Buyer has not collected the item they bought...what do I do?

[StinkyWhizzleteats]

I listed a toy kitchen for sale on ebay for collection only. The buyer bought it and paid (£40) on Thursday last week. They contacted me on Sunday to organise collection and I emailed them back same day. I haven't heard a sausage from them to confirm anything, so I texted them yesterday and still not heard a peep.

I'm now out for most of this weekend and also very busy next week, and I'm worried it's going to become increasingly difficult to make arrangements for collection, especially if she wants to collect in the day time.

Obviously if she had made arrangements to collect I wouldn't have made plans for that time, so I could stay in. But I can't keep my life on hold!

What should I do?

you should only take cash for collection only, so refund the paypal immediately then email and say you can collect between 7-9pm on friday or between 2-4pm sunday, otherwise she can collect item then say item not arrived and she has item and you have to refund.

also if not collected within 7 days you can probably get it cancelled

I did not realise it was cash only for collection, is this a new rule? I have asked for cash on collection before but only because I was trying to avoid Paypal fees.

Stinky, I would text and send a message via Ebay offering a convenient time and explain you are going to be very busy so could they contact you ASAP to confirm that time or arrange a another time which is mutually convenient. It is up to the buyer really, they have paid so presumably something has happened this week, possibly someone is ill and they have just not been able to collect it.

But you have to offer paypal now, ebay doesn't let you remove this option.

I can't refund and cancel because then I won't be able to claim my ebay fees back (because she did pay), I won't be able to open a dispute, and she can still leave me negative feedback.

You have always been advised to not accept paypal for collection items - eBay should make this clear but they do not and it is a very big bone of contention. Go to the eBay community seller boards and ask about paypal for collection only items and see what response you get. eBay and paypal will be slated I guarantee it, as they promote paypal as safe but never tell you about your lack of protection for a collect only item.

You can get your fees back, but you will have to cancel the transaction instead of filing a non paying bidder report

Whatever happens you must refund the paypal now, and then file a mutual cancellation from the resolution centre. That is of course unless the buyer does turn up with the cash in the meantime, then you will have no need to cancel the salee

I think the bit I'm not getting is how do you remove the option for paying by paypal when you list something as collection only? Because ebay doesn't let you! So buyers always have the choice to pay by paypal even if you don't want them to.

I will only get my fees back if the buyer agrees to cancellation. Which she may not.

You can't remove paypal from your listing - but you can refuse it for a collection item, and you can refund them if they pay for a collection item that way. You can write on your listing cash only for collection items.

If the buyer ignores the cancellation request you will get your fees back