My wife has her ebike for sale on eBay.

The advert states pickup only, that way the buyer can check the bike is as advertised and check for size and sign a purchase receipt to say they are happy with the bike.

A potential buyer has just paid the full amount through PayPal, not asked anything about the bike and has just messaged me saying they want to send a courier up to pick the bike up and they want my address.

Something doesn’t feel right about this so am I being too cautious or should I just let the courier pick it up?

It’s not a unique situation and really no different to someone paying with PP and popping around in person.

Usual rules apply, if you get an email notification of payment then you log-in independently of it to check it’s real and you keep the receipt from the courier to prove it’s gone.

Is the courier also going to pack the bike on their behalf? I’d be telling them to jog on

If the “potential buyer” has paid, doesn’t that makes them the actual buyer? Did they Buy it Now or win the auction? If so, eBay will have sent them your address so they shouldn’t need to ask.

I think I have heard of a scam whereby they claim not to have received the goods and demand a refund through Paypal, and that Paypal have not accepted the courier signing a receipt as proof of delivery. Maybe that’s because the courier doesn’t know what is being collected.

I wouldn’t be happy about that. You are responsible for getting the bike to the buyer, in the condition described

Give him his money back, say you want cash on collection.

This is the thing.

I don’t have any packaging for it, I don’t want to pack it,  thats why it was stated pickup only.

I wanted the buyer to check it for size and test ride it.

I realise it might be genuine but I can’t be arsed with all the hassle if it isn’t.

Yep, could be a scam, they pay via pp, send a courier to collect and claim via pp non-receipt of the bike.

You have no evedence of the courier collection or delivery, pp side with the buyer and refund the money.

They can also do the same if they pay via pp & collect in person.

Pick up only keeps prices down as its a limited market. So then sending a courier is not on I’d say. Also pick up only is stress free for these exact reasons. They see the bike and you shouldnt get grief as they inspected it pre paying. .

A  courier you put yourself out waiting. And are they picking up a bike unwrapped and unpackaged? If not then no. Refund and repost. People are ignorant.

@flyingpotatoes Same here. Last bike I sold the Guy who bought it got a train from London to Leeds to inspect, test fit, then paid cash.

If the buyer wants it enough, those are the terms. I imagine it’s not a cheap purchase either, so this way puts both of you at ease.

I’d refund and relist it. It’s a PITA and you might get a negative feedback until ebay sort it out, but it’s just not worth the potential hassle. Block the winning bidder as well, it’s one strike and you’re out (messing me about or rudeness/abrubtness in messages) as far as I’m concerned with ebay. Life’s too short to be dealing with messers.

Just tell him to come and collect it in person.  No couriers as the bike will not be packed and you’ll be requiring ID as proof.

At this point I will expect that he will request to cancel the sale

the ‘courier collection’ of collection only items is a classic eBay scam. Have you checked the feedback on the buyer?

Update

I’ve told the buyer that it was pickup only as i wanted them to try before they took it away.

They’ve now come back and asked if it will fit in a  car.

For reference I’m in Lancashire and they are in Headley, Hampshire.

The feedback is 100% positive and have no feedback in the last 6 months.

Might be genuine?

Bit late now but I put “NO COURIERS” in my pickup only listings as the whole point of local pickup is that I am not packing it up and then waiting in all day for a courier to arrive.  If I wanted to pack up the item I would send it myself and get more money for it.

If they’re asking questions like that they’ll probably expect you to get it in the car for them. Worth reiterating that it’s up to them to get it up the road

it will fit in a  car

Yes. Though you can’t promise it will fit in their car

If you really trust the seller then by all means go for it but collection is normally cash only to avoid the obvious refund fraud.

If you really trust the seller then by all means go for it but collection is normally cash only to avoid the obvious refund fraud.

If your buyer is collecting but used pp you’re still opening yourself up for potential hassle. My recent eBay experience tells me that high feedback doesn’t automatically mean a good buyer

My recent eBay experience tells me that high feedback doesn’t automatically mean a good buyer

And as you cannot leave negative feedback for a buyer they may have bought 1,000s of things but been really shitty when buying 20 of them and you would never know

If you pay by PayPal and collect in person there’s no proof of delivery. That’s a classic scam. If collecting refund them and ask for cash

Thanks for all your thoughts and advice.

I think I’ll refund the money through PayPal and if they are still interested then I’ll say cash on  collection.

Let’s see if they still want to go through with the purchase.

Latest update.

I’ve told the buyer my concerns about sending a courier and have offered to refund them through PayPal.

They have just contacted me and said they are a bonafide buyer and will not mess me about.

Also added as their daughters boyfriend lives half an hour away then he can pick it up and deliver to them in Hampshire.

Legit? Maybe. Who knows?

They have just contacted me and said they are a bonafide buyer and will not mess me about.

well, I’m convinced…

tell them to give the BF the money and he can give you cash.

Was there a lot of interesting the sale or did it go fairly cheap? theres always another buyer

Face to face. Cash only is what I would do. Way too many scams around with paypal and the like.

It wasn’t the daughters boyfriend who picked up your bike, it was the guy who hacked his phone.

so sorry but as I didn’t receive the bike I need to open an eBay claim……

that’s not conjecture btw, it’s a regular eBay scam.

Cash or buyer collects with photo ID would be my answer

Refund him the Paypal and ask him to get his daughter’s BF to bring cash.

To reiterate jonnyboi and others above this sounds like a scam.  You sound like a nice trusting person and I hate to be preaching FUD but this trick occurs regularly with the same explanations (oh my mate lives nearby or my son is at uni near you or blah).

In general, from a seller’s point of view why would you accept PayPal for a high value collection only  item like this?  You pay the fees and it’s the buyer who holds the cards.  Tell them your daughter’s BF needs to bring cash.  I wouldn’t even bother asking for ID because I guess good-enough-to-fool-me fake ID cards cost a few quid.

I’ve told the buyer my concerns about sending a courier and have offered to refund them through PayPal.

You really are making life hard for yourself. “Hi, this is cash on collection only” is all you need to say. Otherwise you end up in some drawn out negotiation about couriers, payments, cars and random people coming to your house

Accept cash only. Otherwise you will have no proof the buyer received the bike.

The thing about eBay is that everything sells eventually for the market value.

If it’s priced fairly you will sell it to a genuine buyer soon enough.

If you are that convinced you have a genuine buyer then offer them £25 off for cash on collection for their troubles, see what happens

^ what jonnyboi said. You’re just protecting yourself.

Well this morning I’ve refunded the buyer through PayPal.

And they’ve replied saying they will collect the bike and pay me through a bank transfer. All they need is my account number and sort code once the BF has  checked the bike. They don’t want to send the BF with £750 cash to a stranger’s house.

I think I’ll just relist it and cancel the sale.

Its obviously a scam.

I hate eBay.

worst stealth ad ever 😉

At least you didn’t actually get robbed.  Try gumtree or Facebook marketplace as well if you are selling collection only.

edit: and yes, cancel the sale and end all communication with the bidder. Also report it to eBay

😁 I wish it was a stealth ad but I can’t see any of you manly lot riding a woman’s step through ebike on knarly trails

Thanks for all your help, I was pretty sure it was a scam but wanted to see where it went.

Asking for my bank details is a classic.

Another thing you could ask them for is PayPal gift payment. You’d be protected then as that’s non-refundable.

That is if you can be bothered messing this scammer about a bit more. Wastes some of the time they could otherwise be using to rip someone else off. 😁

Another thing you could ask them for is PayPal gift payment. You’d be protected then as that’s non-refundable.

Not quite. If the PP Gift is funded via credit card then you can still be stung iirc

Could be a scam but it’s more likely to be genuine if my experience is anything to go by. Have sold lots of stuff as local collection only on eBay and it’s amazing how often people buy and then want to arrange courier collection or expect you to do it… it’s very annoying but I think most of these buyers are either a bit dim or are bidding on an item that sells at a lower price because the potential number of bidders is far smaller. I doubt the bank transfer offer is a scam either.

£750 isn’t that much money to be carrying to buy a bike. When you relist just ask for cash on collection only.

Not sure why everyone thinks they are a scammer.  Person bought via Paypal which was as per listing.  The courier bit was trying it on but they then offered to pick up.  The fact they don’t want to turn up to someones house with £750 is also understandable as you could be the scammer rather than them you know.

Look at it from buyers point of view.  They bought item via method listed and you are now messing them about demanding cash.  I would actually walk away from the sale as the buyer as you don’t sound like the sort of person I wouldn’t want to buy from….

I’ve had a fair bit of experience selling bikes on eBay, Buy Now is Paypal only, so the buyer did the right thing, you should have been polite and said “as per listing Pick up Only Please”, and leave it up to them to collect since you had their money. Now its gone wrong I would cancel the transaction and move on unless they can pay cash. I’ve sold lots of bikes with a Postage option and Never had anyone come and pick up, I get a free box and packaging from halfords and take my time to package it up and the buyer pays for it.

I’d bet it was a scam. Third party pick up and a retractable payment option?  Avoiding cash at all costs and no proof of delivery, come on.

If not it wasn’t worth the risk