No more cash on collection.

[geosacha007]

Just saw the new seller rules.  I've got no issue with the reduction in free listings.  But no more cash on collection I do mind.  It means there is no way to make a buyer check on collection and once they accept it pay with no risk of them changing their mind later. 

And will buyers be happy being forced to pay up front before they see an item?

[tressygirl]

---

@4_bathrooms wrote:

---

@tressygirl wrote:

---

True ,  and I wonder how many now,  without that cash on collection back up protection,  would remember to have the buyer sign something ,  preferably a copy of the order details showing item purchased, to say ' item collected'.

---

---

Conversely, what is to stop an unscrupulous seller from printing out a copy of the order details, scrawling a version of the buyer's name on it as a signature then presenting that as "proof" the item was collected when the buyer opens an INR case?

---

Totally agree,  that there are so many workarounds here for scammers,  there's no denying it, and I cannot imagine WHY Cash on collection has been stopped,  I mean eBay receive their seller fees when the item sells,  and not when the buyer pays.  

They shouldn't care then,  if the buyer wishes to come and pay with Monpoly money ?

Can anyone see a reason why this is a benefit to eBay?  As it's certainly no benefit to both seller and buyer, scam loopholes  round every corner here, and potential difficuties for a seller when COC avoided those.  😶

[papso22]

I can see benefits to buyers as it brings all collection items within the cover of the MBG,  but not only no benefit to sellers but a severe detriment.

Anything that is good for buyers is bad for sellers.

The way it's being sold to sellers should open ebay up to claims for 'not as described'!

[kempseykate]

I have bought a few things cash on collection in the past - most memorable some beautiful stained glass windows, very heavy fossil paving slabs and best of all a huge ET, which we collected from Land's End (we are in the Midlands!). I don't think I would have bought any of them if I had to pay up front - especially not ET.

I was thinking of trying some items on ebay collect only, but I certainly won't bother now. I'll stick with the sites that do allow cash on collection.

[thesmokingrunner]

I do wonder if Cash on Collection is being stopped in order to address the probably tiny number of off-site transactions which occur: buyer buys a CoC item, seller immediately pays eBay fees, buyer arrives to collect, buyer and seller come to a verbal arrangement, price is reduced to reflect a fee-free sale, buyer pays cash, seller cancels sale with spurious reason and receives a refund of fees. Seller wins, buyer wins, eBay loses.

The only benefit to eBay I can see is that by preventing CoC transactions the above could no longer happen. It does, however, mean that Collection-only items will be covered by the MBG and that buyers could claim the item to be NAD or open a case with their payment provider.

That's certainly no benefit to the seller, who could be faced with either having to collect a heavy Collection-only item from many miles away or write off both the money and item. On the other hand, though, no longer allowing CoC opens up a whole new possibility for buyers to potentially rinse sellers for some free stuff.

eBay will get its commission. Some buyers will figure out the system and take advantage of it. As usual it'll be sellers who suffer from this change.

Plus ca change...

[tressygirl]

---

@papso22 wrote:

I can see benefits to buyers as it brings all collection items within the cover of the MBG,  but not only no benefit to sellers but a severe detriment.

Anything that is good for buyers is bad for sellers.

The way it's being sold to sellers should open ebay up to claims for 'not as described'!

---

Yep,  there's that bonus for buyers the MBG cover throughout,  I was confirming what 4 bathrooms mentioned  that  paying ufront, buyer then doesn't like the item , requests a refund, seller can write out an order ' signed' that the item was taken away.

This of course could not happen with a cash on collection.

[comedydad69]

According to eBay, the buyers payment will be released once the buyer confirms collection. I don't use the app so I mark my sale as item collected. How will this work after 1 Oct..an unscrupulous buyer could collect item and then tell eBay he didn't as there was an issue with it?  Maybe Facebook marketplace is best for sellers?

[martmarg41]

I have sold or am selling many items as COC due to them being too cumbersome/expensive on the posting route. Not had any problems and Ebay have always got their fees.

In the past I have bought large/bulky items with COC because I wanted to view before paying - never had a problem.

Due to this policy change I am now moving my COC items across to Gumtree.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@thesmokingrunner wrote:

I do wonder if Cash on Collection is being stopped in order to address the probably tiny number of off-site transactions which occur: buyer buys a CoC item, seller immediately pays eBay fees, buyer arrives to collect, buyer and seller come to a verbal arrangement, price is reduced to reflect a fee-free sale, buyer pays cash, seller cancels sale with spurious reason and receives a refund of fees. Seller wins, buyer wins, eBay loses.

---

I don't see how stopping sellers accepting cash would solve that. The seller can still cancel the sale and receive a full FVF refund if they select a reason not classed as the seller's fault - i.e. "Buyer asked to cancel". If anything such cancellations will probably become more common when buyers see the item in person and change their mind. I can't see how eBay could possibly police this either - they will have no way of knowing whether the buyer really did walk away or agreed to pay less in cash. 

[tressygirl]

If my little grey cells allow me to remember,  I'm gonna ask the eBay team on the regular weekly Chat on Wednesday,  if they can throw some light as to WHY , cash on collection has been banned. 🤗

[technthread]

I helped list and sell some garden ornaments for a family member recently as cash on collection. The process always seemed to throw up confusion one way or another with buyers. 

One buyer was being very flaky on messages and difficult to understand. When we finally met they were absolutely fine and said they were trying to imply on messages that we could do an offline deal, which went completely over my head. It was a £10 sale and didn't benefit the buyer at all to my mind so I asked them why and they said it was because we were asking for a collection code for eBay and they thought it sounded too complicated and just wanted to make it simple. In the end we scanned it easily and eBay got the fees. So there is an element of fee avoidance but also the system wasn't very user friendly. They never really made it clear about the collection code, it should have been front and centre for buyer and seller.

I also mentioned on another thread a few days ago, I think there is a lot more to this as regards tax and digital sales reporting but that is just speculation on my part. 

[martmarg41]

I have never had to use the 'collection code' as I don't use the app. Buyers have turned up and have heard of the code being issued/required. I simply mark as collected and ask the buyer to mark as received when they get home. No problem.

[comedydad69]

That is exactly what I do now.  But the eBay message states funds will be held until the buyer confirms item has been collected.

[tressygirl]

That QR collection code is not mandatory, the seller has to have the app to record this,  I do not use the app as many others don't,   so would not need or ask for that code.

The seller was obvioulsy after doing an off eBay sale,   which if affected,  may well have seen not only their account but yours too, restricted permanently from use.   I realise you know the rules and walked away from this idea.

There is no element for fee avoidance as eBay scan all messages and see how items end with the correct seller fees being paid.

@technthread 

[technthread]

Every time I have done it, there is usually something that I don't like about the sale. 

The last one on this account was about £70 for some rebar, the buyer wasn't clear that they were coming and turned up out of the blue. They paid cash so all fine but the messages were very unclear, I could have easily just taken the listing down and never paid a fee. I marked it collected and paid eBay the fee as I'd never risk my account but didn't like how the buyer just assumed I am stationed here all day, they were lucky they didn't make a 40 mile round trip for nothing. 

Another one, I sold some pad stones for someone and they dealt with the collection at their house. They told me later when the buyer turned up they were moaning about having to find a code and made the whole thing very uncomfortable. They had paid through eBay and I told them they could not collect without it. I think they wanted to pull a fast one honestly. 

I've decided now I'm never doing it again for myself or anyone else. Especially now that the code is going to be needed to avoid a scam it's just not worth the hassle. 

[martmarg41]

Confirming that you carry out 'off-Ebay' transactions is not the ideal thing to do on these threads. It will help Ebay's argument for imposing the no COC rules.

[martmarg41]

That reply was in response to a post by woowoo60 late last night (not in response to thesmokingrunner).

"A lot of sets of china are sold coc so once you get the buyer at your house then you can direct them to buy the rest of the collection thus bypassing eBay".

That post now seems to have been deleted.

[johnwash1]

If there's any point to the collection code it should also be available for input on the seller's desktop, no requirement for an app.

Is that really so hard for a user interface designer to understand?

[martmarg41]

I agree with you. Unfortunately Ebay seem oblivious to the fact that many of use our desktops and not the app on our phones.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@johnwash1 wrote:

If there's any point to the collection code it should also be available for input on the seller's desktop, no requirement for an app.

---

It seems it is available on the desktop now. On my collection only items the option to mark the item as collected has disappeared; the only way I can mark a collection order as collected is by "confirming" collection by entering the collection code.

[tressygirl]

That's good to know that you can enter the code on a desktop now,  but,  what happens if a buyer does not bring the code,  you message them later and they just ignore the request and there's no code to mark as collected?

How does one proceed to mark as collected?