Help with super nervous seller!

[sea.breeze]

I'm in QLD, I just bought a p/u dehumidifer from NSW, because they had the original packing box. I checked with the seller about the box and that I needed that for the courier. OK so I won the auction and paid for the item which is only $150. Then I booked a courier to collect and sent the seller a courier label to affix to the item. Everyone was happy.

Suddenly today I get a paypal refund as the seller cancelled.

He somehow thinks this is a scam, even though I've sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff over 15 years he thinks this is some elaborate fraud. I ask him what is he worried about he's already been paid, he says he has trawled through the PayPal website and says because I'm picking it up, after it's collected somehow I can change the delivery address and say that I never received it.

I tried to explain that 1. That is not possible, it has a label on it, and 2. Even if it was possible he isn't responsible for the delivery as I picked it up. Then he checked my address and finds out that there's air b&b downstairs so that 'set his alarm bells off', so I said I can scan my drivers license with my address but that's apparently not good enough.

If it wasn't for the fact that he has a box I wouldn't bother. As far as I can see there is not possible way that he can be scammed in the way that he's claiming.

What say you people, if he asks you for advice what would you tell him? I'll refer him to this thread. Any further questions just ask.

Meantime I'll have to cancel the courier for the moment. Which by the way is TNT/Smartsend.

[digital*ghost]

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@4channel wrote:

It may be worthwhile considering the possibility that the seller doesn't want to sell you the item.  Could there be another reason, one that he isn't disclosing?

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For heaven's sake - how is any of what follows in your post worthwhile to consider at this point? What exactly would considering that do, aside from the potential to make OP mad about (the possibility of) something you also happen to be pretty consistently mad about? 

Do you really think a seller who is willing to just outright assume a buyer will scam them - and convey that assumption to said buyer - is covering for other concerns? Like, to me "nah, I didn't get enough money" seems a much better way to withdraw from a transaction than "nah, you're gonna scam me", lol....if one had to choose. 

Sometimes you really do just go too far, and I don't understand why you are so willing to try and put this illogical theorising in people's heads  - "is he lazy?". The seller listed a pick-up item for people to come and pick up, in which he would have to arrange date and time for that to occur, but there's a possibility they'd be "too lazy" for a courier to do that instead of a buyer? 

BTW, unless / until you know more about how scams are pulled using couriers services (which the buyer arranged), please don't assume you how to avoid or protect against them (some are actually impossible). 

[springyzone]

I am glad you ended getting what you needed elsewhere.

With regards to the ebay purchase though, I think the problem here is you bought a pick up item.

Had you been able to pick up in person, I suspect all would have gone well.

It is the fact there was a courier in the equation that made the seller worried.

Now I know you said your feedback is solid and I believe you, but it sounds as if the seller got worried he was dealing with someone with way more experience who may have known what to do if they decided they weren't happy or if they decided to make trouble.

Many years ago, one of my most problematic sales was of a pick up item that an interstate buyer wanted us to courier to her. She ended up not happy with the item, I don't know why. She thought it would be 'better'. It was exactly as described and photographed in numerous shots but thye courier cost a lot more than the item so I think she was looking at the item (an artist's table) and judging it as a $170 item rather than the $60 or $70 it actually was. But what a headache it was. It was before paypal so she just had to lump it but it swore us off interstate buyers for pick up items.

I don't think your seller was ever going to change his mind once he was spooked. When that happens, you may as well move on, always.

[4channel]

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@4channel wrote:

It may be worthwhile considering the possibility that the seller doesn't want to sell you the item.  Could there be another reason, one that he isn't disclosing?

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@digital*ghost wrote:

For heaven's sake - how is any of what follows in your post worthwhile to consider at this point? What exactly would considering that do, aside from the potential to make OP mad about (the possibility of) something you also happen to be pretty consistently mad about? 

Do you really think a seller who is willing to just outright assume a buyer will scam them - and convey that assumption to said buyer - is covering for other concerns? Like, to me "nah, I didn't get enough money" seems a much better way to withdraw from a transaction than "nah, you're gonna scam me", lol....if one had to choose. 

Sometimes you really do just go too far, and I don't understand why you are so willing to try and put this illogical theorising in people's heads  - "is he lazy?". The seller listed a pick-up item for people to come and pick up, in which he would have to arrange date and time for that to occur, but there's a possibility they'd be "too lazy" for a courier to do that instead of a buyer? 

BTW, unless / until you know more about how scams are pulled using couriers services (which the buyer arranged), please don't assume you how to avoid or protect against them (some are actually impossible). 

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Simmer down amigo. I'm just running a possibility for consideration. And that's it! We're going on what the OP has told us right! And for the record I believe the version of events that the OP has given us for consideration.

I have dealt with lazy sellers before. Once on gumtree a seller was moaning and groaning about packing. As a result the sale fell through. Multiple times on eBay I have been a victim of lazy sellers.

I've sold before and I tell you now if a winning eBayer had rung me up, a winning eBayer with a great buying a selling history such as the OP's, I would  have no reservations about sending an item via courier that the OP had arranged. And after having talked to the OP on the phone, most likely with a phone number in the called list. I would be doubly satisfied.

There could be more to this than just a seller who is nervous about what??? Nervous about a buyer with a fantastic reputation?? Come on!

[digital*ghost]

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@4channel wrote:

Simmer down amigo. I'm just running a possibility for consideration. And that's it!

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Ok but why tho?

That was my point, if a seller withdraws from a sale, and the buyer moves on from that sale and purchases elsewhere, as what has happened here, what difference does it make, or - more to my original point - how does it help to wonder, if the seller withdrew because of reason A or reason B?

Your post is a prime example of the type of post you make that caused me to ask you several months ago if you had an agenda with this hyper-fixation on bringing unrelated threads around to the topic of sellers withdrawing from sale due to low prices acheived, and this one in particular frustrated me because it really doesn't make a difference that I can see. 

It frustrates me even more because - while I disagree with you more often than not - I think you could at least bring something interesting to the table (perspective-wise) if you wanted to, rather than continually jumping at every little opportunity to rehash the same talking points over and over again. 

[springyzone]

I think you are right in that sometimes sellers withdraw from sales because they are not happy with the price or they don't want extra hassles with preparing something to be couriered.

It is not the impression I got about this transaction though, because sea breeze told us that initially, the seller was happy when he received the courier label, all was well up to that stage.

It was only later when the seller read through the paypal website that he got the wind up. He could have cancelled the sale by lying and saying there was something wrong with the item, some damage that occurred after the sale, but he didn't do that. He didn't cancel & say there was a problem with the address, he rather clumsily said he was frightened of a scam.

Now in his place, dealing with a buyer who had a long, solid history on ebay, you & I might have taken a chance and gone ahead with the sale.

But there's always that slight risk, especially if a buyer decides they are not happy with the item or it is not as described. I assume the seller would then be responsible for courier fees to get it back.

I think the main point though is that, regardless of the reasons why the seller cancelled the sale (which we can't know for sure, but which I suspect were for exactly the reasons he told sea breeze), once a seller has cold feet and has made that decision to cancel, that is the end of it, the buyer may as well move on.

My own (admittedly slight) experience with couriers is that it does add extra work to a sale. When you have a pick up item listed, you're assuming someone will come around to your place and cart it away. Once a buyer wants a courier, suddenly you're up for having to pack it securely and sometimes having to take it to the courier's depot. That was the type of scenario we faced, anyway and the buyer was peeved we weren't prepared to travel an hour to her courier of choice. We ended up settling on one within 15 minutes' drive. It gets well over and above what we expected to do for a simple pick up sale.

Now I know that wasn't the scenario in sea breeze's case. The item was already boxed and the courier was going to pick up from the seller's home. But quite honestly, it isn't always laziness that would make a seller wary of having to courier something that was listed as pick up only.

[4channel]

Well, who knows! Perhaps it is a case of the seller having some anxiety condition or they are dishonest. Guess we will never know. It is good to keep an open mind. I hope that sea.breeze's FB reflects this experience in a factual way.

[sandypebbles]

Perhaps it is just yourself making up stories where there are'nt any

But, of course it is the seller who is dishonest or has something wrong with them 

That is right, you DON'T know

You are just making things up as you go along because

a) it is a seller so if there is nothing to suggest they are in the wrong, make out there is anyway so people who know no better will believe there is something underhanded going on

b)The OP is one of your forum friends and the people pointing out the holes in your story are people you don't like 

[4channel]

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@sandypebbles wrote:

Perhaps it is just yourself making up stories where there are'nt any

But, of course it is the seller who is dishonest or has something wrong with them 

That is right, you DON'T know

You are just making things up as you go along because

a) it is a seller so if there is nothing to suggest they are in the wrong, make out there is anyway so people who know no better will believe there is something underhanded going on

b)The OP is one of your forum friends and the people pointing out the holes in your story are people you don't like 

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Seems you're the one making up stories to discredit. I didn't even know who the OP was until they came here on this thread.

Some people have to learn that others here have a right to express their views.,

[padi*0409]

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@4channel wrote:

Well, who knows! Perhaps it is a case of the seller having some anxiety condition or they are dishonest. Guess we will never know. It is good to keep an open mind. I hope that sea.breeze's FB reflects this experience in a factual way.

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4channel, you've been told twice by experienced members here that courier pick-ups can be prone to scammers, yet you're still banging on about the seller being dishonest.

You don't know the seller's situation so please stop theorising about their actions.

[4channel]

Hang on a minute mate. The OP is an exoperienced buyer seller with a top line rating. They communicated by phone and offered the license scan. We have the mention of phone records potential and courier tracking as well. What more could one ask for?  You're not about to suggest that the OP is not being straight with us. Are you?

Personally I believe what the OP has stated. The OP also said somethiing was fishy about this.