Ebay - posting to a storage unit

cyber69 · 25 Sep 2020 at 09:58

Anyone ever posted out an ebay item to a storage unit depot? I sold an item and the address was for a storage unit at a depot in London. Turns out the buyer lives outside of the UK also.

I didn't want to take the risk having never posted out to a storage location so cancelled the sale and relisted / blocked the buyer.

Item was £200+ so not a small sale item.

Steeps · 25 Sep 2020 at 10:09

We have a few regulars who order to storage units, they act as freight forwarders as it's often cheaper to combine postage for multiple items at a storage centre than pay individually from each seller.

VincentHanna · 25 Sep 2020 at 11:09

I did it recently with an old digital camera worth about £100, I've had no issues.

Buyer had an asian name.

200sols · 25 Sep 2020 at 11:38

Its annoying when you select no international buyers and they still bid and ship to one of these locations.

cyber69 · 25 Sep 2020 at 11:56

So if the buyer had it shipped to a storage unit who then forwarded it to them in the country they are and they found an issue with the item and started a claim on ebay/paypal how would it get shipped back? Is the seller liable for the shipping costs from the country they are in?

Janesy B · 25 Sep 2020 at 12:30

cyber69 said:
So if the buyer had it shipped to a storage unit who then forwarded it to them in the country they are and they found an issue with the item and started a claim on ebay/paypal how would it get shipped back? Is the seller liable for the shipping costs from the country they are in?

Why would they be, they'd be responsible from covering the costs of where it was sent to.

divuk83 · 26 Sep 2020 at 09:48

I have sent expensive stuff to forwarding companies in London that send stuff on to China and had no issues. As long as you are posting the the verified address when the sale is completed - ie the one on the paypal/ebay payment confimation you are covered by ebay. If they are messaging you after the auction is finished asking for you to post it elsewhere then it's dodgy as and you shouldn't post the item and you need to report them to ebay.

Dave

Lopéz · 26 Sep 2020 at 10:02

This is fairly commonplace now. I have a similar arrangement with a mail management company in the UK who take all my letters and parcels and periodically forward them to me abroad.

divuk83 · 26 Sep 2020 at 10:06

Lopez: I have always wondered how it works in terms of items getting damaged in transit or just being faulty. How do you prove/dis-prove that the damage was caused in transit from me to the forwarding agency or from the forwarding agency to you? Plus returns must be complicated? It's always been fine for me so I have never had to find out!

Dave

Lopéz · 26 Sep 2020 at 10:26

I've never had to return anything. Proving damage and so on would be very difficult I imagine.

I've been ordering things online, ranging in value from high thousands down to 50p, since the late 90s - thousands upon thousands of items. I can count the number of things that have arrived damaged or needed to be returned on one hand.