Can’t give potential buyer my address to view furniture or I’ll get charge final vale fee?

[mica357_4]

This is a new one.

im selling some furniture and a potential buyer wants to view prior to bidding - fair enough. So I try and send him my address and I get an eBay warning message that “providing my personal details will result in a final value fee being charged to me regardless”.

what? 

People cant view your items because if they decide “no, too big, wrong colour thanks but sorry I’ll say no” I still have to pay eBay final value fees on an item that someone didn’t buy?

i mean, I know that people are ripping eBay off by selling “off eBay” to avoid fees but how can I let a potential buyer view my furniture?

Next PayPal will be telling me I can’t take cash upon collection because PayPal will miss out on their cut of the sale money!

[go-tazz]

Unfortunately nothing you can do and the only way that I've found around it is to list at auction and they have

to win the auction and then you can send an invoice and they select Pay on pickup and then you can send an

invoice with your address details,(as long as they don't have to pay straight away with a BIN I presume it would

work the same way),

If they then turn up but don't want it you can claim your fees back and relist it,(next it will be if you don't relist it

eBay will claim that it's been sold and wont refund the fees or they'll make up a policy to that effect).

They've probably learned from Gumtree that a lot of "buyers" don't turn up and things aren't sold so they

automatically believe that items are sold if they aren't relisted,(when in reality they've probably given them away

as they are sick of dealing with Gumtree),

One of my pickup items sold last week was bought via PP and the buyer will always pay that way as you can't

convince them that they have no protection on a pickup item,

[springyzone]

I don't know that ebay is the best way to sell big items like furniture. It's a shame really as I think ebay gets a lot more interest than Gumtree, which I have found is quieter than ever before-probably due to all the facebook selling pages, which are going gangbusters.

But on those, some people make blatantly rude offers & I have even noticed some others (who are neither buying nor selling) go in just to make insulting comments to some of the sellers about their items.

I think the best suggestion is what go tazz said, but it may be that many buyers will still not be willing to commit to buy, not without seeing first.

Re paypal for pick up etc.

It used to be my understanding (from these forums) that anyone paying via paypal for a pick up item was not covered.

But about 3 years back, we made a sale for a smallish pick up item, but had to open an unpaid item dispute after 2 weeks of being ignored or given the run around. The buyer then surprised us & immediately paid via paypal. Should point out the buyer was a very experienced seller.

He then claimed paypal meant we were obligated to post the item at no extra cost to him (and no, we were not).

So he then went straight to paypal for a refund on the basis he 'couldn't pick up' (from next suburb).

He was granted a full refund because as the paypal rep said, he had nothing for his money. My sister rang ebay and was promised her fees back but never got them & the buyer of course did not get a strike for an unpaid item.

So it seems to me that paypal will cover a buyer in certain circumstances. All a buyer would need to say is they were unable to collect the item or transport it. And voila, a refund and no strike.

[foxette-in-sox]

Can't help with an answer but agree with Springy that listing large furniture items is better off being

done via either gumtree or facebook, irrespective of the tyre kickers, as no fees. WHEN I do list on

gumtree, I DON'T tick the box to accept Paypal.

On the positive side, at least you have 16 bids so far which is better than none-good luck with your

selling anyway 🙂

[imastawka]

Write your address on a piece of paper and take a photo.

Send it as an attachment.

I've heard that this works cos the bots can't pick that up.

[melinachristina]

Stawks is right. It does work, or at least up until now.

Caution though, because you don’t know who you are dealing with in most cases and technology will eventually catch up with it, especially here on ‘Paranoid eBay.’ And, you’ll probably only know, when caught out, sadly.

But for now, it works.

Judgement call.

Melina.

[pebblespaws64]

I had this issue. 

I rang ebay to discuss how I would allow someone to discuss viewing at item.

Ebay told me, that you just go into your (I think it was site preferences, or commucation preferences) prefereces

and enter your mobile number. It makes it public so that people can contact you.  Buyers can go in and view your mobile number.

That way you can exchange details over the phone.

Ebay just wants you to do things so that they can see.

So this is the solution. 

If you have trouble, finding where to put it, just call them and they will direct you

[countessalmirena]

@pebblespaw64,

To the best of my knowledge, the eBay representative has misinformed you. The Member-to-member contact policy is very strict:

❝Members can send messages to each other through eBay. We encourage open communication between our members but we don't allow our members to use these options to send spam, offers to buy or sell off eBay, threats, profanity or hate speech. We also don't allow members to offer, reference or request email addresses, phone numbers or other contact information, physical addresses, web addresses or links within eBay messaging systems (Best Offer, eBay Messages etc.). eBay may monitor messages sent through eBay and between users for fraud, abuse, spam and other violations of eBay's policies.❞

You may want to read through this thread.

There is certainly the ability for some sellers to include phone numbers in their stores or on listings, available for any potential buyer to see. Such sellers appear to be the big players. (For example, Myer, Peter's of Kensington.) However, other big players still appear not to have been able to share their phone number and pickup address (e.g., Stan Cash.).

As a general rule, sellers are not permitted to share their contact information with potential buyers, and if the potential buyer and the seller attempt to do so anyway, the information will not be delivered and both members will be thrown to the floor and struck very roughly by eBay.

Here's the actual wording by eBay: ❝To keep everyone safe on eBay, please don't send messages that include contact info. Repeated attempts could lead to an account suspension or other penalties. Learn more about our member-to-member contact policy.❞

 Sellers can provide contact information post-sale only (again, as a general rule).