International buyer wants to pay shipping with his FEDEX account

[recoilrob]

I'm in the USA, my buyer is in Italy. He purchased a wristwatch and wants to have it picked up under his Fedex account.

I know I should not do this as I lose control of the destination. But, what if I offered LOCAL PICKUP and he chose that. If he has Fedex pick it up and sign for it am I now in the clear because it's on his account?

thanks,

Rob

[papermoneyforme]

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@recoilrob wrote:

I'm in the USA, my buyer is in Italy. He purchased a wristwatch and wants to have it picked up under his Fedex account.

I know I should not do this as I lose control of the destination. But, what if I offered LOCAL PICKUP and he chose that. If he has Fedex pick it up and sign for it am I now in the clear because it's on his account?

thanks,

Rob

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Don't you have everything other than domestic blocked from purchasing?

[dubiousgain]

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@recoilrob wrote:

I know I should not do this 

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 I think you answered your own question. I wouldn't do it for 2 other reasons, but it's just my own personal opinion... That was not the shipping method you had posted in the listing, and the fact that your buyer didn't arrange/inquire about this  BEFORE he purchased your item.

Maybe he wanted to get you pot committed first?  Sneaky....

[dtexley3]

I would really not recommend this on an international purchase.  If the item is damaged/lost in transit how would you go about attempting to collect on the insurance?  It's already hard enough to get FedEx to payout on eBay shipped items, why make it worse?

[fab_finds4u]

His account, my foot.  Cover your butt. Suppose it's the shipping account where he works and when his boss disputes it FedEx will come back to you for the shipping cost.

You control the shipping, not the buyer.

Make the label on eBay or upload the tracking  to prove you shipped within your handling time.

That said,  you need to think long and hard about shipping Internationally during Covid-19. Deliveries aren't being made by their estimated date and many buyers are filing cases the day after the delivery date and getting a refund and then the item shows up a week later. Some will be honest and repay but most don't.  

[inhawaii]

Don't do it. 

Do things "by the book".

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

No and NO and NO again.  If they want to buy it, they can do so through Ebay and you will ship the item to them.  I if they prefer it ships Fedex and you are OK with that, then You ship it but NOT with their account.  

I'm thinking this is a beginning of a way to scam you out of your watch and the money, so you be VERY careful.

If it were me, I would just decline the sale and stand fast on Local Pickup.  You can cancel the transaction for a problem with the buyer's shipping address.  That will not hurt your selling account and that is actually the problem here.  

Do not let them tell you they will send their agent to pick up the watch.  Because if that happens, the next thing you will likely see is a claim being filed in PP for some reason.

[recoilrob]

Thanks for the advice here. I offered to send it FEDEX if he's willing to pay the additional fee but no word back.

The payment for the watch and USPS shipping is already in my bank account but I understand your point about shipping during COVID.

I have asked him to request canceling the sale but he won't do it and if I request it I still get charged the FVF.

I'll just wait until he wants his money back bad enough he requests cancellation.

thanks,

Rob

[recoilrob]

Also, one thing I neglected to state in my original post is that twice, through the Ebay mail system, the buyer has asked me to under value the watch for customs purposes. That I promptly refused. I suspect the  buyer wants to use his own shipping not so much to save on shipping charges but to under value the item for Italian customs.

[a_c_green]

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@recoilrob wrote:

Also, one thing I neglected to state in my original post is that twice, through the Ebay mail system, the buyer has asked me to under value the watch for customs purposes. That I promptly refused.

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At that point, you're within your rights to cancel on the basis of the buyer making improper requests. 

One other comment: if this was a Local Pickup Only sale, then it literally doesn't matter who picks up the item as long as it's paid for, either via electronic means beforehand or by cash at pickup time. 

[recoilrob]

Thanks, it wasn't Local Pickup only, the buyer started all this mess after the sale.

Yeah, it's too bad, I used to like doing international sales, met some nice people. Too hard now.

Back in the late 90's I sold some sealed pipe tobacco to a guy in France. This was pre-Paypal. One day an envelope shows up here in NY with eleven  $100 bills...We did business a couple more times...

[slippinjimmy]

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@recoilrob wrote:

Also, one thing I neglected to state in my original post is that twice, through the Ebay mail system, the buyer has asked me to under value the watch for customs purposes. That I promptly refused. I suspect the  buyer wants to use his own shipping not so much to save on shipping charges but to under value the item for Italian customs.

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Just about everyone in Italy or England asks me to undervalue (even when the actual value is below the free limit!), that in and of itself is not an indicator of anything.

On a $650 watch the VAT alone will be steep at 22%, probably no duty since it's an EU made item.