I never do pick up anymore, no exceptions. People have gotten mad at me about it before as well, but meh - at least I get to find out they're an unreasonable jerk before I sell them anything (as in, everyone just assumes I'll be happy to have strangers come to my home, or that I can drop everything for X amount of time to meet someone somewhere. One buyer even saw the item location (which is not the same as my location) and messaged me saying they're only a few minutes away from there so I can just drop it off to them - a few minutes away was a 5-10 min drive. Newsflash - almost no one is "a few minutes away" if you don't drive 
A buyer has an emergency situation where they need some craft supplies, stat? That sucks, but I didn't create the situation and I can't help solve it, so no use getting mad at me 
).
You know what would be really helpful, though, is drop-off / pick-up centres - like how eBay tried to do click and collect but without involving postage - sellers could just drop an item off, buyers get a notification, and away they go - payment made up front, no back and forth or mucking about, schedules don't need to line up, people don't even have to meet, no strangers finding out other stranger's personal info like home addresses, items could be awaiting collection same day as purchase. It'll probably never happen as you'd either need to create infrastructure and service centres (which means $$$, doubt it would be worth it for the small number of local pick up sales unless any business / seller could use them maybe), or utilise an existing one (which typically means problems as businesses / staff will always have teething problems when integrating services that aren't part of their normal business practices). Amazon's floating blimp dispatching drones is probably much more realistic at this point.
@springyzone wrote:I find that pick up itself is a fine concept, but like anything, it depends a lot on how reasonable the buyer is and that you can't know till after the fact.
I've done a lot of pick ups, both as buyer & seller.
My last buyer was a FB woman who seemed eager to pick up. Maybe she expected to come round right then & there (it was 9.30pm). The next 2 days didn't suit so she made an appointment for 3 days later, changed it twice, didn't arrive at all, then next morning messaged me to say she would pick up at 11am that day! No "Sorry" or "Are you free?". When I replied it would have to be by 10.30am or after 2pm, she replied that I was making it too difficult so forget it.
So my attitude now is a bit soured. I must admit I have had a lot of great buyers but looking back, I think the key is if they are reasonable from the start, keen to fit in with a time that is mutual (not just what they want) and are willing to commit to a narrow time range eg 10am-10.30am. If they don't turn up, that's the end of them.
Pick up carries with it a slight security risk. Unless it is a heavy item, maybe furniture, I would not let strangers into my home. I have an enclosed front porch. They get no further than that.
I allowed pick up when I sold casually, and even bused into the city once to meet someone half-way, but things changed when I opened the store.
I now have a firm routine for my work days and trying to accomodate random pick-ups, meet-ups or drop-offs would be difficult. I also don't want the little spare time I have on the weekend or evenings interrupted, I don't want to stand at my front door awkwardly holding out little baggies of things and possibly get the neighbours whispering about what those bags contain , nor do I want to take strangers into my stock room - which a lot of people who request pick-up seem to be keen on as they usually ask me if I have a phyiscal shop where they can come in and browse. I have a lot of different things, my stock room is my personal version of an [inordinately messy] candy store and I know it would be for a lot of my clients as well, but this would mean leading them through my whole house, which is a very private space for me even though it's also my workplace, then standing there while they are just there. Looking.... at my stuff. 
).
Along with all of the practical considerations, I know I am far too anti-social and introverted for all that, lol. It's why I chose online selling as a career in the first place, I guess. 
(PS when I mentioned people being unreasonable jerks, it was more the ones that get angry when I say no, there's plenty of people who are accepting to understanding, but others act like I've just personally insulted them as well as intentionally inconvenienced them. None of these people ever know the circumstances of the person selling the item[s] they want to pick up, but they act like they just assume a complete stranger on the internet is able to accomodate whatever they want, and is therefore obliged to do so).
@countessalmirena wrote:Oh, I think I know exactly what you mean, digital*ghost.
The people who become most offended are the ones who say things like "But I wouldn't mind having people walking through the house if I'm there" or "I don't mind being there to let people browse through my stock room if it means more sales" or "I don't care what the neighbours think since I know they're wrong"... because their view, preferences, stance and limits are the ones that you should take on, if you would only acknowledge it.
Nailed it 🙂 They don't think about other people having different circumstances and / or preferences, they just ascribe their own to everyone and seem shocked when they find out not everyone is the same. One buyer I had got aggressive when I declined, and while they said they understood I might not want people coming to my home, they didn't see why I couldn't just meet them somewhere (they lectured me about it and said "it's not hard!", and I just sat there wondering how they could possibly know something like that wouldn't be hard for me, like I could be wheelchair bound with no access to transport for all they knew. Maybe it wouldn't be hard if I had plenty of free time, a car and - perhaps more importantly - the willingness to meet someone who has just been incredibly rude to me, but they went straight on the BBL after that ).
