he's entitled to "play" with the PC either. eBay sale means sold as seen and as described.
Do you perhaps have a neighbour who would be willing to let the buyer collect it from them, without the "playing" of course? Tell the buyer that if he's dissatisfied with the PC once he's got it home, you'll go and collect it from him and give him his money back so long as the complaint is justified.
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>> eBay sale means sold as seen and as described.
Yes, that's something else I haven't mentioned to him yet :)
>> Do you perhaps have a neighbour who would be willing to let the buyer collect
>> it from them, without the "playing" of course?
Mrs F can do that bit - just doesn't want him in the house.
>> Tell the buyer that if he's dissatisfied
>> with the PC once he's got it home, you'll go and collect it from him
>> and give him his money back so long as the complaint is justified.
I did ask whether he could give it a go at work during the day and bring it back when he goes home at 4 if there's a problem. Bit wary of offering to pick up from him as at the moment I think he's still not sure it's what he wants. I have asked him what it is he wants to check, other than whether it works.
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When I get bad vibes over a buyer like this I usually just tell them it's obvious it won't work out and to forget it. Never had a negative feedback yet from this. I'd happily absorb the lost sale fee and re-list with more careful info on my availability.
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>> When I get bad vibes over a buyer like this I usually just tell them
>> it's obvious it won't work out and to forget it.
Mmm... tempting. However I think I'll wait for his reply to my last offer first.
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Something else - I sold the PC with keyboard/mouse, (cheap) speakers and old 17" CRT to try and get rid of some stuff as well as get a better price. After winning, buyer says he doesn't want those and asked for a discount.
I made a joke along the lines of my wife would kill me if I don't get rid of it all, but that's another little annoyance - for all I know the 2nd highest bidder might have been delighted to get all the extras. But I guess buyer might not see it that way.
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Buyer sounds a royal pain in the posterior. You buys something on eBay, you pays and you collects.
After hearing about him not wanting the peripherals I'm inclined to take Fenlander's view and tell him (nicely) to do one.
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Sounds dodgy. Unless he agrees to your T&Cs I'd decline the transaction and offer second chance to the underbidder.
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>>Something else - After winning, buyer says he doesn't want those and asked for a discount.
Stop faffing about.
You know the guy doesn't want it. Some people bid and when they win, they think they may have overpaid and start finding excuses not to take it.
Be decisive.. Do as Fenlander suggests at Tue 8 Mar 11 10:50.
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>> Be decisive.. Do as Fenlander suggests at Tue 8 Mar 11 10:50.
Only problem is Mrs F really does want it out of the house - it's been sitting around for a while now. If I told her it was staying for at least another week I can see her taking matters into her own hands and it ending up on Freecycle, or the local tip...
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 11:21
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>> Only problem is Mrs F really does want it out of the house - it's
>> been sitting around for a while now. If I told her it was staying for
>> at least another week I can see her taking matters into her own hands and
>> it ending up on Freecycle, or the local tip...
>>
Better to keep Mrs F happy and give it away on Freecycle, than be messed around on ebay by a cheapskate.
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>> Better to keep Mrs F happy and give it away on Freecycle, than be messed
>> around on ebay by a cheapskate.
Well I've just emailed the buyer asking if he would prefer it if I relisted. Actually it would be a 'second chance offer' where you put a buy-it-now price on equal to the 2nd highest bid so it should go quickly. The 2nd highest bidder seemed quite keen - he had me doing all sorts of tests on it using Virtualbox before the auction ended.
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The deal is done and the buyer asks for a discount?
Am I missing something here? Surely the price agreed is part of a contract, which was finalised when the winning bid concluded the auction?
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>> Am I missing something here? Surely the price agreed is part of a contract, which
>> was finalised when the winning bid concluded the auction?
Indeed - no real harm in asking I suppose, but doesn't bode well.
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I sold a dead laptop on ebay two weeks ago but haven't been paid. I've opened a dispute so we'll see what happens. I'm really hacked off, because 3 potential buyers asked if there was a "buy now" price, which there wasn't, so I added one and this particular oik did buy it. It's all made more complicated because I live in Austria and sold it on Ebay's austrian site...all in german...luckily the site layout is almost identical to the UK one so I can work through the bits I don't understand!
Beats me why people are quick to buy but fail to materialise or get awkward.
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>>> I sold the PC with keyboard/mouse, (cheap) speakers and old 17" CRT to try and get rid of some stuff as well as get a better price. After winning, buyer says he doesn't want those and asked for a discount.
Oh I've 100% had it with this guy now! I will offer every reasonable assistance for a buyer to collect bulky items but never let them mess with my life. I wonder what this fetched? Before now in similar (rare though) circumstances I've taken stuff to the tip same day and had the pleasure of telling the buyer where it is.
Do bear in mind you should resist a Paypal payment if you do let him collect after all.... it will add a whole layer of possible messing about when he finds a bit of dust on the motherboard and reverses the payment.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 11:41
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>> I wonder what this fetched?
Err... £61. That's for an E1400 with 2GB RAM, 250GB disk but perhaps crucially no Windows, so didn't think it was too bad. Did try asking more on the local free ads website but no takers.
I'm hoping he's going to accept my offer to relist now.
EDIT: and thanks for the Paypal tip - plenty of dust on the motherboard :)
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 11:46
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£61...
Ahh that's a bit of a not sure what to do price. My gleeful runs to the tip have been with items nearer £30 where the loss of sale price plus fees is just about OK. Ebay is great when it's working for you but knowing when to cut and run is important. I have items listed (all BIN) this week that total £35. If they don't sell the bin beckons on day 7.
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>> >>>
>>
>> and reverses the payment.
>>
That's the snag with PayPal. Everyone thinks it is safe and when a deals's done, you have got your money, but it's really no safer than a cheque without a guarantee card.
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I'm sorry, but if I bought a computer from you on eBay I'd want to have five minutes checking to see if it works.
Oldest scam in the world is to sell somebody something you say works, and then give them a non-working one.
I think you'd be being utterly unreasonable in not letting him try it out and I would leave negative f/b and not complete the deal if somebody tried that on me.
Clearly however you and the buyer have a logistical issue which may mean you cannot do the deal at all.
Whatever happens, don't take paypal for an item that is picked up; they can do a chargeback too easily.
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>> I'm sorry, but if I bought a computer from you on eBay I'd want to
>> have five minutes checking to see if it works.
I don't think that's unreasonable in itself if that's all he wants to do, although I get the impression it's not.
Also, if I'm buying off someone with good feedback, I would be testing to make sure it hadn't stopped working since last time it was turned on rather than avoiding a scam. No doubt it happens though.
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>>Also, if I'm buying off someone with good feedback, I would be testing to make sure it
>>hadn't stopped working since last time it was turned on rather than avoiding a scam.
Good feedback is easily achieved. Save it all up for a big £61 scam...
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£61 is bread and butter money... never think twice about buy/sells at similar amounts. £6000 then I'm a bit more careful.
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>> £61 is bread and butter money... never think twice about buy/sells at similar amounts. £6000
>> then I'm a bit more careful.
But it's not about the £61, is it. It's about a large pile of electrical equipment that you would then have to take to the tip in order to be legal!
I was amazed at the bloke I sold a car to who gave me £500 in notes in a BP garage and signed the form and I walked away and left him to work out how to start the car.
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>>> utterly unreasonable in not letting him try it out and I would leave negative f/b and not complete the deal if somebody tried that on me.
Why? EBay is based on trust with feedback/payment reversals as just two of the sanctions available to a buyer if there are problems. If the item was posted you would have to pay before it was even sent.
I'm happy to be offered a trial of a collection item but can't think of the last time I insisted on a demo.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 11:53
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Feedback is no sanction at all.
Payment reversal is no sanction if you paid with cash at the front door - and you reminded OP to make sure he did.
For £61 I'd be most miffed that I'd ended up with a load of non-working junk.
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>>>For £61 I'd be most miffed that I'd ended up with a load of non-working junk.
Then avoid it by not buying from sellers of such stuff.
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>>
>>
>> I think you'd be being utterly unreasonable in not letting him try it out and
>> I would leave negative f/b and not complete the deal if somebody tried that on
>> me.
>>
>>
>>
That's why people go round and view things first before bidding. The whole point about eBay is you buy things as seen - that's why they are cheap. If you don't like it, go to a computer shop and buy one with a guarantee and a maintenance contract.
I get the feeling this bloke wants to turn up with a full diagnostics kit.
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>>The whole point about eBay is you buy things as seen - that's why they are cheap.
No it's not.
I bet OP listed it as "full working order". So the buyer paid "FWO" price. And in handing over the money you want to check that it is as described.
Nobody goes to view things before bidding! Ever!
>>I get the feeling this bloke wants to turn up with a full diagnostics kit.
OP says he asked for "two minutes".
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Mappy, would you be willing to share your eBay ID? So I can add you to my list of blocked users, along with Bigtee?
:-)
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Good points Cliff. If someone can convince me it's important they view/try before buying I might allow it but after the auction closes they've already bought it based on your description... too late to start looking.
I must say from hundreds of items sold I don't think even once has a viewer been the eventual buyer. just as a factual example the 8 highest value items I've sold on Ebay (total £19,600) have all sold to folks who bought on the description and never viewed. Out of those only 2 had any interest in looking at the item before taking it away.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 12:08
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The daft thing is *2 mins* will not in any way check a PC hasn't some serious issues.... Ok you prove it turns on but a PC needs to do way more than that.
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I'm with MM on this, if its advertised as "working" then thats what it should be and if it isn't then I'd want a refund... Can't see what your problem is with that, A!
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hobby, I think you've misread the thread. You're with me and Fenlander, not Mappy.
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The guarantee that things are as advertised comes via the communication facility and feedback. Someone with 100% feedback will not want to jeopadise it by mistating its condition. The more they sell the more they want to maintain their clean record.
It's the taxi-driver analogy.
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>> You're with me and Fenlander, not Mappy.
>>
I'm confused, I know that! My thoughts are that if its advertised as working then if I collect it I should be able to see it working... Not sure who I'm with... Perhaps I'm on my own!! ;-)
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Ah, my point is that if it's on sale with a reputable eBay seller and advertised as working, then that should be taken as read and you shouldn't need to see it working before buying.
Once you've made the winning bid on eBay, you're committed. That's the point of it all. Winning an item does not mean the beginnings of negotiations on price, nor a request for a "test drive". It's a commitment to buy as seen.
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>> >> You're with me and Fenlander, not Mapmaker.
>> >>
>>
>> I'm confused, I know that! My thoughts are that if its advertised as working then
>> if I collect it I should be able to see it working... Not sure who
>> I'm with... Perhaps I'm on my own!! ;-)
You're certainly with me, hobby.
What's the point in not spending two minutes checking it's right when you collect, rather than relying on a useless arbitration process to sort it out afterwards. Or, yippy doo dar, the chance to leave negative feedback!
Even if you've viewed it before bidding, you still want to check that it still works by the time of sale, don't you. If you've driven 200 miles to collect, you want to make sure that the vendor hasn't accidentally forgotten to put a crucial piece in the box - necessitating another 400 mile round trip.
Two people enter into a contract to buy and sell a working and complete piece of equipment. If you turn up with cash, thus fulfilling your side of the bargain, you should check that the other party is also fulfilling their side of the bargain.
When I'm the seller, I insist on showing the item to the buyer, just so as to avoid any danger of misunderstanding later. (Except for the car, where we didn't speak the same language...)
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 15:40
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If you're driving 200 miles for a 61 quid computer, you're a fool.
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Clearly a lie :). Would cost at least £30 in fuel and I could build that new for £90 without Windows.
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He's bought the thing on the basis of your description. He comes to collect it and goes away with it. Anything you do to assist is up to you. I think that he should have paid you by now.
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>> He's bought the thing on the basis of your description. He comes to collect it
>> and goes away with it. Anything you do to assist is up to you. I
>> think that he should have paid you by now.
>>
Exactly, then IF it does not work as described he can contact you to seek a resolution and leave negative feedback if not satisfied.
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Exackerly, FT and Cheddar.
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Tell Rattle to stick his £61 and go pester another ebay seller.
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>> FT: I think that he should have paid you by now.
NEVER accept a paypal payment for something that is collected. A chargeback can be achieved with a click ofa button and then you're stuck.
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>> >> FT: I think that he should have paid you by now.
>>
>>
>> NEVER accept a paypal payment for something that is collected. A chargeback can be achieved
>> with a click ofa button and then you're stuck.
>>
What if you withdraw the money from your paypal account to your linked personal current account, shirley they cant get hold of the funds there?
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Doesn't work. They issue a charge back which puts your account in debit, so essentially you can't use the account. Then when you don't recover the situation to zero balance they start issuing the legal threats.
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I think... but can't find it now... they changed the user agreement a few months back so they can recover monies through your bank or credit card however you were paid. I still insist on cash when stuff is collected as you at least start with the upper hand.
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I stated payment before collection or cash on collection, so I can't stop him using Paypal before he arrives, if he turns up (hasn't replied to email yet). I'll know for next time.
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£61 is a very good price, he probably wants to put an ilegal copy of Windows on it and perhaps upgrade the processor.
As for the discount tell him to ****.
Makes me realise just how worthless my desktops are though I am just hanging onto them for when I move into a workshop.
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>> Makes me realise just how worthless my desktops are though I am just hanging onto
>> them for when I move into a workshop.
>>
Keep them Son. They'll come in handy if you never use them!
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The only way to avoid a paypal chargeback against 'goods not received' is to be able to show an online tracked signature. You're warned abut this when ccepting payments.
Never accept paypal for collect in person. You're always at risk of losing the money.
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The real problem is that eBay FORCE you to use their subsidiary company, Paypal, so they can stuff you for their listing and final value fees plus finance fees.
If someone wants to pay by Paypal you cannot stop them.
I've just got back from a 430 mile round trip to collect an Ercol table. Payment was by bank transfer and when we arrived the table was very professionally wrapped in black polythene.
The sellers sister was a bit put out that we insisted on stripping the plastic off the table top to inspect it!
Mind you we paid top dollar for a table with the most beautiful graining and there was no way we were going to take it away sight unseen!
Last edited by: Roger on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 20:59
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>>If someone wants to pay by Paypal you cannot stop them.
Yes you can. You can refund them. And refuse to give them the item until they give you cash.
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Yes... I've done that before and the buyer refused to bring cash so the deal was off. They claimed they had a 10% off voucher for paying by Paypal... I suspected they were the type to mess me about after getting the item home (£150 chicken house).
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I can't remember how you do it (is there a "Reject Payment" button?) but M is right. I've done this when I received payment by Paypal e-cheque ("will take up to 2 weeks to clear") from the buyer's friend NOT from the buyer's account. I already had bad vibes but that was the final straw.
John
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Don't negotiate with him about it all. Ask him to pick a collection time when it's suitable for you on a weekend. Tell him you'll show it working and request cash on collection. If you can't get him to fix a day & time using the link below. You'll find it's easier to resolve when it's done by voice
tinyurl.com/6f9aj6j
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ebay local pick-up issue - Alanovich
