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eBay

If you buy or sell items on eBay, you will find tips and advice on this forum.

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Original poster

Should I hold my nerve? And is cash the best way to get paid?

21 replies

Paddling · 09/04/2018 09:07

We are selling our caravan on ebay. Trade prices for similar are at about £7-8K mark. We have put a starting price of £4500 with no reserve.

Auction started on Friday night and since then I have had 8 people ask me for a Buy It Now price. It has had over 700 views. 69 watchers.

I have never sold such a high ticket item before so am now having a major panic. Should I be accepting an offer now? Or hold out for the auction to end (which is what I have replied to people so far). Am I going to kick myself for not taking the money?

Also - I have stated cash on collection. I have one of those UV light note-checkers. Am I right in thinking this is the best only safe way of taking payment for a large item which is being collected?

Help.

OP posts:

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 09/04/2018 09:10

Yes definitely only cash.

When asked, I always offer a BIN price which is what I think the top price I might get at auction is. So that if they take it, I have no regrets that I might have made more. Usually they don’t, and I leave it to auction. But maybe 20% of the time they do. The thing is most are hoping for a cheeky discount but some genuinely want to ensure they get it. So if you think it should sell for £8k at best then that’s your BIN price.

user1487671808 · 09/04/2018 09:13

Why on earth didn’t you put a reserve on? Will be ou be happy if one person bids and wins at the starting price? I’ve sold several cars on eBay and always cash on collection which has worked fine and I always write a receipt out confirming the purchase with a duplicate confirmation of collection which they sign and I keep.

trixymalixy · 09/04/2018 09:25

Hold your nerve and with so much interest I'm sure it'll be fine.

Sounds terrible, but if you don't get what you want for it then there's no way they can force you to sell it.

Original poster

Paddling · 09/04/2018 09:26

No reserve as I know what we would get if we sold it trade/to a "we buy any caravan" type place - which would be 3.5-4K. So 4.5K would be fine.

Private sales (like cars) are always several grand less than trade. And trade wouldn't bee that keen on ours unless it was as part-exchange - and we don't want to buy another. Have been watching the market and I think 5K would be ball-park - possibly up to 6K. But the weather is shite. The "Staycation" market is not as strong as it was a few years back.

So to be honest, yes 4.5K would be fine. It would be money in the bank. More than we'd get from a trade seller and the caravan gone. But I just wondered on the Private offers for a BIN price. If it was dodgy? Breaking the rules kind of thing? Could I add one now?

OP posts:

Falconhoof1 · 09/04/2018 09:36

I think you can add a BIN if it's not too close to the end of auction. When I first started ebaying I got loads of people asking for a BIN with some sort of sob story and I always fell for it but think it's best to go to end of auction. I've never sold anything as valuable as that though.

Oddcat · 09/04/2018 09:40

Have you had any bids ? I'm not sure you can do a BIN if bidding has started (happy to be corrected)

19lottie82 · 09/04/2018 12:50

TBH auctions on eBay aren’t the best way to sell reasonably high vehicles like this.
In my experiences 70% of the time the winning bidder will be a scammer or won’t complete the purchase.

Would you pay agree to pay £4.5k + for a caravan that you hadn’t viewed previously?

You’re better with an eBay classifies as where interested parties can just contact you directly in regards to viewing / buying the caravan directly.

Anyway that aside, if it does go to a genuine buyer then when they collect it’s cash or bank transfer only. The latter is very safe, just check the payment has definitely cleared in your account before you release the caravan.

RedWineAllMine · 09/04/2018 23:01

No one will have that kind of cash! If they do they need to start drawing it out now, as you are limited to so much a day. When they come to collect get them to do a bank transfer infront of you, if they don't have the cash, and wait until it goes in. I don't need to say don't do PayPal!

RedWineAllMine · 09/04/2018 23:02

Also scammers love these, high value expensive items, particularly vehicles/phones etc. So just be careful

CuntPuffin · 09/04/2018 23:05

No one will have that kind of cash! If they do they need to start drawing it out now, as you are limited to so much a day.

Nonsense. You just go into a bank with ID and your card and can withdraw as much as you have in your account. I have withdrawn several thousand in cash on many occasions.

Mycarsmellsoflavender · 10/04/2018 23:13

We've sold a camper van and 2 motorbikes on eBay before, all starting at 99p. They all went for a good price in the thousands. As long as it's not a niche product, which it doesn't seem to be, you should be fine. One of the motorbikes sold the first time to a non paying bidder and had to be relisted, so I would agree with the PP who said you get a higher proportion of time wasters. The other sales were fine. Has anyone contacted you for a viewing?

Mycarsmellsoflavender · 10/04/2018 23:17

If there's plenty of interest, then I would leave it to auction. The people asking for a BIN price are usually after a bargain, hoping that you don't know its value.

RedWineAllMine · 10/04/2018 23:28

Oh I thought it was limited to behind the counter cash withdrawals aswell. I know it is for cash machines.

Original poster

Paddling · 11/04/2018 08:27

God. 104 watching now and over a 1000 viewings! And so many questions! I think I agree about the BIN askers -some are definitely after a bargain.

A follow up question about the bank transfer - how would that work? Would I get them to transfer before they come for collection? Whilst here? On line or over the phone? And just check the money gone in? Could they then withdraw it or once it has hit my bank account it is mine? If I see it in my bank account/mobile phone banking app - that means it is safe? How long does that tend to take

OP posts:

19lottie82 · 11/04/2018 10:20

Re bank transfer, once they have inspected the caravan and confirmed they want it then just do it online, it’s always been instant whenever I’ve done it. Then just check it’s in your account and you’re done. Perfectly safe.

19lottie82 · 11/04/2018 10:21

PS once it’s in your account they can’t get it back, no.

RedWineAllMine · 11/04/2018 12:52

What Lottie says. Get them to transfer it once they are there, collecting the caravan.
Then check your bank if it's in. Once happy let them take the caravan. My Fiancé did that when selling a car.
They can't claim it back from Ebay as the transaction was done out of PayPal, so don't worry about that. Nor can they claim it back from their bank. It's an authorised cash transfer that they have to agree to before it goes in. I reckon they might pay via cash transfer. Don't worry about it.

19lottie82 · 23/04/2018 09:56

How did you get on with the sale OP?

Original poster

Paddling · 23/04/2018 20:52

Went fine. Was a lovely chap who bought it. We tried for the bank transfer thing - he did a test payment of £1 but it never came through (I think he must have got a digit wrong) - so anyway we went with cash.

Thank you for you help everyone - much appreciated.

OP posts:

mischiefinprogress · 23/04/2018 21:00

How much did it sell for?

19lottie82 · 23/04/2018 21:37

Glad to hear it OP 👍🏻

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