Need advice please on sale of item, that has been paid for and not picked up...

[yvonnaforever]

In Early Feb we sold an old not running truck.    We had it for auction and it sold... the buyer was to come up from melbourne to us in country vic to pick the item up..   then I hear nothing,  I have written to them several times and each time eventually they get back to me saying they will send a tow truck,  I have said that I need the truck to go, and the last 4 messages I have sent and not been answered...    it is paid for.      What do I do,  I have re advertised it, but I feel really bad about it.. I need it gone.  and I have sent them my mobile number and address and still heard nothing...   I dont need anyone being nasty about this discussion, just would like to know what others would do...  

[rjm6572]

i think 3 months is long enough to wait so i'd be trying to sell it again and if the first person comes back give him the money back less what you have paid out in fees

[chameleon54]

I would give them a time limit of perhaps two weeks to pick it up or you will refund their money, minus ebay fees and relist the item. ( with pick up, time limit noted in listing. ) I have had a similar experience with a piece of heavy equipement. I had a time limit for pick-up noted in the listing but still got the run around for two months. ( you do try to work things out "nicely" dont you. ) In this case I even towed the equipement 100 km. to a transport depot ( at buyers request ) just to get rid of it. When I got there, the item was not booked in for transport and the company refused to accept it into the depot. NOT HAPPY JAN !!!!      Unfortunately phone calls can get a bit terse after these sorts of experiences and there is usually no easy way other than to be a bit firm with the buyer to resolve the problem. After robustly explaining my "dissapoinement" at the experience the buyer quickly paid for a courier to come to my door and pick the item up.

[yvonnaforever]

Thankyou guys,,  I can't refund them at this point as they paid via dd,  and I sent a message mid last month giving them another two weeks, then another message with another week, and so on..  the last message I said I would need to relist on the 16th May.. and I have left it now a few more days..      I do not want to do the wrong thing by them. and even if they had catastophic problems, could they just not say to me,  we dont want it any more give us a refund?   I am at a bit of a loss..  as I said I have re advertised it, but very very reluctantly..

[chezzy · Accepted solution]

I'd not be dragging this out any longer. You have given ample opportunities - if all the messages were via the ebay message system atleast there would be a record of this. Did you ask ebay for the buyer's contact details? You can do this (Advanced search > Find contact information).

Then you could attempt to phone them and tell them you have now relisted/readvertised the item and that you would like to refund their money. I'd not be offering any more extensions...this could drag out forever.

[chameleon54 · Accepted solution]

I agree with Chezzy. It sounds like you done all of the right things. If you are unable to contact the seller, keep a hard copy of any messages, ebay statements, statements of fees etc before they become too hard to find in the system later. Keep the money seperate from your other accounts so it is still available for a refund later and re-sell the truck. If the first buyer eventually gets back to you refund their money minus ebay fees. I know it can make a person feel uneasy, but you have done all you can and been more than fair. It is the buyer who has let you down. GOOD LUCK

[chezzy]

There may even be a 'glitch' and they are not receiving all your messages via email  (and perhaps don't know to manually check 'my ebay'). I myself have had problems with the ebay message system - some messages went to 'my ebay' but never came through to my email. I guess a phone call might help establish what the issue is. Three months still seems like a long time - more than enough for the buyer to follow this up or perhaps get someone to follow it up on their behalf.

Keep records of everything - perhaps even make some 'screen shots' so you have digital copies of various bits of information such as the original listing, conversations, bank records etc. As other records have a tendency to disappear (and from my experience screen shots outlive html files etc)

[yvonnaforever]

thankyou,  I have taken screen shots of all messages, and have written to them again today, letting them know it has been relisted..

I will refund them should they request me to but will take out all ebay fees.   I still feel bad. but it's done now.  thanks again