Am I about to be ripped off on Ebay?

rodgers73

I'm selling a trailer I dont want on Ebay. I want £500 for it and have put it on with 1st bid price at £450.

Several buyers have contacted me asking how much to end the auction. One in particular is keen and I've agreed to end it for a deposit vai Paypal of £50 with £450 cash on collection. He's sending me the deposit now after which I'm going to text him my address so he can collect on Monday night. Just spoken to him and he seems like a normal bloke.

Am I missing something? Any potential for rip-off here? My only concern is that he will either-

a) Burgle me between now and Monday once he has the address (not too likely)

b) Try and knock me down from £500 on the day when he collects.

I'm leaning more towards b) but wondered if there was some other Ebay scam I dont know about that I may be walking into...

bompington

rodgers73 wrote:

I'm selling a trailer I dont want on Ebay. I want £500 for it and have put it on with 1st bid price at £450.

Several buyers have contacted me asking how much to end the auction. One in particular is keen and I've agreed to end it for a deposit vai Paypal of £50 with £450 cash on collection. He's sending me the deposit now after which I'm going to text him my address so he can collect on Monday night. Just spoken to him and he seems like a normal bloke.

Am I missing something? Any potential for rip-off here? My only concern is that he will either-

a) Burgle me between now and Monday once he has the address (not too likely)

b) Try and knock me down from £500 on the day when he collects.

I'm leaning more towards b) but wondered if there was some other Ebay scam I dont know about that I may be walking into...

This may or may not be dodgy, but one thing's for certain: If you stay inside the ebay system then there is some sort of protection - especially for the buyer. For which reason no reasonable buyer should refuse a request to pay by paypal. As soon as you agree to deal outside ebay you are breaching their T&Cs and losing all protection.

estampida

so paypal payment of £50 is covered by paypal - no risk to buyer and seller

say you will meet him near by not your house and dont text your address to strangers

he could be legit, but id it worth the risk, if you have his number and you are doing him a favour anyway, call him and explain

and when the auction end he can see your seller details anyway......

if the price is agreed then it is, auctions are sold as seen

keef66

I once sold a car via the small ads in the local paper, and when they came back to pay /collect it they started trying to knock more off the previously agreed price because they'd noticed the headlamp reflectors were a bit rusty. They were halogen replacement units and fortunately I'd kept the originals, so I gave them those and insisted on full price for the car.

capt_slog

bompington wrote:

This may or may not be dodgy, but one thing's for certain: If you stay inside the ebay system then there is some sort of protection - especially for the buyer. For which reason no reasonable buyer should refuse a request to pay by paypal. As soon as you agree to deal outside ebay you are breaching their T&Cs and losing all protection.

If you arrange for cash on collection, you are not going "outside Ebay".

You mark it as payment received as normal and ebay charge you the fee as normal. I've only done it once but I think you will have to fill in some online form to end the auction early, and give the price. If you have listed accurately AND say sold as seen, there is no reason to drop the price or have any comeback.

As Estampida says, meet him at a neutral address if this is bothering you, but for your own safety make it somewhere quite public and/or take a few mates with you. You don't want to turn up alone and have to deal with 6 of them getting out of a van.

bompington

Capt Slog wrote:

bompington wrote:

This may or may not be dodgy, but one thing's for certain: If you stay inside the ebay system then there is some sort of protection - especially for the buyer. For which reason no reasonable buyer should refuse a request to pay by paypal. As soon as you agree to deal outside ebay you are breaching their T&Cs and losing all protection.

If you arrange for cash on collection, you are not going "outside Ebay".

Agreed, but I read the OP as agreeing to take it off ebay

slowbike

Ok
1) can you afford to loose £500 ...
2) can you afford to loose £50 ?
3) can you check the £450 is genuine ...

The most he can claim back from you with little problem is the £50 paypal as this is all he paid to start with.
Your potential for loss is the full £500 IF he passes you forged notes and claims back on paypal for some fictitious fault.

I wouldn't worry about your address - you're not giving him anything he couldn't get from casing your place anyway.
Cash is still legal tender and your paypal fees will be for the £50 only...

If you're that bothered then take him and the £450 to the bank and pay it in... but if you did that to me I'd think you a bit weird ... the other option is to go down to the cash machine with him and watch him draw it out ... I did that on one item I was selling because the buyer didn't have the cash with him and I needed to meet up with the Mrs at the shop anyway ...

upperoilcan

If your that worried you should never of agreed to ending the auction early.

The guy could be fully legit come pay his money and be on his way,however it could also go the other way..

You takes your chances when you end the listing on the back of a quick (cash)sale....

Oh and Ebay will only be able to help you with the £50:00 and not the other £450:00 as you will be operating outside of their rules/terms.

For peace of mind you can always wimp out of the deal and re-list the trailor letting the auction go to the end,Yes it will cost you more in fee's but you will have peace of mind and wont lose your money should the buyer be a pain in the ass.

Good luck...

ToeKnee

People tend to ask you to end the auction early to get a bargain. I'd let it run and hopefully get more than I was after ... as well as have the security/peace of mind provided by eBay/PayPal.

rodgers73

The way I see it the deal I've just agreed with the guy is no better than I would have made when we sold everything through the classifieds. I now have his mobile number, his paypal account details and a (hopefully accurate!) address for him on the email from Paypal.

I've given him my road name and postcode but not the house number. I'll be at home with my wife when he arrives so I'm not too worried about a gang arriving and if they do they're welcome to take the damn thing for free. I'm not laying down my life for an old trailer thats clogging up my garage.

I was basically worried that this might be a common scam that I wasnt aware of and some unforseen rip-off arises from it. I've edited the Ebay ad to say the item is sold and the paypal payment has been made outside Ebay.

I'm feeling pretty ok about this now. Had I put it in the local paper this is exactly what would have happened. The only thing now is will he try and knock me down when he arrives? Well, he'll be £50 worse off if he does!

MattC59

Set a 'buy it now' price of £500, that way you can do the entire transaction through eBay.

fast as fupp

Capt Slog wrote:

bompington wrote:

This may or may not be dodgy, but one thing's for certain: If you stay inside the ebay system then there is some sort of protection - especially for the buyer. For which reason no reasonable buyer should refuse a request to pay by paypal. As soon as you agree to deal outside ebay you are breaching their T&Cs and losing all protection.

If you arrange for cash on collection, you are not going "outside Ebay".

You mark it as payment received as normal and ebay charge you the fee as normal. I've only done it once but I think you will have to fill in some online form to end the auction early, and give the price. If you have listed accurately AND say sold as seen, there is no reason to drop the price or have any comeback.

As Estampida says, meet him at a neutral address if this is bothering you, but for your own safety make it somewhere quite public and/or take a few mates with you. You don't want to turn up alone and have to deal with 6 of them getting out of a van.

thats bolox

just take it off e-bay stating its no longer for sale (you may only be able to do this if its got no bids)

if the dude turns up remember any thing he saves by haggling you will probably not lose as you wont have to pay e-bay their 10% plus paypal fees

i dont think youre going to get robbed/murdered for a trailer (unless they are gyppos!) just get a photo of the buyer

e bay are robbing swines these days- they are my last option for selling these days

Initialised

Usually sell my cars on ebay, one time I found a single dodgy note in the wad and gave it back as the multi changer didn't work properly.

Another tried to know the price down, I said I wasn't bothered and would re list and leave bad feed back. They'd driven from London and weren't about to leave without it so we settled it quickly.

However, a recent experience lost me £50 so as a seller I will now always list as no returns.

Bozman

I sold a motorbike this week and i didn't even taken a PP deposit, i gave him my mobile number and address and didn't have any issuses at all, plus i guess that i saved a few quid in fees.
I've bought and sold frames/bikes this way and i've never had an issue, for every scare story you probably get thousands of satisfied people.

Rigga

I think you are worrying too much over this, it's not a 100k Aston Martin your selling, everything should be fine, check his feedback on ebay to give you extra piece of mind.

Peddle Up!

MattC59 wrote:

Set a 'buy it now' price of £500, that way you can do the entire transaction through eBay.

This. ^^

jonny_trousers

ToeKnee wrote:

People tend to ask you to end the auction early to get a bargain. I'd let it run and hopefully get more than I was after ... as well as have the security/peace of mind provided by eBay/PayPal.

^ This. Sounds to me like you've underpriced it.