Theatre in London wants my furniture: Scam?

[lljkk]

I listed a small wooden vintage furniture item on eBay a few months ago, I might get £30 for it. I recently had below 2 messages about it. The item isn't chairs and I have no sort of packaging to post it safely. I had a look online & actually can't find the same item but... I can't believe it's that special and a big threatre company can't source what they want. How does this scam work, is the theatre mention supposed to make me happy excited? Who would go to so much trouble for a £30 item?

"I work with a theatre in London and am interested in buying these chairs for a show, is it possible to get a full address and send a courier to pick these up from you? I need to find some quotes on couriers but would be looking to pick it up sometime next week if that's okay with you?"

&

"Hello, I'd love to buy this for a theatre production at [real theatre name] in London. If i bought it would we be able to send a courier to collect and if so what dates/times might work for you?

Many Thanks
Louisa"

All this angst about what to do!

Ask which theatre they represent and their name and they play . If they won't tell you then that is telling and you can have nothing more to do with them

If they do tell you the details .Find the phone number for the theatre ( find it yourself don't take the nunber they give) and call them to ask if the person works.there and is trying to find props for the play etc . Verification done

Alternatively if you can't be bothered to verify they are legitimate, spend the same amount of time on her discussing all the potential scenarios of whether this is a scam or not. I suppose at least that has the plus@ of being a distraction and mildly entertaining 😀

I always send a courier when I buy furniture off eBay... surely I'm not the only person doing this?! I use a website called Shiply to find a courier and they go and collect. I always pay through eBay whether it's buy it now or on auction so there's literally no risk for seller?

If you agree they say can you pay courier cash and they will transfer the extra money. Well known scam.

Not necessarily. Several of us have said we've used couriers in this situation.

As long as OP is paid through eBay and the buyer organised and pays the courier for the transport themselves, there's no issue.

The fact that they have the item wrong ( chairs when it isn’t) would make me suspect a scam.

If it’s genuine then packing it up will cost you time and money.

I’d ignore them

Always good to be on your guard, but you might be jumping to conclusions. Google "Shiply" - they were set up to provide courier services for exact situations like this - collection-only items that are too far away/difficult to collect. eBay have a lot of protections now to prevent the frauds people are describing (although it does happen - mostly on high value tech, not usually second hand furniture).

And they do all the packing for you. And the buyer pays for the courier.

I'd ring the theatre and ask to speak to the props department. If it is a genuine request, you should then be able to arrange a direct sale with them, with payment either by bank transfer or cash on collection, and save the ebay fees.

I had a similarly strange request from a props company for a very large set of encyclopedias, which I had on for not much money and collection only. They were desperate for them and paid a huge amount for next day shipping, but all went well.

Anything involving a courier request on market place is a scam. It is relentless, it's ruined marketplace

99.9% of the time this is true.

If somebody absolutely insists on a courier it might be legit for an uncommon item. But you need to make it crystal clear the courier needs to pay you cash or provide the Ebay code to confirm collection.

If they ask you for any payments tell them to sod off.

Ta 4 replies.
Update: someone (different ebayer) bought & paid for the item thru ebay and is messaging to arrange to come collect/pay. Different Ebayer hasn't mentioned a threatre. On Monday I will be about 1.5 hours closer to London but they can't come then, they will hire a car to come collect item later next week, instead.

It's minimum 6 hours round trip to drive here from London & of course there is cost of car hire, petrol.

Presuming the driver gets a meal paid for in addition to 6 hours salary (£12/hour?), and then petrol, I'd say £30 to me and I'm guessing £250 or so total cost to them to get the item.

This item has been listed on ebay for about 6m before now. Some other ebayers asked about courier but I kept saying No because I had no way to package item to get it to them safe.

I'll update if it's safely collected !

I've sold a 1950s bedstead to a West End theatre and a broken Victorian piano to an artist who wanted it to smash it up for a piece of live performance art. Both on eBay, but a while back.

I don't think you understand Shiply and other sources of couriers @lljkk . They won't just be doing that one job, any more than your Amazon driver is only delivering your package. They might not even deliver on the same day that they pick the item up.

The stuff I had delivered via Shipley involved a three hour pick up-journey-drop off time and was a fraction of your £250 estimate (I need to look it up, but I think it was about £30) When the guy picked up he already had lots of stuff in his van.

I think it's a shame it won't be used by the theatre!
I used Shiply when I bought a weird bed frame - it was very good, 4 hr round trip or so I think and quote was about £80-90 and they packaged it up and delivered it upstairs (2 guys) think they added a small charge for the stairs and the additional guy
courier orders are not all scams at all! My goodness

I've sold a fairly uninteresting and over-priced piece of furniture for a few hundred £ on EBay to a company sourcing bits for interior projects.
They were a B-Corp and their USB was they always used resourced items.
They asked for an invoice & paid me by bank transfer (which was great because I saved on the eBay fees) and sent a courier so I didn't even have to wrap the thing and I live a fair distance from London.

Honestly, best sale ever, even though I too thought it was a scam as Google didn't reveal too much about the company.

True that I never heard of Shipley before this thread.
Actual buyer said "I actually live in London so will be hiring a car to come up to you." so she's not using Shipley (I think?)

It's cool that Shipley can use actual ebay URL to generate quotes. I indulged curiousity & got them to quote to convey the item within next 2 weeks: £109.

Oh wait, it's competitive quoting isn't it? So next quote is £82. Maybe will get down to £30 or so. None of them are mentioning bringing their own packaging, though, I imagine they plan to just stow it in. The item isn't fragile or heavy but it won't survive well being chucked around.

Yep, sit tight and the quotes go right down. Maybe not to £30 for your trip.

Actual buyer said "I actually live in London so will be hiring a car to come up to you." so she's not using Shipley (I think?)

That sounds an expensive way to get your item, too.

About 25 quotes later (wow!) ranging from £61 to £193. Median probably about £82. Some asking for additional info like specific dimensions or flexibility on dates. I feel bad for wasting their time.

Buyer is sending "John" to collect item, is latest info. Could well be a Shipley person.

All this hassle and angst and you could have given it to a charity shop.

It's definitely going to cost you more in blood, sweet and tears than the thing is worth