To make a contract if paying PayPal goods & services

[Purplemarshmallows]

Hi mum's just wondering if I'm being unreasonable?
I am selling an item on Facebook for £200, I have made it clear I will not be posting the item due to the value. Someone has said they would like it but as they are not local & are shielding & due to the current restrictions they can not collect until April which is obviously fair enough with the current rules. However we need this to sell asap & no one else is interested. I explained that if I was to hold it that long it would need to be paid for as its a long time away & in my experience most of the time you never hear back from people who ask you to hold things.
He would be paying via PayPal goods & services which is absolutely fine but the two things that bother me is that a few weeks down the line he'll change his mind & get his money back through PayPal, in which time it will likely to have been spent on bills (why I need it gone asap) or he'll come & collect it, see its fully working & in excellent condition, take it away and then claim through PayPal that is broken or something & then end up with my expensive item & his money back. Would it be unreasonable to have some sort of contract along these lines or should I just say no & hope someone else who can collect & pay cash comes along soon?...........

I .....(buyer name)....... have paid £??? for .....(item).........by PayPal goods & services on ??/??/2021.
Upon collecting the item on ??/??/2021, I have inspected the goods & I am fully satisfied that it is in good condition & in full working order.
I agree that once I have taken receipt of the item, the seller .......(name)......... is no longer responsible for this item & I will not claim part or full paymet back via PayPal.

Print .............
Signed............
Date ...............

What's the item? Is it very fragile? Can you deliver to them?

There’s no point doing that as PayPal will only accept proof of delivery, and these days you run the risk of the buyer doing a chargeback via their bank which EBay will pass the charge of doing this onto you.

Just keep it on EBay Or charge a courier price, try a company like Anyvan who can give you a quote and GPS tracking which is as safe as it gets.

If they're a reasonable person they would agree to sign it, but if they're reasonable they probably wouldn't mess you around anyway.

@Hotcuppatea

What's the item? Is it very fragile? Can you deliver to them?

It's an AV receiver, it's in its original box but I wouldn't trust a courier company. I could deliver but he lives too far away for the current restrictions + if I delivered he would need to pay my petrol as it's far away. He could still apply for a charge back even if I delivered as in my experience PayPal usually take the side of the buyer.

@herewegoagainst

If they're a reasonable person they would agree to sign it, but if they're reasonable they probably wouldn't mess you around anyway.

He's already agreed that's fine but I'm still not too sure about it all

@Claphands

There’s no point doing that as PayPal will only accept proof of delivery, and these days you run the risk of the buyer doing a chargeback via their bank which EBay will pass the charge of doing this onto you.

Just keep it on EBay Or charge a courier price, try a company like Anyvan who can give you a quote and GPS tracking which is as safe as it gets.

My issue is that I want him to see its in full working condition before it leave me as he could receive it by courier but still say it doesn't work & claim his money back. I don't use ebay as I've had far too many problems with them in the past with buyers claiming things are faulty etc when they are not hence why its on Facebook so people can come & see its working before paying cash.

Just ask him to do a bank transfer or send you a cheque.

Why the reluctance to post/courier it? You can pay extra for insurance to cover the value in case it's lost or damaged. You can get him to pay for the delivery charge so you won't be out of pocket.

If you're concerned about the PayPal, then get him to do a bank transfer.

Maybe this would be better off in legal, OP ?

@saffire

Why the reluctance to post/courier it? You can pay extra for insurance to cover the value in case it's lost or damaged. You can get him to pay for the delivery charge so you won't be out of pocket.

If you're concerned about the PayPal, then get him to do a bank transfer.

I know it's fully working & in excellent condition but my worry is that once it arrives with him he could still claim to PayPal that it does not work even though it does & receive his money back & he'd also have a perfectly working item he didn't pay for, this is why I'm not keen for it too leave my house until the buyer & us have seen it working here, obviously if its sent then they will not have seen it working. Hes already said he will only pay via PayPal which is fair enough given the value

No. It won’t matter, as far as PayPal is concerned.

He pays cash or bank transfer if he’s collecting, or it gets shipped if he wants to pay via PayPal.

I’d just require cash payment when they collect. If they don’t like the item, then they don’t pay you the cash.
I don’t see the point in requiring payment beforehand. If you’re going to wait, you should wait until delivery to collect payment.

If you don’t want to hold the item, tell them it is theirs so long as no other buyer comes along. That you reserve the right to sell the item on a “first come” basis.

Agree with PP and this is why I only sell things cash on collection.

I have cancelled my PayPal account as they are useless.

Thanks for all your replies. I have told him we won't be doing a deal on this occasion as its too risky for me.

Can't you explain to him and take payment now but refund it the day before he comes to collect and get him to pay cash on collection?