Advice from experienced E-Bay users

Yes it is sorted - I still have the item (an angle grinder if anyone is looking for one) I contacted the successful buyer and asked whether he had realised that it was collection only. No answer. I imagine he was too busy kicking himself to work out how to organise getting it.
Meanwhile the other interested party, who had found out how to get a courier and was just checking that I was OK with that before bidding, had realised that it was sold and backed out. So that was a lose-lose situation for all of us.

Elegran asked this question way back in September 2016 I'm sure she would have sorted it by now.

Elegran My Husband has enquired about an item before using my ebay account(so its my name and email) (1) he has signed off using his name(2) and also asked for the item to be sent to our son at a different address(3) as it saved us time and money receiving the item at our address before posting(and paying again) to our son,so it reasonable that your buyer has 3 different contact info. Hope this helps

contact eBay for advice first. I would normally only post to the registered paypal address.

We started using ebay about three years ago and their advertising is correct, everyone has around £2,000 of 'stuff' in their house they could sell. What I dont understand is, 3 years on, I am still listing 'stuff' out of my house, when will it end AND I have to point out, I am a minimalist and do not have clutter! Although, we did hire a skip to empty the loft a couple of years ago, I thought 'HE' had!, it appears HE didn't! I'm going up there, I may be a while.........

It's like that at auctions too. Some auctioneers have to work their socks off to get bidding started, as if no-one wants to be the first to bid, and then off it goes like a rocket, and some bidders wait until the last gasp to put their bids in. Not only are you bidding against the room, but also, these days, against the Internet as well. At least with eBay, you are only bidding against the Internet.

It is a wellknown ploy. If you start bidding right away and someone bids against you, they soon know what your ceiling is and cap it by a small amount, so you can get into a bidding war. If you wait until almost the end of the bidding, you either get it or you don't, but the price hasn't been driven up by counterbids.

It used to be that you would bid just over a whole number of pounds, then if someone's ceiling was the exact pounds, you would get it. I don't know whether that is still done now.

What I find really interesting about Ebay is the fact that no one wants an item you have listed until of course someone bids and then everyone wants it! It's like kids with toys, don't want to play with that toy, but if you want to play with it, then I DO!

Not if I specified in the listing that it was pick-up only. If I post it to him without getting back the cost, I will get less than half the magnificent £10 for the item, well less than half of £9, actually, by the time Ebay take their cut, and they will take a cut of the postage too. So I would get about £3.50 for listing it, packaging it and taking it to the post office.

Anyway, it seems that the (genuine) buyer has lost interest now - he hasn't answered my emails about picking it up, not even to say that it will be impossible and he will have to cancel.

As long as you post to the PayPal address you are covered by eBay.

WB He may have a friend here who can pick it up for him.

It wasn't bidding at auction, though, it was "Buy it now" and I don't think the Welsh bloke was bidding, just enquiring about whether it could be posted to him instead of picking it up. In "Buy it now" the first person to come up with a positive click gets it. anyone waiting before clicking loses out. So it goes to the bloke in Shropshire.

I have both addresses, but unless the one in Shropshire decides that since he can't pick it up from that distance, he doesn't want to pay to have it posted, so doesn't want it after all, he will get it. Welsh bloke is probably going to be disappointed.

The alternative, that will not cost you, is for the buyer to arrange the collection, this is an option most carriers offer.

Re people bidding at the last minute..that is quite common.I never bid early on I wait until the item is nearly finishing.
If the chappie paid straight away then I presume he will pick it up. Otherwise he would have withheld payment until you had added the necessary postage. The person who enquired about postage will be quite aware he didn't win the item as he will have had an email from Ebay telling him he had been outbid.
I'd message or email the winning bidder and ask when is he picking it up and go from there. If he pays the postage via paypal you will pay a fee on it.

Don't forget that EBay will add the postage charge to YOUR commission fee, so if it's £5.95, they will add another 60 to your bill. Once you know the postage cost, add the 10% and send the buyer an eBay invoice. I am surprised that the buyer has paid for the item without knowing the postage cost.

We're all baffled, jingl - hope it's sorted soon

I thought you had the money and a Welsh address, Elegran, so I am confused as well! I thought the Welsh person was the one you were waiting to receive the postage from...

You just need the £5.95 to arrive from the Welsh address, and then post it.

It's all very confusing, and will probably get more so now I've joined in.

Are you thinking that you might get the postage payment come from another buyer? Won't you just have to refund it and explain. And then despatch to the address on the eBay email, once postage arrives from that one?

I have the payment, WB and the address. They paid up at once.

It is not going anywhere until I hear back from the buyer - they still have to discover that it will cost them another £5.95 to have it sent to them!

Another thing that made me wonder what was going on was that there hasn't been a whisper of interest until the listing only has a day or so to go (Buy it now) and then suddenly three different names appear. I felt it could have been a ploy to confuse me (well, it succeeded! but not to the point where I sent it to the wrong address)

You should get payment email from paypal with the address on.

I am waiting for a reply from the buyer. The more I think about it, the more sure I am that the Welsh bloke was asking about me posting it before he committed himself, and the other one bought it while that exchange was still going on. It was sheer coincidence that I read the notification soon after I had told the Welsh one what the postage would be, that Shropshire is in the general direction of Wales (from here anyway) and that the buyer may not have noticed that it was pick-up only. I am glad I didn't fire it off to Wales too fast!

Sounds very odd, as already said, I would not post until you receive the postage (get proof of posting), but contact eBay for advice first. I would normally only post to the registered paypal address.

You need to ensure you post only to the address on the confirmation email from Paypal, that is the only way you are covered if anything goes wrong, just tell him that per the rules of ebay and paypal your hand are tied to only use that registered address. If he wants so ething sending elsewhere he should change his paypal register address.