Got myself in situation over collection only item

[Katastrofe]

Hi

This is my first post on MN although been lurking for years and have learnt a lot from it. I hope you wise people on Ebay board can help me with some advice on a situation. I have sold a few items here and there with no issues but am not a very experienced seller. Sorry this is long and rambly, am high on pregnancy hormones and this has made me quite stressed and emotional :-(

I had a piece of IKEA furniture on an Ebay auction as collection only. Got quite a few bids and sold for a high price. Auction ended last night.

I sent message to winning bidder who got back, and said she wanted to cancel as she no longer was able to get a van to pick it up before her holiday. I then put a second chance offer to next highest bidder. He insinuated I had got the price up by having a fake high bidder, and wanted to pay less than his highest bid (price he suggested was between his bid and the 3rd highest offer) I agreed to this as I really need to get rid of it (bulky item, expecting no 2 baby any day and having relatives over to stay).

I then post as BIN at agreed price and he buys it. So far so good. Then he informs me the earliest he can pick up is in 10 days. Now I know I didn't specify immediate pick up in my ad (but did specify payment on collection as I have learnt from here), but all other furniture items I have sold the buyers have had the curtesy to pick up a day or 2 after. I specifically time my listings to end Thursday/Friday so they can be picked up over the weekend.

I told the buyer I need the item picked up sooner (explained my situation, pregnant etc). He said he can't. I then asked if he could kindly agree to cancel and I will sell to third-highest bidder. He then said if I am willing to lower my price he will buy it for that price and rent a van to collect tomorrow! I honestly think that is so cheeky and out of principle won't sell to him now, and told him I feel we had already agree fair price and he is taking advantage. I had already lowered price by 50£ from his highest offer. I will prefer to sell to third-highest bidder even though I will get less money.

I raised a cancellation request (buyer and seller don't agree on terms) for the BIN listing but he hasn't accepted this and I guess he won't. So now I will have to pay the eBay fee I guess. Was stupid to do but hoped he would have agreed.

Now my original listing still seems to allow me to make a second chance offer to the third-highest bidder, but can I do that while I have an open case on the BIN listing?

At this stage don't care much if he gives me bad feedback as I don't think I'll bother selling on ebay again (only got 100% positive so far). Do you think I am unreasonable to expect it to be picked up sooner than 10 days (a very large and bulky item)?

Appreciate your kind advice on this. Thanks

2nd buyer is an arse and I wouldn't want to sell to him, anyway.
YANBU.
I would probably relist, but charity shops love furniture and will collect from you so you can do a good thing there, too.

A bit unreasonable. If you're selling on a Thursday or a Friday then it's too late to hire a van for Saturday so the following weekend 10 days later is more likely.

If you relist I suggest you specify it has to be collected by a certain date

Thanks HolidayCriminal glad to hear you agree. Was starting to doubt myself.

Charity would be good option, but last time I tried that here they couldn't collect for more than a month. The item (wardrobe) is too big for our car.

Might put on freecycle but as this item goes for hundreds of pounds on ebay people might want it just to sell on.

Not keen to relist due to the time, but you think I can offer to other bidder on original listing while case is still open?

Thanks

Thanks Laurie. Other people I have sold to have managed to rent vans so didn't realise it would be trouble. Besides he is willing to rent van tomorrow if I lower my price. The 10 day timeline is because he is moving and wanted to use his moving truck not rent seperate van.

Next time (although don think I'll ever bother again) I would specify time for pick up.

first buyer you need to send a cancellation request to get your fees back. Second buyer, you have to wait for him to accept, or in 7 days if he ignores it will close and you will get your fees back. Now you have 2 lots of final value fees to pay and no buyer.

If you do a 3rd chance offer specify a time it needs collecting by or you will relist.

I think the 2nd buyer has a cheek what with expecting you to store for some time, then expecting you to take less money for it.

How is Thursday or Friday too late to hire a van? A man with a van will do it with no notice.

Refund him via paypal and sell to other bidder

Refund him via paypal and sell to other bidder

Thanks all for your help. Good news is that second buyer now has agreed to cancel request (first buyer had agreed already as they wanted to cancel themselves) so no fees and can sell on!

Unfortunately third highest bidder doesn't seem to accept second chance offers so going to fourth. They offered half of the highest bidder so I'll get 150 pounds less, but prefer not to relist due to time.

Lavender, thanks for your advice, I have told second chance offer only stands if they collect by Monday latest. Also thanks for all the other advice in other threads which has been helpful :-).

Lessons learnt - I should stay away from Ebay when pregnant and emotional (as I seem to be taking everything personal :-).

I wouldn't offer to the underbidder at such a low price - relist instead. And write on the listing cash on collection within 5 days or whatever suits you.

Or list it on Gumtree.