Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

What are people's thoughts with the new leaving home restrictions and potential fines?

 

As a seller this is more a choice for the buyer to make and will depend on the item (a computer monitor - yes essential for work at home vs a nice fancy new TV - not essentially) however personally I wouldn't pick up an item anymore (on top of the social distancing rules)

 

Really can only be by delivery now

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

Just been thinking along similar lines. My question is more about the dilemma of that of a seller leaving the house to go to the PO to post parcels. Is this acceptable?

 

Pick up doesn't worry me - I am OK with people coming to the front door to collect their item, but are they really supposed to be out doing this?

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws


@egglesdtp wrote:

Just been thinking along similar lines. My question is more about the dilemma of that of a seller leaving the house to go to the PO to post parcels. Is this acceptable?

 

Pick up doesn't worry me - I am OK with people coming to the front door to collect their item, but are they really supposed to be out doing this?


I consider it acceptable. The post office is still accepting parcels, so AP seem to consider it acceptable.

 

Essential is supposed to include work, so working from home and selling online necessitates being able to post items that have been purchased.

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

There's a lot of uncertainty around at the moment, and I wouldn't rely on my interpretation - however, I would assume that it's legal to travel to and from any retail business which is still legally open.  Anything else seems nonsensical.   Australia Post's website still states that they are fully operational, and that 'Customers can be assured they will continue to be able to send and receive parcels and mail, pay bills... during this time.'  This is dated March 22, but is apparently still current.

 

Worth noting, at the moment 17 post offices in Australia have been closed down. 

 

https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/important-updates/coronavirus/coronavirus-domestic-update...

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

OK - thanks - this eases my conscience a bit.

 

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws


@christo-collectables wrote:

What are people's thoughts with the new leaving home restrictions and potential fines?

 

As a seller this is more a choice for the buyer to make and will depend on the item (a computer monitor - yes essential for work at home vs a nice fancy new TV - not essentially) however personally I wouldn't pick up an item anymore (on top of the social distancing rules)

 

Really can only be by delivery now


I would at least be re-thinking anything that needs more than one person to take away from a property, even though a pick-up scenario is not technically a social gathering. 

 

While work is excluded from many of the restrictions, unless the seller is carrying on a business, an ebay sale may not technically qualify as work and therefore a gathering of more than 2 people may be called into question and not quite pass the bar. (Purely guesswork / contemplation on my part - it could be worth contacting a local police station to confirm, since in most states they are the ones enforcing the rules, so one would hope they have a good grasp on what they actually are). 

 

Just speaking from a purely personal level, though, with the vast majority of carriers now shifting to no contact and as little interaction with people when delivering as possible, and retail stores discouraging cash transactions - or outright banning them - it may be safest from a health perspective to essentially follow suit. (i.e Maybe only sell small things for pick-up that can be slipped out of a doggy door or something, and use tongs to receive any cash, then clean before handling Smiley LOL )

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

Guess I'm coming from the perspective of we sell lots of pickup items but have definately seen drop off from buyers - we do all the common sense contactless pickup and payment stuff but I guess its more what do you tell buyers?

 

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

Yes - hadn't considered that scenario - we often sell big items - 2 people need to lift and load.
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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

i think if you have an ABN and a registered ebay store then you are technically working, if you are a seller who just has a few auctions/buy it nows then this is not a reasonable excuse and you will probably be fined

 

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Pickup items - leaving house - reasonable excuse laws

In terms of us technically being allowed to visit any place that's still open, um...so we're legally able to browse around David Jones, Surf Dive n Ski, bookshops, and any number of the clothing shops still open? I think not! They're not essential, and yet are still open. I am a partial shopaholic and I wouldn't go to any of those places right now at all, not for fear of a fine, but for fear of infection!
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