BUYER HAS PAID BUT NOT COLLECTED ITEM AS YET

[karra_plj]

Hi there!

I sold an item last Friday 17th July and it was a Collection Only. The buyer paid very promptly through Pay Pal but, as yet, has not collected the item. I messaged her three times to arrange this but to no avail. I also stated in one of my messages that if she had made a mistake then order could be cancelled but still no reply.  Am at a loss as to what to do now as she is obviously not answering any messages I have sent her - should I go ahead and cancel the order as it has been 7 days now that I have waited for a reply or should I wait a bit longer just in case she is maybe sick and cannot reply to my messages?  Personally I think she has just bought the item without thinking about where it was to be picked up from and now, possibly, does not know what she should be doing to resolve this. Hoping someone can advise me. Thank You and  Kind Regards.

[rusticrye · Accepted solution]

Yes, the buyer has almost certainly not bothered to read and is waiting for the item to be shipped. So cancel the order ('problem with buyer's address'). You have only 32 days from purchase date to cancel, so don't wait too long. That will auto-refund the buyer, and credit the selling fee back to your Ebay account. You'll unfortunately be stuck with the PayPal fee, so add this person's Ebay ID and PayPal email addy to your Blocked Bidders List before you relist (if you relist - see my note below) so s/he can't mess you around again.

Bear in mind that you should never, ever accept PayPal for collection items. Accept cash only (or bank transfer), once the buyer has fully examined the item and is happy with it. PayPal is not safe for collection items, for either party, but especially not for the seller. You would lose an Unauthorised Account Use claim, as the only thing PayPal and any payment processor will accept for such a claim is a proof of posting receipt, proving dispatch to the account holder's registered address.  Signed invoices etc are not accepted as these are too easily forged. You would lose the item, your money, and be charged a hefty admin fee into the bargain. And because there is no way of preventing buyers from paying with PayPal on Ebay, and because PayPal no longer refund any part of their fee when a refund is actioned, selling collection items on Ebay by auction and BIN is no longer viable in my view. Consider using Gumtree in future, Ebay's sister site.

@karra_plj