Interstate buyer arranging courier for pick up only item wont pay unless I provide address first.

[nechen0414]

Am I obliged to provide my personal details before she pays? She wants my name, address and mobile number before she will pay. She has bid for and won an item that clearly stated pick up only. She can't pick up herself, therefore can't pay cash. She has to pay with paypal (the only payment opti9on I offered). Is right to withhold payment until I give her my personal details? Or am I right to withhold my personal details until she pays?

Thanks for any advice you have.

[digital*ghost]

The unpaid item case is the only way to get the neg removed, assuming the buyer won't pay before it closes.

[nechen0414]

Oh sorry, I forgot to answer one of the questions. Yes this last winning bidder did email me before the auction ended. She emailed me during the first auction to ask aq question about the item and if I would ship the item and I reply with the info about the item but that I didn't want to ship. I gave her the weigh and dimensions and that the Australia Post calculator says postage would be $63 - too much. She didn't bid on that first auction.

Then when I had to list it a second time, she again emailed me and asked me to reconsider shipping it with a cheaper courier, I replied regardless of the price I didn't have anything big enough to box it up in and didn't want to ship, but she wanted to arrange her own courier to pick it up, knowing that it won't be in a box (just 2 plastic tubs), then that would be fine.

When she won but hadn't paid, I sent an invoice to remind her. She replied asking me to change the invoice to include postage. I said I was not prepared to do that. This is still a pick up only item and she has to arrange her own courier separately. I didn't want to change it to a postage invoice and be held responsible for shipping loss or damage when I had no way to package it up to my satisfaction.

She said she would book the courier then but needed my name address, mobile number, weight, dimensions and asked if I would attached address labels on them. I said that's fine, and that as soon as she pays I would send all my personal details through. She said she was not required to pay until I provided the address, and accused me trying to get out of the sale so I could relist again for higher bids. She then left negative feedback on my profile saying so as well, and wont respond anymore. I can assure you the last thing I want to do is go through another listing! I've wasted too much time on this already. I just want a sale to go through and have the stuff picked up. Am I correct to protect my personal details until she pays? And what is the best way to close this sale and have the incorrect negative feedback removed?

[nechen0414]

Oh, just saw your last post digital ghost.

Thank you very much for your advice.

[lyndal1838]

To be perfectly honest the sticking point is the fact that you are insisting on payment by paypal before the buyer picks up the item.

It is usual to accept cash on pickup so the buyer can inspect the item before paying.  If there is anything wrong they can just walk away with no obligation.

If they have paid with paypal before picking it up it is more difficult to get their money back.   In fact it is only recently that paypal has limited coverage for pickup items.  Most ebayers still think they cannot get a refund if they pay through paypal for a pickup item.

[nechen0414]

This buyer is interstate and can't pick it up herself, so she can't inspect before buying. Therefore this is not a reason to insist on my address before payment, she will be paying via paypal and sending a courier, which can be booked after payment.

If I am obliged to provide my personal details before payment anyway then I will do so, but if I am not obliged, I would rather protect my details until she has paid. She has made untrue accusations about me so I really want to protect my address or phone number until she makes the payment. That is, if I'm within my rights to do so.

I don't understand why she believes she's entitled to my address befoe she pays? I postage seller is not obliged to post an item before it is paid for. The buyer pays in good faith, knowing the item will be shipped afterwards. It should be the same pick up only items. (The only exception being if cash is being paid on pick up, but that is not the case here.)

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I wish I had known all of the info you have posted this morning before I replied last night.

I was under the impression that you didn’t want this interstate buyer to buy because you would only allow pickup.  That is my mistake for not seeking more information before offering advice.  I should have remembered that new posters do trickle out information as the thread develops.  One of my posts last night was quite lengthy and detailed and I edited it to remove all that text because the OP posted with more information just after I hit the Post button.  I should have stopped posting then, but I didn’t.  My bad.

Most of what I posted last night is not relevant to your situation.  Had I known you had messaged back and forth about courier pickup with this buyer I would have posted different information.  I still could, now that I know, but I choose not to.

I wish you well with how this all pans out and do hope you get the outcome you desire.

[digital*ghost]

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@nechen0414 wrote:

I don't understand why she believes she's entitled to my address befoe she pays? I postage seller is not obliged to post an item before it is paid for. The buyer pays in good faith, knowing the item will be shipped afterwards. It should be the same pick up only items. (The only exception being if cash is being paid on pick up, but that is not the case here.)

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It may not be a matter of entitlement - see my first reply to the thread, where I suggested a reason why they might have requested it. (The buyer needed to put more trust in you than any other buyer who pays for an item that is being posted). 

If a buyer says, does or asks for something and you don't understand why, the best thing to do is ask them, so that you give them an opportunity to provide an explanation and then decide whether it is an unreasonable request. 

I do get why you want to protect your personal information, but to be honest at the end of the day, I also think that an amicable resolution might have been a possibility*, perhaps a compromise of providing some details, and the rest after the payment, like my earlier suggestion of exchanging phone numbers and talking to them directly etc. 

*Obviously I'm not privy to the tone of the messages, or how they escalated to the current situation, so this reply and assessment is based on the information as provided. 

[nechen0414]

Thank you anyway. I'm sorry I didn't explain more initially. This was my first posting here and I thought if I wrote a long initial post, people would not bother to read it or answer it, so I tried to summarise. Now I know, if I ever need to do this again. I will go more in-depth from the get-go.

An interstate buyer was not desirable and I was hoping she wouldn't win, but if she did, I was prepared to facilitate her courier pick up. That was never the issue, it was just the stand off about payment vs personal details (and then the negative feedback) that became the issue.

Just as an aside. She placed a bid on the second auction before I had agreed to facilitate a courier. I saw her bid, and recognise the name was the one that had asked me to ship in the initial auction, so I sent her a message, before the auction ended to clarify I won't be shipping, and then only after further emails, we agreed it would be OK for her to book a courier. But she did bid before I agreed.

Anyway, moot point, as I'm fine with the courier now.

Thanks anyway for your previous advice and for your time regardless.

[nechen0414]

Oh and thank you digital ghost too, that last post was in reply to the previous post.

[foxette-in-sox]

JMO but you've shot yourself in the foot twice for no reason. In the 1st auction, you would have had cash in hand with no drama-to insist a buyer pay with Paypal for a pickup only item is looney tunes.

In the 2nd auction case, you'd already agreed (by the sounds of it) to allow buyer to have the toys collected by courier and then you refused when they won the auction as you didn't want to provide the details so buyer could organise their own courier.

JMO again but that neg is deserved and other posters may disagree but you really are making a rod for your own back.