Item delivered by person, not by post, is it unethical?

[AutumnGlory]

Hi there, I bought a 2nd hand dress on ebay, paid immediatly when the auction finished on a Sunday and item arrived on Monday morning. It was well packed and I was happy with the quickly delivery, but there were no stamps, no notes from the seller. I'm assuming the seller lives near me and wanted to keep the postage fee which was a bit higher thn should be. I'm not bothered by this as I see postage as the price of the item anyway, but I'm just wondering if the buyer was out of order by doing this?

If you are being charged for postage and the item is not posted then yes.

If the seller lives close by then I think it makes perfect sense to hand deliver - no risk of it going AWOL with Royal Mail. If it was me I wouldn't be bothered, you got the item very quickly and seller may have had fuel costs which justified the postage. If you're that worried send her a message.

Hmmm, well I guess you could look at it as the cost of petrol & time for the person to drop it round. And you did get it really quickly with no risk of it being lost in the post, so I'd say its ok for the seller to have done this

they are very silly - no proof of postage or delivery but you paid by paypal. I think they should at least refund the postage costs.

Well, once she realised you lived very close, it would be a bit silly to post it to you, and you get it a day later.

If on the other hand she lived very far away, she may have driven through the night and paid out for a tank of petrol to hand deliver your item, in which case it's amazing service. (Although unlikely)

I think you are splitting hairs with "Post and packaging". If a large item isn't packaged and is delivered in a removal lorry, it hasn't been "posted" it has still been delivered.

The seller has no control over where the buyer lives in the UK. Maybe she is even your neighbor.Would anyone really expect her to walk to the post office, rather than a few doors down?

But that's a risk they were prepared to take, fergoose. Personally I would have handed it over, but hey.

well I wouldn't risk it - an unscrupulous buyer could claim not received and get their money back.

Yes I understand the buyer had to compensate for the package materials and time to do the delivery, I'm not disputing this. It was a nice surprise to have the item arrive so quickly but also it was a bit weird knowing now that the buyer knows my name and address and lives close by....maybe they should have contacted me first to see if I was happy with personal delivery? Maybe I'm just paranoid..

I did that once, when I was passing through Edinburgh. It was only something which had gone cheap, and postage was before the prices went up, so probably less than £2. No, I didn't refund postage, and I suppose I did it all 'wrong' in that I gave the package into the care of the workman who was renovating the bidder's flat.
Bidder contacted me, said what a pity she hadn't been in, she'd have given me a cup of tea! Yes, I can see that hand-delivery is surprising, but it shouldn't be THAT unnerving, given that buyers' addresses and telephone numbers are out there. I wouldn't hand deliver something valuable without getting a receipt though, I suppose.
When I told my cousin I'd hand-delivered an eBay parcel, he said the recipient must have thought, 'What extraordinarily wonderful service'!

yabu

Thanks for the replies.

delivering something and getting a signed receipt wouldn't protect you from a not received case - should really only do it if the buyer pays cash

I did this once. I realised the buyer only lived around the corner. She was greatful as she got it next day. She didn't ask for a postage refund & I didn't offer. P&p is to cover postage & packaging . She was happy I made the effort.