To resell an item that has already been sold on eBay but not collected?

[PurpleFlower1983]

I would appreciate some advice on this. I sold a wardrobe on eBay around 5 months ago for £375. It was collection only but I stipulated collection in person, not courier. I had many cancellations as several buyers ignored this. Someone eventually bought it and asked if I could store it for a few weeks before they collected with a hired van. I agreed. This time came and went with a few messages from the buyer and a couple of cancelled attempts to collect it. I have messaged since but heard nothing back for 3 weeks.

Would I be unreasonable to sell it on and reimburse the buyer with what they paid minus the eBay selling fee? I can’t do it officially as it’s beyond 90 days. I will of course ask the buyer about this but I’m not sure if there could be any come backs?

I think you need to cancel the sale, refund the buyer and then delist it for sale. Doing it any other way is just going to cause you problems.

Re list not delist

I can’t though as it’s over 90 days. I would do this if I could.

You shouldn't have left it so long. I'd contact ebay chat for advice.

Contact ebay and explain the situation and see what they say, there will be a clear paper trial of messages. Neither you or the buyer should be out of pocket, certainly not you, as you have made every effort to get this sorted.

Up to 3 weeks ago the guy was still collecting and may still do so. There were two occasions where he said he was coming (from 4 hours away) but they were cancelled. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong? Maybe I should have cancelled initially.

Thank you. I will do this.

But there was a 90 day window to sort it out you should have done it then

@darkmodeon well she didn't so that's no help now is it?

OP just contact ebay and see what they suggest, i'd give the buyer one last message to inform them what you are doing also

You could do what a standard auction house does for non collected items and start charging storage fees.!

Ebay do not retain buyer's payment details after three months which makes refunds difficult. So you would have to ask the buyer for these to refund.

I think I would contact them again and tell them if not collected by x date then it will be sold to someone else.

Thanks everyone, I’ve contacted ebay who said to contact the buyer then arrange a refund via PayPal with the confirmation of refund to be done via eBay messages. They will then reimburse the fees. I’ll see what the buyer says.

Regarding sorting it out within 90 days well yes, ideally but I thought I was doing a nice thing by storing it. Lesson learnt!

@PurpleFlower1983 that sounds like the best outcome. I didn't even know there was a 90 day window, it's the kind of thing you'd only realise after it's passed. Collections are a lot different to other sales, so it's easy for this time to pass when collections are arranged and cancelled several times.

What I've learned from 20 years on ebay is, if someone isn't motivated enough to collect something within a week they're not coming. Just something to bear in mind for next time. I always stipulate "collection within 1 week of auction end/buy it now or I relist" in my listings to be really clear that I'm not other people's storage unit/repository for wishful thinking shopping sprees.

@BiscuitsandPuffin I get this with cash on collection, it's very strange to have paid so much and then not collected though.

That’s what I thought too! They paid immediately and have over 400 positive ratings.

I think he is genuine, I just want to make sure we do things right if it comes to refunding.