Payment is on hold

[Falguni1]

Hey! I am selling my shoes on an online marketplace and the buyer has sent me a gift but the payment is on hold. It says it will be on hold for 21 days or will be taken off hold once a tracking number for delivery has been added but the buyer is collecting the shoes from my house tomorrow. It’s a large payment of £210 so I need to ensure that the payment is in my PayPal account before handing the shoes over but it’s only providing me with options to ‘add a delivery tracking number’. What is the next best option? If I refund the payment I’ll be charged for the transaction fee. I specified to the buyer that I will send them an invoice to their email and then they could pay it but they didn’t wait and instead, they just sent me money. I prefer invoices as I trust them more when it comes to buying and selling

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Falguni1 

You should never use paypal for an item that is to be collected or personally delivered as you have 0 seller protection.

Your buyer can collect the item and then file a dispute for non receipt of item. As you would have no tracking number to prove delivery of the item to him then you would lose the dispute.

That is why Ebay give you the option of 'cash on collection' and you can state in your decription that that is the only payment you will accept. If a buyer pays with Paypal then you are allowed to refund that payment and re-state 'cash on collection'.

That way you have cash in hand / no wait / no fee / no risk of a dispute.

[Falguni1]

@kernowlass Thank you so much! I am selling it on Facebook Marketplace where there is no option to click buy or click ‘cash on collection’. The buyer said he doesn’t want to carry £210 with him on cash when he comes to collect the shoes so I’ve refunded the payment back to him and I’ve said that he can either pay and I’ll deliver them to his address or he can pay via bank transfer upon collection. Thanks for your help!