Don't want buyer to come to house!

[justneedsomesleep]

Recently sold a bundle of baby boy clothes (approx 100 items!) for a disappointingly small amount (6.50! ), but it had quite large postage (14.99) as it was quite heavy! (surprisingly enough).

Stated all this on my auction and paypal only, now buyer wants to pay in person and presumably cash. This was not offered on the auction.

What should i do? I was going to post by courier, therefore try to recoup some expense on the postage. Also, not to keen on strangers turning up at house (safety reasons). Who's in the right here?

Ideas, opinions?

Thanks

[AmIWhatAndWhy]

It's unfair to the buyer to make money on postage. I'm sure it's annoying you didn't make as much as you'd have liked but that's the risk with ebay.

And surely there is little risk, most people answer their door not knowing who will be there, so if you just quickly make the transaction I don't see an issue.

[krugerparkrules]

if your issues are safety, then is their somewhere in your street, shop, cafe you can meet - get the buyer to phone you when 10 minutes from your house and just meet at a point. Ask them their car etc so you can spot them easily. I often ask the buyer to text me, and i have evrything bundled up in the hallway, and give it to them straight away, so they dont actually come into our house.
I would undertand why somone would want to avoid £14 in postage if possible. Although you havnt made much, postage is not really an extra way of making money, but to pay for the postage .....

[justneedsomesleep]

i did state in the auction that the postage would be £14.99, this is not an afterthought. They bid knowing this, doesn't that count? If they wanted to collect in person, shouldn't theyhave contacted me prior to placing the bid?

[AmIWhatAndWhy]

But if you are not spending that much on postage then it is unfair. Surely it would be etiquette to charge what the postage will actually cost?

I've bought a few bundles from ebay and don't mind if the postage costs a couple of pounds less than I paid as it's hard to estimate but I'd be cross if it was significantly less.

[misdee]

hmmm, someone coming to my house to collect items at a set timwe for £6.50, or me waiting in all day for a courier who may or may not turn up on the day booked, for an extra couple of quid profit.

time over money IMO.

[justneedsomesleep]

I will be spending about £10-£11 on postage plus packaging materials.
Is this so unreasonable? - it is really heavy! Don't want to carry it and push buggy with baby and walk toddler to PO (so courier is preferred service in this instance).

[wotulookinat]

It's not really acceptable to try to make money from postage costs, but also your buyer should have asked first if they can collect.
If I were you I would let them collect. Misdee has put it very well.

[justneedsomesleep]

Had a look at e-bay and just answered my own question

....please understand that under our Excessive Postage and Packaging Charges policy, eBay expects membersto charge a fair amount for postage based on the actual postage cost and the cost of the packaging materials used to send an item.
Also please be informed that the sellers are not allowed to charge either a percentage of the final price of an item or the listing fee in postage and packaging.

So thank you for your help and opinions! Mumsnetters are so good!

[wotulookinat]

And if you let them collect, it saves you packaging it all up - you can just hand it all over in a couple of carrier bags.
And if they pay cash you don't have to pay Paypal fees either.

[solidgoldbrass]

For future reference: find out the cost of posting materials if you buy them at the post office/general stationers, charge that much, but buy your postage materials in the pound shop.
If you ebay a lot, this does help a bit and is not unfair.

[daizydoo]

DH has asked people if he can pick and item up in person and been refused. Just say no - they knew what the price was when they bid!

[wotulookinat]

I ask a lot if I can collect items to save on postage, most say yes as it sames them posting, but some say no and I don't mind, but I always ask first before I bid.

[higgle]

You can just hadn the things over at the door - I don't think that would be any sort of safety risk. I bought my car on ebay and when I went to collect it was offered lunch by the seller. We sell antiquarian books from time to time and quite a few people have come to collect as they are heavy to post - always lovely people, no problems. We live in a very suspicious age.

[sarah573]

Justneedsomesleep, I don't think you should feel pressured into allowing your buyer to collect. I don't let people come to my home to collect things. If you haven't put collection in person in your postage options, then you are not obliged to allow them do so. The onus is on the buyer to check that you will allow them to collect BEFORE they bid.
Your postage doesn't sound excessive.
If you are uncomfortable with it then stick to your guns and say no.

[savoycabbage]

I love it when people come to pick things up. It saves me trailing to the post office. I have never had any problems and have met some lovely people.

E-bay was founded on the premise that most people are 'good'.

[Marne]

If he is paying by cash you will save on paypal fee's, also you won't have the hastle of packing and posting.

I love it when people pick things up and cash is always great.

[Lilyloo]

Def prefer collection although make sure it's when dp here.
Save on paypal fees , trip to po and worry of buyer complaining items not recieved all good in my book!
Sympathys though it's a buyers market at the minute esp with clothes!

[navyeyelasH]

you're supposed to email the buyer and ask if you can collect before you bid - there is a "rule" somewhere on the ebay guides about it.

This is because the postage fee also usually covers the listing insertion fee and paypal fees and the time it takes to compile the listing & launder clothes etc.

What I personally would do is charge a small fee to cover these "expenses" ask buyer to pay via paypal (so you're both protected), and meet buyer somewhere local. However, if the buyer claims you did not send the item you have no proof that you did send it, so I would get them to sign a receipt.

But if you really want to courier it (bit sneaky and risking a neutral / negative) you could use the proof of postage thing as your reason.

[Tryharder]

I have bought things from people in my old town - in one case the seller lived on the next road. It was entirely reasonable that I collect in person! If the buyer in question has good feedback, established ebayer etc then I see no problem.

[Fllightthebluetouchpaper]

Unless you state pick up is allowed in your auction, you do not have to allow it.
You are also allowed to charge postage for packaging materials and fuel and so on.

OP is being very fair and ebay wouldn't even blink at her making maybe 50p overall on the shipping. They are concerned about people who list an item for 1p and charge £250.99 for postage - it happens, it's called fee avoidance!!

Ebay is weird, OP is not, JKS just do whatever you prefer. They should have checked it was Ok first. LOADS of people don't like home collection for whatever reason.

[Fllightthebluetouchpaper]

I have got to pack a Bugaboo this morning, if only they would collect!!!