It depends:

• Posting: No
• Meeting in person: No

In the first case, you are exposed to a stolen account resulting in a chargeback. In the second case, you are vulnerable to the “buyer” reporting that the item never turned up and requesting a chargeback themselves. You can have all of the evidence that you could imagine, including a photo of you with the buyer and eBay may well still side with them.

FWIW, I’ve sold plenty of stuff on eBay and Facebook and rarely had a problem, but I’m very aware of scams and have turned more than one buyer away for being too risky. That said, I bought a CX bike for my son in the exact way your buyer requested, from a seller in South Wales. He was genuine and we struck a good deal, but I’ll admit to having a few nerves until the bike turned up. Not sure I’d do this again!

eBay/PayPal have always sided with the buyer every time a buyer has raised a dispute against me. They seem to want to enforce the rules of business selling to private sellers.

Even if you sell through eBay and pay the fees if they want to lead you a merry dance they will. And eBay will help them.

Cash on collection I reckon is best if you’re going to sell outside eBay.

Oh and I should note, it was abundantly clear the buyer just didn’t want the item any more and would find any excuse to return it, rather than me having suckered the seller!

Thanks all, lots of great advice here-

Is the buyer expecting you to pass on the 10% saving to him/her?

If so, then theres no benefit to you whatsoever.

If not, then theres something fishy.