yet another ebay moral dilemma

loz_the_guru

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Im sure youre all fed up with these by now so will keep it simple and to the point.

on the 9th of march i sold a phone via ebay for just over £160. the buyer paid with cheque, and after it had cleared the phone was sent special delivery. i got an email from the buying saying theyd got a note to say they'd missed the delivery but would collect it shortly.

Anyway, I didnt hear anything after that, and the phones just turned up back at my house as he never collected.

simple question: What should I do now? :lease:
 
email/message the guy, he's paid you £160 and its a private buyer not some huge faceless firm.... :smashin:
 
tchh i didnt knwo my conscience had an account on here! Couldnt you have egged me on a little bit to keep both the phone and the money?

Damn you for telling me what I know I hould do!
 
tchh i didnt knwo my conscience had an account on here! Couldnt you have egged me on a little bit to keep both the phone and the money?

Damn you for telling me what I know I hould do!

Ah you know if you did this you wouldn't sleep at night
 
Im sure youre all fed up with these by now so will keep it simple and to the point.

on the 9th of march i sold a phone via ebay for just over £160. the buyer paid with cheque, and after it had cleared the phone was sent special delivery. i got an email from the buying saying theyd got a note to say they'd missed the delivery but would collect it shortly.

Anyway, I didnt hear anything after that, and the phones just turned up back at my house as he never collected.

simple question: What should I do now? :lease:

You have a good trader rating on here and are obviously a good guy,just do whats right:)
 
I think you know what to do ......

contact the buyer and send it him again via Special Delivery ....
 
If you are an honest person you would contact the buyer and tell him what has happened but if you are basically dishonest you would just keep quiet. Only you know which category you fall into but having asked the question here it would seem that honesty isn't second nature to you.
 
I think so too.

The OP obviously has a conscience otherwise he would just keep quiet and not even post about it on here ..... I think this thread shows that the OP knows what to do and just needs to be told .... get it sent back and I also agree that charging them again for special delivery wouldn't be a problem.

Who knows, the guy could be away on holiday / business or ill in hospital ... all sorts of explanations ... he has paid for the phone and so he will contact you soon I'm sure ...
 
send them back a fisher price phone from toys r us first as a joke...
 
I can't believe you have to ask what to do. :confused:
 
We all know how efficient Royal Mail are, maybe the phone was just put in the 'unable to deliver, return' pile straight away by mistake and he never actually had chance to collect it. Contact the buyer asking if there is a work address etc which may be more suitable.

Whether to charge for redelivery tho - thats a tricky one. If you ask for delivery costs and he says no you can't really keep the phone as that's paid for.


I always try to aim for the 'treat others as you would expect to be treated in that situation' approach.
 
...... but having asked the question here it would seem that honesty isn't second nature to you.

i think that is a dreadful comment to make especially by a moderator:(

the OP did not for one minute even discuss contemplating keeping the phone etc!

he asked for advice
 
Most of us wouldn't need to ask for advice
 
i think that is a dreadful comment to make especially by a moderator:(

the OP did not for one minute even discuss contemplating keeping the phone etc!

he asked for advice

sorry what advice do you really need here? if he didn't contemplate keeping the phone why post the thread?
 
i think that is a dreadful comment to make especially by a moderator:(

the OP did not for one minute even discuss contemplating keeping the phone etc!

he asked for advice

What about asking the buyer for advice instead?
 
I think that the OP is thinking that as there was an email sent saying the buyer had missed delivery and would have to pick it up from the sorting office, and then not picked it up, how can he ensure that the phone gets to the buyer.
He is obviously not going to keep sending it (at his expense initially) for the same thing to happen again and again. If he keeps trying to contact the buyer and gets no response, what can he do? If this is the case, as long as he has taken all reasonable steps to contact the buyer without response, then it would be a case of the ownership of the phone would revert to him.

I think that questioning his honesty is going to far:nono:
 
Im sure youre all fed up with these by now so will keep it simple and to the point.

on the 9th of march i sold a phone via ebay for just over £160. the buyer paid with cheque, and after it had cleared the phone was sent special delivery. i got an email from the buying saying theyd got a note to say they'd missed the delivery but would collect it shortly.

Anyway, I didnt hear anything after that, and the phones just turned up back at my house as he never collected.

simple question: What should I do now? :lease:




You don't have any choice, irrespective of what your conscience says.

There's proof he's paid.

There's proof you have the money.

I'm sure there'll be proof you've had the 'phone back.

This doesn't appear to be one of those 'classic dilemas' where you could actually get away with it.

However, I wouldn't immediately post it to him again - he's as likely to be out next as he was this.

Nor, morally, do you have to contact him. He knows they tried to deliver the item, and must know that the time limit is now up and that it'd have been sent back to you.

The ball is in his court. It's him who arranged for you to deliver to an address where he (or someone else) wasn't always going to be in. It's him who knew the item was waiting and didn't go to pick it up. He must have known the time limit had passed, and the item was to be returned, before you got it back.

And yet he still hasn't contacted you. If there's any running around, re-arranging a re-delivery to, the onus is definitely on him, not you.

Steve W
 
I agree that the OP was more concerned about what he should or could do if all reasonable attempts at completing the contract failed through no fault on his part. Also, what steps by him would be reasonable. He can't go on trying forever or he will make a loss on the transaction.

Ian J, unusually, was a bit harsh.

The best compromise is to do a couple of emails and a recorded delivery letter but if they fail then he could dispose of the item elsewhere and deduct his expenses of the frustrated contract and be prepared to give the missing punter any balance back if it is ever requested.

The letter or email should warn of that course of action
 
Wow, overboard central.

He was only posting to illustrate how stupid some people are, with a cheeky slant on it, he never intended to keep the phone.
 

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