Why can't people read / comprehend anymore?

[ivak245]

I have some items listed as "Local pickup only"- written multiple times, and in red. These are very heavy or very fragile and I have had problems sending these before, but I usually find a local buyer. I have lost count of the "I know you have local pick-up only, but how much is postage to XXX?"   emails.  I have also had winning bidders from interstate who , just after winning , send the "please send invoice with freight to XXXX" emails. Or "please send your address so I can arrange a courier to pick this up".!

So the sale gets cancelled, and it all starts over again!  I DONT want to crate these things up (If I did, it would be at $35/hour, but nobody is going to pay $70 handling+ freight for a $50 item!), and I Dont want to wait around all day in case a courier will turn up.

I can't really block interstate bidders (I don't even think that's possible), and I don't want to as I have had many who have picked the items up when they were passing through.   So, besides writiing "local pickup only" about 7000 times in my description, is there a way out of this?   

[springyzone]

Not really. People can read but a lot of people these days think they are special & rules don't apply to them. You could understand the query if you had a small item of clothing but when it is larger, heavy items or fragile items you would think they would get the picture.

I feel your pain, been there, done that a couple of times. Once with a heavier furniture item we didn't have the sense to cancel the sale. Went to a lot of trouble boxing & finding cheapest courier, taking it there, only to have the buyer complaining it wasn't as good as she expected for the total price, courier was too dear etc 

It's not only interstate bidders though. My sister had one man (a big seller actually) who lived in the next suburb, paid by paypal then claimed that meant we were now obliged to post it to him (at no extra cost mind you). Of course we didn't but paypal just refunded his money & we could not even put in an unpaid item claim then.

All you can do is stick to your guns, reply to queries with Pick up only.

[phorum_junkie*]

Don't just cancel, of course the majority of buyers don't want to spend a fortune on delivery so just send them an invoice with $70 or whatever then they either pay that or they get an unpaid item strike.

If you want you can go on line and find out how much it would be using pack and send as they pack the items up, just quote that cost plus a few extra for your trouble and then if they do happen to want it enough to pay you don't have to do any packing.

[brerrabbit585]

I haven't checked out the new postage tables yet but I think you may be able to block people from different areas. If someone wants to pick it up while they're in your area, perhaps you could put a note in the listing to say they'll have to ask you to exempt them if they're from another area and can assure you that it'll be picked up.

[queenwaldorf]

You could try putting a ludicrous amount of postage, as well as local pickup for free. Most people won't pay $500 for delivery.

[zanadoo_56]

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@ivak245 wrote:

I have some items listed as "Local pickup only"- written multiple times, and in red. These are very heavy or very fragile and I have had problems sending these before, but I usually find a local buyer. I have lost count of the "I know you have local pick-up only, but how much is postage to XXX?"   emails.  I have also had winning bidders from interstate who , just after winning , send the "please send invoice with freight to XXXX" emails. Or "please send your address so I can arrange a courier to pick this up".!

So the sale gets cancelled, and it all starts over again!  I DONT want to crate these things up (If I did, it would be at $35/hour, but nobody is going to pay $70 handling+ freight for a $50 item!), and I Dont want to wait around all day in case a courier will turn up.

I can't really block interstate bidders (I don't even think that's possible), and I don't want to as I have had many who have picked the items up when they were passing through.   So, besides writiing "local pickup only" about 7000 times in my description, is there a way out of this?   put

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I would never bid for an interstate pick up only item and hope the seller MIGHT post.  That's silly.  However.....

When something rare came up for auction in Oz (I hadn't seen one on eBay for 4-5 years and it was in the UK) and the seller had pick up only and was interstate, I did contact them asking if they would consider a bid from interstate and posting it.  The item was 1930s pottery and quite solid but of course it wasn't a cheap item and it would have been a disaster if it smashed to bits.

I explained to the seller that I had bought another pottery item in the range from Canada (actually from an antique dealer on eBay) and they had double boxed it.  That item was encased in bubble wrap and put snugly in a thick cardboard box and taped up.  That box was then covered in more layers of bubble wrap and put in another thick cardboard box which was sealed up, wrapped in brown paper, labelled etc.  Needless to say it arrived safe and sound.

I told the seller I wasn't worried about the cost of postage.  I also added, if they were not willing to post it I quite understood and I wouldn't bid.  The seller thought it about for a couple of days then said they were willing to accept my bid.  So I bid for the item....and I won.  There were only two bidders so I guess it was a good thing for the seller that I was able to bid as I think they got at least $100 more than the initial amount. 🙂

The seller followed my suggestion re packaging to the letter (to the surprise of both of us the postage wasn't as bad as expected) and it arrived safe and sound.  It's the only time I've ever approached a seller about bidding for a pick up only item that could have been tricky to post....but I sure am glad I did....and I'm even more grateful that the seller was willing to take the a chance.

You may find it annoying that interstate buyers ask about pick up items but sometimes it works out well for both parties so speaking as a buyer, I reckon there's nothing to lose by making an enquiry.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

Depends entirely on the item; furniture, whitegoods, cars, easily damaged items, etc are quite understandable. 

With smaller but heavy items, a lot of sellers don't think people will pay $20--$30 postage, so don't list postage as an option. You won't know unless you ask - and I'd much rather a buyer ask rather than just blindly bid.

I asked the very same question of a seller late last week - he replied that he'd post at my expense, I bid on and won the item, and it arrived on Sunday. Result: I got a sought-after item, and the seller got $120 more for it than he would have if I hadn't bid and the under-bidder had won it.

Mind you, I've also had sellers refuse to post magazines, insisting on pick-up. Seriously...

[justkidzbiz]

I'm with you on this! It is so frustrating.

All my listings state several times, under Postage, Location and the description in Bold,  pick up available, and get the question "Is pick up available"

I also have items for sale on FB, and despite the listings stating what suburb the item is in, in the actual suburb at the top of the page and then again in the listing itself, ie Pick up from Ashwood (near Burwood/Mt Waverley area), I constantly get the question "What suburb is pick up?"

 I so feeling like replying, "READ THE FLIPPIN' DETAILS", but I don't, although that's what I'm saying to myself!