Is it safe to sell through PayPal? It’s a collection in person item (Bike) but they’ve got zero history or feedback. Would PayPal cover me if they picked it up then the pay pal payment didn’t clear?

No. They can pay via PayPal, collect, and claim it wasn’t delivered to get the money back.

Cash only if they’re collecting.

Ok mate thanks for the heads up.

They can pay via PayPal, collect, and claim it wasn’t delivered to get the money back.

While I could see how this may work does it actually work or is it just eBay folklore?

You would have email evidence of them arranging pickup time so how could they claim that a collection only item wasn’t delivered?

If it’s not in their systems it doesn’t exist, as far as I’m aware.

While I could see how this may work does it actually work or is it just eBay folklore?

Question is would you risk it? It really isn’t worth the hassle of a buyer even attempting to make a claw back claim against you. Cash on collection is king – even though eBay do make that route as hard as possible.

Get them to email the car registration number of the vehicle they’re collecting with then take a selfie of it, you & them with the item.
You’ve then got photographic & email evidence of the collection should you need to prove it.

Yep, cash only if collecting.

15 years ago I put my 1 year old BMW 320d Sport on eBay. Bloke arranged to come down from oop north and give me a bankers draft. Sure, I said, so long as you accompany me to the bank and pay it in. No problem he says. Rocks up the next day with his mate. The pair of them are big *()& off bouncers. This could get messy methinks. Went for a test drive with me wondering how long it’d be before I ended up in the bottom of a lake. Thankfully all went well. The three of us then arrived at the bank and I deposited the draft. Nah, said the cashier, it contains spelling mistakes so we can’t accept that. Realising this could be a proper scam and I’d nearly fallen for it, I asked the chap for a new draft. He wrote it there and then. Bank did their bit and it was job done. I had the jeebies throughout and it made me realise how diligent one must be when selling anything of value.

Question is would you risk it?

That wasn’t my question actually. My question is does it actually work on a collection only item with email evidence of collection arrangement. Odd to then claim non delivery isn’t it?

Just wanted some actual examples of it happening to people personally rather than just made up stuff.

My question is does it actually work on a collection only item with email evidence of collection arrangement. Odd to then claim non delivery isn’t it?

It certainly used to be a genuine scam. If you couldn’t link to online tracking with a signature Paypal were likely to side with the buyer, there’s horror stories online of scans of signed receipts and CCTV images of the buyer holding the item not changing their mind.

However a year or so ago I noticed an email from eBay that they were changing their terms to prevent it, and you could no longer claim non delivery if you’d selected to collect something. Whether any scrotes have found a way round it since, I don’t know.

The three of us then arrived at the bank and I deposited the draft. Nah, said the cashier, it contains spelling mistakes so we can’t accept that. Realising this could be a proper scam and I’d nearly fallen for it, I asked the chap for a new draft. He wrote it there and then. Bank did their bit and it was job done.

How did this bloke write a new Bank Draft there and then. Bank Drafts are written by the issuing bank, surely he would have to go back to his bank to get another drawn up ?

How did this bloke write a new Bank Draft there and then. Bank Drafts are written by the issuing bank, surely he would have to go back to his bank to get another drawn up ?

I was being flippant for brevity. His bank had a branch round the corner.

They can pay via PayPal, collect, and claim it wasn’t delivered to get the money back.

While I could see how this may work does it actually work or is it just eBay folklore?

It happened to me. Sold a phone, received payment via Paypal, had the money in the bank. Bloke collected it in person.

Next day I had a claim saying the EBay/Paypal account had been hacked so the transaction was fraudulent and would be cancelled. The money was automatically taken back out of my account (~£440).

As I could not prove I had sent the phone to the buyer’s address, I would have lost the money had Paypal not covered it in goodwill solely due to the amount of money I put through them.

In that case surely you could report the phone stolen and get the IMEI blocked.

It happened to me. Sold a phone, received payment via Paypal, had the money in the bank. Bloke collected it in person.

Was that item listed as collection only? Guessing not as it was a phone and not a large item.

As I could not prove I had sent the phone to the buyer’s address, I would have lost the money had Paypal not covered it in goodwill solely due to the amount of money I put through them.

So basically it didn’t happen then as you didn’t actually lose any money, plus it probably wasn’t collection only.

So still in the folklore category at the moment. It is important to know as every time this pops up you get people making up stuff about the buyer scamming on local collection only itmes.

PayPal seller protection does not apply to Claims, Chargebacks and/or Reversals for the reason that the purchase was Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) nor for items that you deliver or are picked up in person.

From PayPal terms and conditions.

There’s plenty of first hand accounts of it happening to people, first Google result is last year. It does appear Paypal have tightened up their t&cs now but you’ll still have a lot of hassle trying to sort it out if they claim a chargeback through their bank or use a stolen Paypal account. I’m not convinced photos and hand written receipts will do much as proof of collection as far as Paypal are concerned.

Buyer protection also doesn’t apply for items collected in person and claimed as not received:

purchases of items which you collect in person, or arrange to be collected on your behalf (including at a retail point of sale) and which you claim to be Not Received;

I’m pretty sceptical of some of the accusations of eBay scams that get thrown around on here (buyer is forrin, buyer hasn’t responded within 15 minutes) but this one is well known and common. Not worth the risk on a high value item, if they’re collecting in person why can’t they pay in person?

It does appear Paypal have tightened up their t&cs now but you’ll still have a lot of hassle trying to sort it out if they claim a chargeback through their bank or use a stolen Paypal account.

They could claim chargeback through their bank for any item, even if posted and as for using a stolen Paypal account that is just clutching at straws.

The change to buyer protection in regards to local collection means that someone trying it is not going to get far.
As for why they cannot pay in person, maybe their Paypal is linked to credit card and they don’t actually have the cash to buy the item?

I don’t know that it’s clutching at straws. There’s plenty of first hand accounts of scams that are easy to pull off and hard to sort out for the victim.

Would I under some circumstances accept Paypal for a collection item? Probably, but not from a buyer with 0 history for a high value item, when Paypal explicitly do not cover collection under their standard buyer/seller protection terms.

Would bank transfer be a safer option?

I sold a car on ebay earlier this year. Buyer had zero, or very little history. I was a bit sceptical, especially when he said he lived in France. Anyway, he was willing to trust me, bank transferred the money. His, UK resident, partner came and collected the car a week or so later. All good. Obviously only one data point, and I’ve no idea if technically he could have retrieved the funds from my bank.

Edit: just remembered, all comms was done through ebay just in case to begin with. But we also spoke over the phone on landlines, and had a text message stream with his partner. So all in all quite a lot of audit trail.