eBay Bellends

[Usget]

Trying to sell my Supersix Evo on eBay advertised at £725 BIN or best offer.

First attempt, 31st December. Someone sends me a lowball offer. I counter-offer him £650 and he accepts. Then he sends a message saying "I'm on holiday until 7th January so I'll arrange collection after that". I'm not in too much of a hurry, and the guy has 300+ good feedback, so I shrug it off. On the 8th January he calls me and says he runs a courier company and can only collect it when one of his vans is in the area. But no he won't pay by Paypal, he wants to pay cash. He doesn't know when his van will be in the area but it might be Wednesday.

Bearing in mind this guy lives in Birmingham and I'm 40 miles away in Cheltenham I suggested he just sucked it up, drove down and collected the bike on any of Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Nope, has to be Wednesday. Well sorry mate but I'm not home on Wednesday, I'll be at work in Essex, I reply. Could I leave the bike outside to be collected by his courier who will drop off the cash, then?

At this point I'm wondering which one of us is on another planet and assuming it may be me. I politely decline his kind offer and tell him again he can collect on Friday, Saturday or Sunday at his convenience.

Wednesday afternoon I get a call at work from a courier who's in my town and wanting a street name to come and collect my bike. I tell him to buzz off.

By this time, enough time has elapsed that I can report the buyer for non-payment. He immediately messages me asking why I've done so, and asking to collect the following Wednesday. No, sod off. After a few days I was able to complete the non-paying bidder case.... and yet the guy still shows as having 100% feedback. So what on earth is there to stop him trying this scam - I assume it was a scam? - once again?

Relisted the item. 12 hours later this chap sends me an offer of £680 with a message saying "I can collect on Sunday". GREAT, someone genuine, I think, and send them my number to arrange collection.

He sends me a Whatsapp message - "My friend is travelling to Manchester with van, he will contact you".

Oh here we fking go.

OK, can I have his contact details so I can speak to him? No response.

Can you tell me the approximate time he will be with me? No response.

Needless to say he's not responded to any further communication. eBay won't cancel the transaction until he confirms he has "received a refund" for the money he hasn't bothered to pay me.

I don't think this is a scam, it's just a fking timewaster.

Has eBay always been this full of retards or is it a recent thing? I don't remember having this amount of trouble in the past?

TL;DR people are dheads and I've still got a Supersix Evo for sale if anyone wants it.

[Usget]

yellowjack said:

What size is it?

I haven't got the funds right now, but if you could hold onto it for a couple of months for me, I'll send a mate up with a Transit van to collect when I've scraped the cash together.

Any Wednesday would be good for me to collect. Lock it up in the garden with a combination lock - text me the combination when I text you a video of the cash envelope going into your letterbox, yeah?

Where's the middle finger smiley??

[Usget]

The Rookie said:

What bugs me is not only can you not leave -ve feedback anymore, they don’t even it up an automated one for none payers to let everyone know the serial non payers.

That's it! There seems to be no disadvantage to it. Which from eBay's perspective I suppose there isn't. They get their final value fee in the bank and then choose whether to return it at their leisure. Can't hurt their cashflow position.

UPDATE: Bloke 1 has just called me! "I pick up tomorrow?" Are you fking stting me?

[Usget]

Jimboka said:

Just bat straight down the middle
Paylal only / every possible filter to eliminate the scum / pickup only / leave feedback upon collection
Don’t comply - no bike & report
Oir give it to a charity shop

I'm not un-generous and at least one South African kiddy is currently benefiting from the Buffalo I bought for him. But even I draw the line at giving a £700 bike to charity!!

In other news we have an APPARENTLY SENSIBLE BUYER KLAXON. Assuming he doesn't turn out to be a see you next tuesday, I'll see him next tuesday.

[Usget]

Sa Calobra said:

rastapasta said:

I paid GBP 5,500 for one of these bikes in 2014 (super six evo red). why are you giving it away so cheap??

Yours was a hi-mod without st wheels?

(I own a non high mod that came with st wheels)

At £5500 I'd expect it to come with at least four wheels and ideally some kind of internal combustion engine!

[Usget]

Forgot to mention that, before we sounded the alarm for the actual potential buyer, I had a very polite chap sending me WhatsApp messages asking for details about the bike. More pictures, how long had I had it, etc. +48 code on the phone number but I didn't let it bother me, lots of European expats over here and not all of them will have UK SIM cards.

"Are you local then?" I ask.
"No, I live in Poland"
"So how are you going to collect it?"
"I'll send a courier. I have done this before"
"OK, but if you do that I'll need payment up front by PayPal"
"Come on, why do you want to pay eBay and Paypal fees?"

... so that you don't steal my bike, I think....

"I'm happy to pay fees for a smooth transaction."
"No, courier will hand over cash for the bike instead"

... will he indeed? I bet Parcel Pete always carrys 700 groats on him in cash.

Needless to say, after I insisted on payment through the proper channels he stopped responding.

[Usget]

The seller should pay for return postage - ask him to do so, or report it as an issue on eBay and they should sort it out for you. It's not your fault if the item was not as described.

In other news - FOURTH TIME LUCKY. A thoroughly nice, decent chap, a student at Oxford University, contacted me in advance to ask about the bike, arranged to inspect in person, turned up when he said he would, paid, and retrieved the bike. In return I made him a cup of coffee and gave him a lift to the station. He paid £50 more than Bellend #1. So, all round, a good result.