I sold my brothers toolbox on ebay and now its time to collect payment and ship it. The buyer lives out of state. I'll be shipping via Roadway as I have a commercial account with them. The auction stated I accept cash, money orders, and checks. After the guy won, he wanted to pay via paypal, I said OK but only to a confirmed addy. Then he decided he didn't want to pay via paypal, and was going to send a check, but didnt trust the u.s.mail.
Today he emails me asking for it to be sent COD. I've never shipped cod, so I reply i'm not interested....

He replies "not taking cod worries me. there's a saying on ebay that if someone wont do cod, theyre hiding something"

I reply stating the reasons why i dont want to do a cod.

A. if he doesnt want it, im out shipping both ways
B. I have to wait for roadway to pay me.
C. Ive never shipped cod (for our business or ebay)
D. no one I know will ship cod.
E. what if he gives roadway a bounceable / nsf check

I explain that I've never heard that "saying" around ebay and that I should be leery of him, since he's trying to change terms after the fact.

Does anyone ship COD? I hardly ever see it listed in auctions.

 

No....don't do it. Don't let the merchandise leave until you have cash in hand.
If your ebay listing didnt include COD as a payment option, then dont ship COD.
If he can't pay on your terms, then he can't complete the deal.

 

Don't go the COD route. Your auction stated the rules and he's not following them. It's a bummer of a situation, but my advice is to stick to the rules you laid out and if he's legit and doesn't follow them, then too bad for him. But if he's trying to scam you, then you just saved yourself some heartache.

 

I'm agreein here, ship ONLY when you have payment in hand, in cash. dont get screwed by someone who doesnt want to abide by your auction terms.

 

This is EXACTLY what im thinking, Just wanted some more feedback before I tell the guy to scratch n sniff

 

i sell a lot on ebay and after reading your post this guy is playing you for 1 of 2 resons
(1) he has no money
(2)or he is trying to steel from you
if he dont go by your terms report him to ebay as a deadbeat bidder and put the same in his feedback and ebay should let you relist at no charge. and the other thing is check his feedback i am shure he has done this to other people and dont for get paypal is the safest way to go.there fees stink but what ya gona do. hope this helps

 

his feedback although not alot (65) is clean

 

I also wouldn't do COD. Ebay IMO is getting real bad. I quit doing business on ebay, I have run into some real winners there. There are alot of good buyers and sellers I know,but I have seen alot more deals that appeared shady.

 

i do paypal only and it must be to a confirmed address. COD is not wise.

 

No cod, unless stated. Not only that, your discount with the Big R, probably does not work on COD's. Explain that to him, it's going to cost 30-75% (whatever your discount is) more for shipping plus the cod fee!

I drive truck and am not home too often for deliveries, I am not a big fan of confirmed address only, I always state this to seller and give my work address. I figure with my email, paypal info and type my full name in a ebay and aol email, a unconfirmed address should be good. Some will not bend and I have to wait on delivery ticket to redirect delivery. Reasons should be explained for a unconfirmed address.

Good Luck and lets us know how you make out.

 

I buy and sell on Ebay all the time. Never, I repeat, Never have I asked to use COD and neither has a buyer asked to use COD. DO NOT GO C.O.D. with this dude. I would recommend forcing him to use paypal. Why did you want to force him to use a confirmed addy for paypal? I use standard Paypal and my buyers have used standard Paypal with no issues so far. If that yahoo doesn't trust the US Mail he could send it in a certified and insured letter through them that provides insurance and a tracking number. Or he could do the same through DHL, FEDEX, UPS, etc. Heck, he could even Western Union the money to you. The whole thing sounds fishy. A buyer should not be telling you to change your auction practices. Good Luck.

 

I totally agree with Cigarxtc..

His absolute obligation, as I understand EBAY (I sell often), is to pay you in one of the methods YOU stated that you accepted in your listing, period. If he wont pay you in your listed method, HE is at fault and is breaking the implied "contract".

 

Nope, don't do COD. In fact, and IMO, you really have no obligation to explain your reasons to him concerning why you don't accept COD. Simply remind him that it was clearly stated in the auction that payment terms are cash, MO, and check only, and the item was not offered COD. You went above and beyond in offering him PayPal, which costs you money. I'd promptly email him and encourage him to send a Postal MO or use the PayPal option (I've sold on ebay and I hate PayPal but I like the instant payment). In this email, remind him of the PayPal buyer protection; if he has questions on that refer him to the appropriate section in PayPal for HIM to go read. As for the check, if he goes that road remind him that "checks are held until they clear prior to shipping". I like to note this in my auctions so a buyer can't complain about slow shipping. Hold off on any discussions on bashing his feedback for now since, so far, he hasn't proven to be a deadbeat. Do everything reasonably possible to resolve it, including contacting ebay for them to pursue him, before trashing his feedback.

*I'm thinking that, for whatever reason, he might be suffereing from buyers remorse.

 

I agree with cigarxtc. I ran a mail order company for over ten years, I have over 100 E-Bay sales, and I would never ship anything COD, ever.

FWIW: I got stiffed on E-Bay by someone with over 200 positive feedbacks, had to relist, and had the FVF refunded.

You never know when someone has hijacked an E-Bay account. Go by the book, if you do not receive payment within seven days, use the E-Bay reminder service and start the month long route to relisting and refunding the FVF. With my bidder, his account ended up being cancelled and locked forever.

 

Add one more to the "I agree with everything said here" line of thought. Do not go COD with this guy. I would recommend paypal.