What to do if you sold a pick up only item, paid for but never picked up

[candlewick5]

I sold a pick up only item which was paid for by Pay Pal. I have sent many messages with address etc all in a friendly tone. We are moving house 21st of this month and I get no response from the purchaser?

[a_beautiful_room · Accepted solution]

Send the buyer one last message telling them to make arrangements to pick it up before the 20th as you are moving, and if they haven't leave it on the nature strip, keep the money and forget them.

They have no recourse whatsoever.

Keep a copy of the listing showing the item as a "pick up only" because some considerate person on here will no doubt tell you that they'll do a credit card chargeback - as if they'll be bothered when they can't even come and pick up an item that they've paid for - so just do it for no reason.

Then just move and forget them.

[gkam2]

Charge them for storage.

[2106greencat]

Back in October, they have no recourse, walk away and forget it.

[candlewick5]

I have advised them again my moving date and will leave a note with the new owners about the bench in the front garden. It was over two weeks ago that I sent a message also I enquired if all was well as you never know what might have transpired. Hence when looking again I saw that they had been active on Ebay with new purchases. So I feel that they have had every opportunity to make contact etc and I do not have the time to be relisting, posting notices on supermarket notice boards or using Gumtree wich I find ineffective. Thanks for all the answers and I know feel that I am within rights to accept the payment and move on...quite literally as it turns out!

Thanks for all the comments

[springyzone]

If it has been over 60 days, I would do as you have done,s end a message saying you are moving & they need to pick up. I would not be refunding as they have not asked for it, you are out of pocket your listing fees and you have also been put to the bother of constantly emailing them.

Tell them storage fees apply.

Personally, if I were you, I would put it on gumtree at a very reasonable price.

This is the sort of thing where gumtree actually does work okay, I have found. On bigger or heavier furniture items.

I would say the original buyer has had a change of mind, they don't want to collect it as it is too bulky/too heavy and they would rather forget about it than get into a conversation with you. They probably assume they have no right to a refund anyway. That's why they are ignoring you. I can see no reason why you should feel obligated to refund a person who has not even had the courtesy to reply to you in 2 months and who has left you hanging in there.

So jump to it, relist on gumtree with a price and tick the negotiable box.

If it doesn't sell, you are no worse off than you are now and can just leave it for the new home owners. Personally i would be rapt to inherit a stone bench, I am almost inclined to ask where you live as I wouldn't mind buying one!!

[thecatspjs · Accepted solution]

It is just not ok to keep payment and the goods and leave it at that.

The goods legally belong to the other person - they just have not taken possession of them.

Whilst I think it is highly unlikely that any buyer would pursue their legal right to possession of lower value goods they purchased or compensation if you could no longer provide them, buyers do have legal recourse in these situations.

There are different requirements to handle disposal of abandoned goods that vary from state to state, Depts of Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs can advise of you of the relevant requirements if you wanted to find out.

Personally in this situation, even though the buyer will still have recourse if they chose to pursue possession of the goods at a later date, I would not refund the buyer.

I would send them an eBay message giving them a final deadline to pick up and advise them that you have now lost the opportunity to resell the goods without incurring additional expenses, and the goods will haved to be disposed of in a different way.

I would indicate that you are retaining their payment as compensation for what you might have other wise received from a subsequent sale, had they promptly communicated with you to indicate that they were unable to collect or had changed their mind or needed an extension of time to collect.