Lots of opinions but here’s mine. YOU are the seller. He does not dictate payment method or delivery. He pays your preferred method and he either collects or arranges collection. If he refuses, cancel the sale and relist.
have you had a telephone call or is all this via text/email etc? you can tell a lot from a call or video call
Oh and it seems from his message that he’s buying for a mates collection (of 2 bikes currently? Hardly the NMM is it?) It smells. Swerve anything other than bank transfer and collection.
I don't do bank transfers for large sums (over £50) either. If I do and the number is wrong, the seller doesn't get the money and won't give me the goods. In the last year I have sold a bike, a boat & a car, and bought a bike -all for cash. I did make one transfer, at the bank when I bought a car at the sellers request. We both went to the bank, the seller completed the payee details, signed the V5/ receipt and then I paid the transfer using my card. Then it was the bank or his error & nothing to do with me. I think bike buyers for asking price are hard to come by right now; the market is on its ass... There's a fair few bikes on sale here that have been for a good while. I also think we are all different and should do what feels best in our gut. Be happy!
Tempted suggest forming a forum posse to come along to the sale. We could stand in the background revving our engines and looking really mean.
Right, I've been brave/ stupid and he is coming to look at it, prob Thursday, and pay cash, I've told him I'm going to check every note, thought that might put him off if dodgy, he is quite happy about it. And I will deliver it FOC. If it all goes tits up, I'll leave instructions for my wife beforehand to get on here so she can post the funeral and memorial details, all welcome, if nothing else so half of the respondents can say "I told him not to" and the others can keep quiet and look sheepish.
You can go straight to the bank or nearby Post Office -with him, he can't really refuse to go- and pay the money into your account. Looking good!
It’s a mixed up country we now live in. There will be plenty of people glad to have the cash. 10s or 20s only and simply check each note. Preferences vary according to the region you live in I guess.
Walk away I’ve just sold an ebike for £2600 and had loads of offers of cash on delivery. I took the full amount and met an hour away at Wetherby services no way! There’s a guy I know who trades motorcycles on fb market place, he took £1000 bank transfer and delivered to Bradford for the remainder. He was met with 4 Muslims in a van and had to stand and watch his bike being taken off him at knife point. end of the day they got a £7000 bike for £1000! Honestly not worth the risk
this do not bear the risk of checking the notes yourself. book an appt at a branch if you bank with bank that still has a branch.
If I wanted to buy a bike I would do anything to secure the sale. I wouldn't expect you, as a private seller, to jump through hoops to sell it to me. If he was buying something on eBay that was plus £2.50 postage, would he contact the seller and say I'll buy your product but I'm not paying postage? Probably not. I'd be cancelling the sale and holding out for someone who wants to buy my pride and joy for the price I advertised it for and to make the effort to collect it. I bet your advert stated collect in person only. Walk away mate. Craig.
This is a fascinating situation that could go either way and the responses truly reflect the world we live in. I sold a bike last month on eBay for £6550 cash to a man called Rashid from Sheffield. He said he would pay in cash. He arrived at my place in a battered builders van with his son and another man called Joey. At this point the transaction could have gone really wrong, but what followed was a delight. The “Dad to Dad” negotiation involved a hand-shake that lasted a disturbing amount of time as we hard bargained without blinking and multiple, emphatic hand squeezes. I think I won the final price battle by threatening to let go of Rashid’s hand. The son then produced a Tesco bag stuffed with £20s. 327 of them and two crumpled fivers from his man bag. I checked each one. They loaded the bike and took off. A few days later the DVLA change of ownership notification came through. I have paid various people with the cash and had no problems. Most people are decent and well-meaning, even if they operate in the “cash only” realm. We only hear about the bad outcomes, but they are there to educate us about risk and how to manage it. Would I repeat that? No, never. I was properly at risk of them driving off or counterfeit money.
