How would you organise payment/handover for gig tickets when vendor lives 100 miles from venue?

[Ponders]

DS1 is desperate to see Muse at MEN & has found someone on Manchester gumtree who has 2 tickets for sale at face value. Trouble is they live in Leicester so handover at venue isn't going to happen.

He thinks that if they send them registered & he pays on receipt, that would be ok because if he doesn't pay vendor can cancel the tickets?

I thnk he said though that vendor wants the cash before sending - which could leave him with nothing (unless he paid by paypal, maybe?)

Suggestions, please!

Where are you? Could he go to Leicester?

I'd pay via paypal. He runs the risk of never receiving them, then he's lost his money and the tickets.

PayPal via a Visa card might be the safest bet. Then if the PayPal transaction can't be reversed you can always do a chargeback through visa as over a certain amount (I think it's £75).

we're in Lancashire, tribpot, even further from Leics than Manc

2 votes for paypal then, thank you - I'll suggest that to him!

ok, have gone with paypal. fingers crossed

not Visa though, Mastercard, but that's the same re chargeback, isn't it? It's £130 for 2 tickets.

shit, I sent to the wrong email address - was supposed to be "name1993@hotmail" & I sent to "name93@hotmail"

"name1993" is "unclaimed" - does that mean it's safe & won't be taken from credit card???

it's ok, just went back & saw I could cancel payment - phew

done it properly now

after all that, the tickets have got lost in the post

when I paid on Friday I messaged the seller to send them registered post (actually should have said special delivery but as it turns out...) & to text DS1 with the amount of postage which I would then pay by paypal

he texted DS1 back to say not to worry about paying him postage as he had already added £10 on each ticket

on Sat morning he texted to say he'd sent them
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - nothing

more texting between DS1 & seller, who never actually specified how he sent them, but we now suspect it was 2nd class signed-for

Wed - nothing
today (concert is tonight) - still nothing

PO tells him they should have arrived by now, so he can claim for them; but if he did send them 2nd class recorded I think he'll only get back about £35?

& poor old DS1, who was really looking forward to it, can't go

seller says he will return the money via paypal but can't at the moment because he needs to register another card or something??? he sounds very cross & very apologetic but I'm beginning to wonder if we'll end up losing the money. should I report to paypal at this stage or give him a couple of days to sort it out?

Did you ever see proof of postage? I'd probably give him a couple of days to refund, but after that I'd raise it with PayPal. Send him an email asking for the tracking number off his receipt, you can type this into Royal Mail website and should give you details of how it was sent and when etc.

I'd suggest posting in the eBay topic for advice - although it's not an eBay purchase there are some very knowledgable people there who use PayPal frequently. Sorry he's missed the gig

thanks, Rockchick

no, we haven't seen proof of posting, I suppose we could ask him for the ref, or to scan & email? but that's his problem really.

I will raise with paypal then in a couple of days; but if he doesn't have any money in his paypal account, can they still do a chargeback?

No idea, sorry. It's up to him to claim off Royal Mail, but was just thinking you would get an idea of how trustworthy he is if you knew he was honest about when the parcel was sent. If he couldn't provide you with a ref number you could safely assume you will have to raise a dispute, whereas if he posted it on the day he said, hopefully he's more honest tha that :)

Ponders, you should raise this with Paypal and also the credit card you used when you paid - there's usually a number on the back for you to call. They can query the transaction for you, which should help with getting the money back if the "seller" doesn't sort this out/has no money in his paypal account