Hi again OP,

No, it's not compulsory to ACCEPT paypal. It's compulsory to OFFER paypal, as an option.

That is- to sell on ebay, you must 1) have a paypal account, 2) link your paypal account to your ebay account & 3) offer paypal as a payment option (whether people use it or not).

Yes, you should put 'cash on collection only' in big letters in your ad. Ebay don't prohibit this at all- it's well within policy- they just don't encourage it.

The problem with accepting paypal for pick-up items is that your buyers can potentially claim INR (item not received)- in which case ebay & paypal will almost always find in favour of the buyer, UNLESS you can prove 'delivery' of the item. What they like, as proof of delivery, is a tracking number from Australia Post or a courier- eg, something from a 3rd party they can check online and is independant of the seller. (there is much argument about this.. I'm summarising here a tad).

Clearly this can't be done for pick-up items like furniture (what tracking? They just turned up & took it away) however, EB/PP will find in favour of the buyer no matter what other eveidence you have (such as, a signed receipt, a photo of the buyer loading the item into their car, a photo of the pope doing the chicken dance)- historically all these things have failed.

As such, for pick-up items ALWAYS take cash only, and make that point hard in the ad. Some people won't read it, but that's not your fault. If someone pays by paypal and wants to come collect it- refund their money back via paypal and send a polite msg saying thanks, but it's cash on collection ONLY.

Also, if/when you have buyers turning up to buy/take the stuiff away- make sure they INSPECT it beforehand. Don't let them fob you off with "I don't have time now, I'll just take it, it looks fine". That opens the door to claiming SNAD (significantly not as described)...another long story.

Apologies for giving you more **bleep** to follow! And, well done to you for doing your research beforehand. Pls don't be put off, this can work out well, it just takes some work 🙂