What do I do now"

[lojomojo7]

What do I do now?

26th January a buyer buys a $2 item

27th January buyer request pick up. I agree. later contacting ebay to get the fee on postage refunded and they did.

2nd February buyer pays by paypal, and want's me to hand deliver the item to the other end of town. I refuse as it would cost me more than that for fuel.

They arrange various dates for pick up but never show up.

It is now 16 days since they first won the item.

I told them that if they didn,t pick up by Wednesday, i would refund their money and cancel the purchase.  Should I do that.?

I don't know what else to do as I am so sick of waiting.

[lane-ends]

Unpaid item dispute process. should have done it ages ago. It is these low value items that people buy because they are a bargain rather than because they really need them that causes these problems.

Don't do pick ups for cheap items either they are not worth your time and effort.

99cent single bid auctions are a pain for this.

[lojomojo7]

I can't do unpaid item dispute because they paid, but they just won't come to pick it up. 

[springyzone · Accepted solution]

We had the exact same scenario happen late last year, only with us it was for a bulk lot of DVDs, $60 worth.

My advice is do nothing at this stage. Absolutely do not offer to refund or in any way cancel the transaction. Why should you?

Just send a polite PM stating a couple of dates/times you are free and ask them to contact you to confirm a time or arrange a different mutually agreeable time. Also write that should they prefer postage, that will be an extra X amount.

After that, forget it, just pop the item away in storage in case they turn up in the next month.

 After a couple of months though, I wouldn't hold it for them.

There are a couple of things that could happen. They might just ignore it and let it slide. In that case, you will still have their $2 but really, you deserve it for the hassle and time.

The other thing that could happen and what happened to us was the buyer might ring paypal and explain they cannot pick up & in that case, paypal will refund them their money.  If that happens, because the buyer chose to cancel out, you should get your fees back and paypal reps will say you will get the fees back but double check as I know my sister didn't without a fight later.

The really nifty thing about this from the buyer's point of view is they are fully covered, they get no unpaid item strike, nothing. So a buyer can buy what they like for pick up, pay via paypal and then if they change their mind, just ring and say they can't get over to collect.

[lojomojo7]

thanks for that, I think I will just wait and see what happens.

[phorum_junkie*]

Unless they funded the $2 with a credit card they have no buyer protection for a pick up item so as long as they paid on an ivoice with no postage included in the payment they cannot win a dispute anyway.

I would send one last message advising that they puchased with an agreement to come and collect the item and they should now do so.

After that you should just ignore them and stash their item away unless they ever turn up.