courier

[brynglasboy]

hi there, 

 a buyer wants to arrange his own courier as i have collection only,

is this safe ?

[red_magpie]

is this safe ?

It's safer than it used to be, because when items are collected by a courier or any third party the purchase is ineligible for eBay's money back guarantee. PayPal excludes all itesm sold for collection from its buyer protection scheme.

There is however still a well known scam by which the buyer can fund the payment from a credit card, and later fabricate reasons for a chargeback. Without proof of posting or delivery sellers have no protection against this. There are precautions you can take to minimise this when the buyer collects in person, but not when they send a courier.

The risk is probably small, but is a real consideration if the item has any value.

The other point to consider is that couriers will expect the item to be properly packed for transit, which you won't have allowed for in the price. Also it's a real pain waiting in for couriers to arrive. Plus you have the annoyance of knowing that the buyer is probably getting it cheaply, because limiting an auction to collection in person means that buyers who might have been prepared to pay more will respect that condition and not bid.