Hypothetically speaking...

[calsof]

I often get orders from people who live in my area. When I got an order from someone whose house is closer to me than my local Post Office, I thought of saving the postage costs, saving the buyer a day's wait and throwing the envelope into their mailbox at home on the same day they ordered.

Would that go down well, do you think? How do you think it would reflect on postage DSRs?

hehehe

[the3coopers]

I am answering your questions and poll with questions :^O

Firstly, and really important - Who gets to keep the $$ that was saved in postage costs?

Also, if the buyer pays by Paypal, then you need a postal receipt if you want to be covered by Seller Protection. So, what would you do when you KNOW you dropped the item in their mailbox, but they raised a Non-Delivery claim?

[digital*ghost]

Well, there have been a few forum posts over the years where buyers have complained about sellers doing exactly that.... Mostly because the postage wasn't refunded, though.

I once had a sale where the buyer lived around the corner from me but I posted it as normal; however, if I was going to consider dropping it off myself, I would message first and ask if they would be ok with that, and refund the postage costs.

[calsof]

Just to make the discussion interesting:

The item was for around $8.00. Free standard postage that I self-insure against anyway. Only ever had one person claiming they didn't receive one of those after 200 sent and received and I just sent another one.

I know I'd be a bit disgruntled, though, if I knew I'd delivered it myself and they put through a claim just to be difficult 🙂

[davewil1964]

I've done it a couple of times. I knock on the door first, but if nobody is home, I leave in the letterbox.

With postage refund inside.

Never had an issue.

[dmh160161]

I had an occassion where the highest bidder lived in a house on my way home from work, so I asked them if ok, I would drop off and refund them the post, I delivered the item to their door (no-one home) and by the time I got home, I had an email from buyer saying he had just gotten home, and how delighted he was with delivery and items and to keep the postage.  It can work out if you approach the buyer and they agree.

[***super_nova***]

I do not think it is creepy, after all the seller has to know the address anyway.  If I realise the buyer is local I would definitely contact them and give them choice; delivery, cash on pick up, or post.

[the3coopers]

The item was for around $8.00. Free standard postage

For that value, I reckon that it'd be a nice service to hand deliver.

But I'd add a note in the package that said something like "As I was preparing the postage, I just realised I had to drive straight past - so I decided to hand deliver"

[calsof]

I'm starting to agree with all of you commenting here that I should have hand-delivered. What throws me is the result of the poll: 50-50?

🙂

[digital*ghost]

I'm starting to agree with all of you commenting here that I should have hand-delivered. What throws me is the result of the poll: 50-50?

🙂

I wouldn't be surprised if some people did find it creepy. There's a certain level of detachment when purchasing online, so even though someone would be aware of the fact that they're handing over a postal address to a stranger, it's got an impersonal, perfunctory handing-over-N&A-to-a-faceless-business feel to it. Making it a personal -hey-I'm-another-person-and-I-know-where-you-live-nice-curtains-by-the-way thing instead would make a few baulk.