I’ve done what your buyer is asking and I’ve bought and had item shipped to friend. Everyone starts out with no FB but give it a chance and if payment comes through you should be okay. I would recommend a shipping method that inlcudes tracking.
As your buyer is in Hong Kong this may have been the easiest method of sending a gift to his/her friend that lives in this country. Smart thinking.
I’ve just received payment by Paypal, the address in New York is the confirmed address for the bidder, and I just got off the phone with eBay customer service who said that I should wait for at least 24 hours to ship, but that after that, there’s no chance that the money can be taken away from me.
So although there were some red flags, it seems as though this buyer is probably legit. If it turns out otherwise, I’ll be back with an update.
Thanks for all your advice.
Okay, I’m still a little worried.
The buyer is telling me he wants me to remove the glass dial from the radio before shipping it, and sent me a link to a forum where he posted some pictures about how to do it. Except they don’t show how to remove the glass dial, just how to pack it once you’ve removed it. That’s fairly obvious.
I’m not exactly a mechanical idiot, but when I tried to removed the chassis from the set to see if I could take the glass out, it wouldn’t budge. I decided that if I tried to force it I might damage it.
I’ve sent the buyer a note telling him this, adding that I’ve packed it up very securely, and that if he wants (for an additional charge) I’ll double box it, and/or use a different carrier or service. I haven’t had a reply from him yet.
Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I’m worried that when he gets it he’s going to say that it arrived broken, and have eBay force me to give him a refund.
What’s my recourse in this situation? If I get insurance from the Post Office and he claims it’s broken, what happens then?
Thanks.
Perhaps you could take pictures showing the unbroken dial and the packaging (to show that it was packed appropriately).
unless removing the dial glass was terms of the auction then i would not do it.
what i would do for an old tube radio is remove the tubes (unless the tubes are locked in their sockets) and wrap each one in paper which go into a small box with polystyrene packing material. find a box (new or excellent condition, no damage or flaws) that is a snug fit for the radio (fill any space with crumpled paper, snug but not forced or distorting the box, do not use polystyrene materials). find a box that is 2 to 4 inches larger than the smaller box and the box of tubes. put 2 inches of polystyrene peanuts on the bottom of the larger box, place the radio box in the middle, fill the outside with polystyrene peanuts (a handful at a time so they settle and pack tight). put the box of tubes on top of the radio box, fill to the top with handfuls of polystyrene peanuts letting them settle and pack. the box should not be distorted, with the top taped shut you should be able to press on the box at different locations with no bending or flexing of the cardboard. i would not charge extra for this, it is how old tube stuff is shipped by people that want a good reputation or feedback.
before packing take photos of the radio and tubes. take photos of the packing process.
insure for its real value.
Also be aware that USPS sucks if you ever need to actually file a claim for an insured item. You might want to check out UPS who may be a bit pricier but I’ve heard they are much better with things like lost/damaged packages.
Tell him to send cash
That very much does violate the eBay contract. You must accept all payment via Paypal.
(That’s also why a lot of people I know no longer sell anything there.)
Clarifying [phrase] added.
Have you ever won as a seller or lost as a buyer? From everything I’ve ever heard eBay is exceptionally biased in favor of the buyer.
And if the buyer is trying to screw you, they’ll likely be able to. Ultimately, if both parties tell contradictory stories with equal “evidence”, what does eBay do? Say you take those pictures of the packing job and insure the package and get delivery confirmation. And the buyer takes pictures of a package he received with a brick in it. Photographs of boxes being packed don’t prove what was shipped or received, and delivery confirmation just confirms that a box was delivered.
Try to document all you can but I can tell you Ebay is not small seller friendly.
Ebay will almost always side with the buyer in a dispute.
The most common scam now is for buyers to buy an item say it is not as described and then return an empty box.
The get to keep the item and paypal instantly refunds their money.
As a seller you can limit what countries you sell to and what buyers you would like to deal with. Min feedback stats ect.
Small seller are being pushed out of ebay and its a shame.
I’ve only bought, never sold, on eBay. And I have to say…I prefer the smaller sellers, the ones who are just getting rid of Mom’s old craft items or whatever. Between the PayPal requirement and the number of big sellers on eBay, I feel pushed out of buying on that service. And it’s a pity, I’ve bought a number of items over the years that I probably would never have found anywhere else. I have a lot of owl items, ranging from glass owl banks to an owl brooch that opened to reveal a cache of solid perfume. Nowadays, though, I don’t even bother checking the listings for months at a time.