Buyer Collected Item But Gave Wrong Collection Code

[designme9]

Hello everyone,

A buyer  came to collect. Loaded the item and left before we had chance to check the code.

The code is incorrect.

The buyer of this £380 item is now not replying.

Ebay has the payment held.

We have a video clip from our CCTV showing the item being collected.

I'd forgotten how ebay now offers almost no help to occassional sellers for such problems.

Does anyone have any ideas, except, "you shouldn't have let the buyer leave".

Regards,

Kevin

[tressygirl]

---

@designme9 wrote: 

Does anyone have any ideas, except, "you shouldn't have let the buyer leave".

You're correct,  no point offering that kind of advice,  after the horse has bolted?

All you can do ,  is to send the buyer a polite message to ask them to search through their order details and eBay messages and to please forward the numbers for the collection code, as a wrong one has been entered,  and the payment for that item, is now on hold.

If they ignore the message and do not oblige,  I'm afraid that is the only proof eBay require for collection,  no CCTV footage would be accepted here,  so you may have a 14 -  21 day wait for your payment.

@designme9

[designme9]

Thank you for your reply. Apreciated!

If I understand your message correctly, I will eventually get my money in 14-21 days?

If that is the case, the only downside is that the thief has that time to damage the goods and then complain about that.

Really glad I selected ebay to do the basic task of selling an item.

They have really simplified the old concept of hand over cash, take goods.

Now it's just take goods. Oh and follow lots of rules.

Thanks again tressygirl!

[designme9]

Attached is a photo of the buyer holding his phone with the wrong code.

Maybe ebay can see that this is a previously used code of his?

I appreciate that would mean ebay caring and having a human actually look at it.

Thank you

[tressygirl]

You're very welcome,  and oh yes,  looooads of rules to follow now,  all big changes here there and everywhere, which even eBay Customer Services we are hearing ,  are not aware of  some recent changes!

Happy Days!

Happy Selling !  😊

@designme9 

[*vyolla*]

Little bit suspicious that the buyer gave you an old code, but benefit of the doubt and hopefully it was just an error on his part. Hopefully he'll message you with a new code.

Of course, if he claims that he never collected the item then he will get a refund, eBay will not take video evidence into account.

Hopefully it's all just a mistake and your payment will be released within 14 days.

[5216elisabeth]

Have you contacted eBay by phone and explained to a customer service agent what has happened?  If not I recommend you do so. 

The buyer may have genuinely given you the wrong code by accident, doesn't realise and just doesn't go into their eBay account often so hasn't seen your messages.  The customer agents will be able to see if that collection code is for another order the buyer placed, I think.

They will also be able to see if the buyer has a track record of deliberately giving incorrect collection codes to sellers. Although they won't share that information with you it may help your case if they have done this before deliberately. Many of the agents are extremely helpful and sometimes they do have solutions to these types of issues. 

At the very least they will be able to advise you on what the process and timeline is now for you receiving your funds. 

Furthermore, if the buyer later claims they didn't collect it there will also be a record of your conversation regarding the buyer giving you an incorrect code.  

Good luck!

[marco@ebay]

Hi designme9, thanks for your post.

This is definitely an odd one, I don't think that old QR codes would work. However, happy to help you on this one. While I cannot guarantee you that I can get the funds released, I will try to help you from my end, so if you could confirm the item number for me, I will escalate that for you no problem to see what can we do there.

Thank you,

Marco

[papso22]

I would hazard a guess that the OP tried to enter the code after the buyer left and only then found it didn't work.

[*vyolla*]

I wonder if the buyer thinks that the old collection code they were given is a code that relates to them, as a buyer, rather than the order, so is to be used each time they collect something.

[papso22]

I prefer that to the buyer having a cunning plan!

[thetimetower]

Personally, and yeh i'm a cynic, i think the buyer knew what they were doing. Seems like a sneaky "mistake". Did the buyer say anything along the lines of "Just scan it again later" before they left. Unless they collect items a lot, i don't see why they'd even have another QR code on the phone.