topic Re: Pickup Item in Selling

Pickup Item

14klippi — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:26:39 GMT

Just need a bit of advice from you experienced members.

Sold item yesterday and I stated in description that this was a pickup item and cash on pickup expeected. Buyer won and paid immediately by Paypal. Now wants to send a friend to collect item as he lives in Geelong area. I have no protection if I hand over this item and he says he has not received it. What to do? I phoned him and he assures me that all will be well as he is a Policeman and can be trusted. Can he get a refund from PP if he claims that he has not received item and can he claim if he says item not as described or faulty? Will it help me to get the friend to sign for the item that it has been received and is in good order?

Please help.

Re: Pickup Item

leader-of-the-band — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:41:56 GMT

I would be sending him a message to say that cash is preferred for pickup items and that you would like to refund the PayPal payment and have his friend pay cash when picking up.

There is no PayPal buyer or seller protection for pickup items.

If you included a postage option in your listing then some unscrupulous buyer might use this to try to scam you, but keep all messages between the two of you via eBay messages so you can clearly establish the circumstances surrounding the pickup.

If the PayPal payment is funded with a credit card then there is the possiblility of a credit acard chargeback at some time in the future (length of time depends on the card issuing authority/bank).

If he says he is a policeman then request his rank and station phone number and tell him you are going to phone him at the station so that you can feel better about having the friend pickup (you can always cross check the station phone number). If the information is not forthcoming then you need to be suspicious. If they say they are on leave and not at work then also be suspicious. Anyone can claim to be a policeman when talking over the phone, but taking a call at a police station is a whole different matter.

Re: Pickup Item

***super_nova*** — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:03:24 GMT

Aaagh, the old " I am a policeman, trust me" trick . However if you listed it as pick up only, they do not have PP protection anyway. Suggest that he pays by DD if there is a reason the friend cannot pay cash. Whatever, request the friend will show ID and take down their car rego.

Re: Pickup Item

*sparklz* — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:08:53 GMT

Tel the buyer you will want to see the drivers license of the one picking it up and you want to write down the details seen on that and his car rego for your protection.

Make it sound like you know exactly what are are on about and go from there.

If you have a partner there ask them to take photos of the hand over and them taking it to the car as well.

Re: Pickup Item

*new2vintage — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:25:35 GMT

He should have asked you if he could do all this first. That would have given you the chance to arrange things your way.

Re: Pickup Item

putney32 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:36:13 GMT

although there is no PayPal buyer or seller protection on pickups, if he funded the paypal payment with a c/card he has about 6 months to do a chargeback via his bank for 'unauthorized' use of the c/card and paypal will NOT fight the chargeback, just take the money from yr ac

Re: Pickup Item

a_beautiful_room — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:56:51 GMT

Oh for pete's sake. It's a child's toy. There is no buyer protection for a pick up item paid with paypal. He's paid. You've got the money, and the item. Let his friend pick it up, say thank you and stop alarming the OP with scammers around every corner. As if in 6 months he is going to say there was unauthorised use of his credit card. It makes perfect sense to me that he's a policeman, and he's buying a toy police car for his small son for Chrissy to be like Daddy.

Re: Pickup Item

*new2vintage — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:00:19 GMT

You are a good " detective. " !

Re: Pickup Item

a_beautiful_room — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:16:36 GMT

No I just am just a realist.

Re: Pickup Item

*sparklz* — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:56:10 GMT

So treat it all like a possible scam and protect yourself and if nothing bad happens then that is a bonus.

Re: Pickup Item

14klippi — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:15:50 GMT

Thanks all for your advice. It is a childs toy but I really wanted the buyer to check out the item and to see that everything satisfactory before taking delivery. At any rate his little one will be happy imitating his dad with this little car. Cheers everyone and have a wonderful festive season.

Re: Pickup Item

leader-of-the-band — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:25:15 GMT

. . . stop alarming the OP with scammers around every corner. As if in 6 months he is going to say there was unauthorised use of his credit card.

the advice given in these forums is for the broader eBay community and not just for the OP. There would be readers of this thread who are probably wondering the same thing as the OP (without starting a thread or contributing to this one) and reading the responses to guide them in their actions. If the advice given here is just "He's paid. You've got the money, and the item. Let his friend pick it up, say thank you" and not cautionary in nature then some other members may find themselves posting their own thread and saying something like "I read on these boards some time back that PayPal for pickup was fine and I have just had a chargeback for an item I sold as pickup three months ago . . please help".

Advising that cash on pickup is the best way to go, regardless of the item and value of the item, is sound advice on a forum.

Re: Pickup Item

a_beautiful_room — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:36:01 GMT

While your response is valid leader-of-the-band in my ebay experience you can barely get an ebayer to read a title or description for any listing let alone be searching the boards for a thread that might pertain to their situation.

And in reality, I would say that in these situations MOST people are not scammers. So my advice is to MOST people. In reality even if you had a receipt signed by the collector and a photograph of them taking the item, not only would the person picking up think you were a complete nutter, I doubt if it were queried 6 months later whether you had this information carefully filed away to produce on demand.

Doing a bank chargeback is not as simple as people may think, it's frustrating, time consuming, and the banks just don't give you your money back without a tedious and lengthly investigation.

I've been on ebay 8 years, had heaps of items paid with paypal and picked up and have never had the slightest worry. Even for very expensive items. I understand these things happen, I just think the general distrust for such an innocent exchange in circumstances such as this is unwarranted.