Intractable bastards selling things online "collection only"

[Rizla]

Wanna buy a mixing desk from a bloke in Manchester who's selling a load of gear on a facebook group, but everything's cash on collection only. Offered to paypal the dosh and send a DHL to his door to collect, but still no - (he's had "bad experiences with couriers and vintage gear" JFC, it's a tascam desk from 1989, not a minimoog). I mean, why bother with the facebook ad, why not just pop a card in the local newsagents if you're not looking for a sale outside your own flippin' postcode?! Why?

Don't suppose anyone's in the M32 area and fancies doing me a massive favour?

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

Yeah I don't really get this, I've seen eBay weirdos put collection only for shit like Xboxes and coats and trainers and shit. I think some must genuinely not understand how post works.

[Goldentony]

it sounds like his bad experiences in the past may have come from the sort of psychopath who buys and uses vintage gear and expects post offices and people using them to have the power and cunning of fucking Hawk The Slayer. Similar vibe to record and film lads, just unbearable levels of expectation. My mate sold a mega fucking rare drum machine console thing, a prototype in fact, and the guy who ended up buying it decided instead of courier or whatever to drive hundreds of miles to get it, and brought his own shit to test it with, and fucking stayed there in his house bashing away for hours uninvited to be absolutely certain about it.

[Goldentony]

not that YOU are the psychopath, just that LOADS of psychopaths buy vintage gear and theaten you with the home guard if the Yamaha CS-80 has a new type of dust on it that wasnt in the pictures or the postman puts it on the step when he knocks.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Have you heard of Shiply? Basically you put stuff out to tender for men with ven, I think it links to ebay too so they can check out the gear or handle cash on collection.

A pal won a flat-bed Wurlitzer in Glasgow at a charity auction and got it shipped to London (and up his stairs) for £130 that way.

[peanutbutter]

What I don't get is how come it's such a pain in the arse to filter these out on ebay. I'm pretty sure if you select "Free P&P" (the only delivery option you can filter by) they're somehow still included.

Is there something you can add to the query string to get them to fuck off?

[Gurke and Hare]

If I was selling something bulky I wouldn't want to be arsed wrapping it up and dragging it to the post office. It's not my job, just looking to get rid of stuff and maybe get something back for it, so I'm not arsed about offering customer service to get every last penny possible. That's what I reckon's going on with them anyway.

[Goldentony]

If I was selling something bulky I wouldn't want to be arsed wrapping it up and dragging it to the post office. It's not my job, just looking to get rid of stuff and maybe get something back for it, so I'm not arsed about offering customer service to get every last penny possible. That's what I reckon's going on with them anyway.

you fucking hypothetically lazy cunt

[Sebastian Cobb]

If I was selling something bulky I wouldn't want to be arsed wrapping it up and dragging it to the post office. It's not my job, just looking to get rid of stuff and maybe get something back for it, so I'm not arsed about offering customer service to get every last penny possible. That's what I reckon's going on with them anyway.

There is an argument that Gumtree is a better way to list stuff in this case. But that does invite further problems.

[Buelligan]

If I was selling something bulky I wouldn't want to be arsed wrapping it up and dragging it to the post office. It's not my job, just looking to get rid of stuff and maybe get something back for it, so I'm not arsed about offering customer service to get every last penny possible. That's what I reckon's going on with them anyway.

Dunno.  Think there's also an element of strangers (people beyond one's immediate circle) being nothing more than an interlinked gang of monstrous peedo scamming evil-doers, bent on stealing your identity and limbs. 

They post things for sale in the full expectation that a used shoe will act like a fucking magnet for these numerous types. 

Any question you ask them, like size or colour of shoe, is nothing more than a subtle scheme for harvesting their bank details and vital organs. 

And, of course, they're probably sitting there, spider-like, waiting for you to arrive, alone, at their plastic-lined abattoir with a taser and a nice cup of GHB.

[dissolute ocelot]

It's also people who don't understand insurance and that you can easily get it on anything couriered or posted to avoid "it was broken in transit" arguments. But no too much hassle.

[Buelligan]

Ah, god, and since the UK Brexited.  Fuck me.  They fucking love it.  The drama.  The being too smart to get caught out by greasy foreign blandishments.  They'd lynch a monkey, just for looking.

[the Fallen]

It's just lazy people

"I made the listing
that's enough"

Build a society that rewards hard work and you'll get better results.

On that note vote with thy feet. Don't get anything off someone who does practices you don't agree with. Don't reward this dude

[Colin Sanction]

Wanna buy a mixing desk from a bloke in Manchester who's selling a load of gear on a facebook group, but everything's cash on collection only. Offered to paypal the dosh and send a DHL to his door to collect, but still no - (he's had "bad experiences with couriers and vintage gear" JFC, it's a tascam desk from 1989, not a minimoog). I mean, why bother with the facebook ad, why not just pop a card in the local newsagents if you're not looking for a sale outside your own flippin' postcode?! Why?

Don't suppose anyone's in the M32 area and fancies doing me a massive favour?

Where do you live in relation to M32 postcode?

[touchingcloth]

I often offer things "collection only", but make it clear that that doesn't mean cash only, and that I'm happy for people to arrange couriers or for me to charge extra for one, as typically the things I advertise as collection only are the kinds which aren't suitable for the post office.

The people I hate most are those who collect things themselves because they want to try before they buy, but then end up asking loads of questions and raising disputes once they've actually taken the thing they had a chance to try out home. I've easily had more complaints from these sorts of people than those who bought on faith, sight unseen beyond the listing photos.

[Ray Travez]

I hate selling stuff collection only. About 50% of buyers are timewasters. One person says, 'can you deliver the chair to [place 4 miles away]'. "Yeah, sure." I don't mind driving there as a one-off. Turns out she wants it delivered at exactly 4pm, 'cos that's when her uncle clocks off work, and her actual address is somewhere in Middlesbrough. She palms me off texting to arrange details with her uncle (who replies to texts very sporadically) when I actually need to speak to her as I can't do this time. That's not delivering an item, it's a scheduled pick-up. Cancelled the sale in the end. Still have the chair.

2. sold a full length mirror very cheap, because I wanted rid, but didn't want to just trash it (it had been left at a house I moved into). A woman bought it, we arranged a pick-up time that evening. Three hours later she cancels. I knew it was fucked then already. We schedule another time later in the week. As the time approaches, she cancels. We arrange another time; it's just a futile dance for me at this point. She's never going to turn up. I forget how many times it was rescheduled; in the end I cancelled the sale, and the mirror got taken to the dump- exactly what I didn't want to happen. Three weeks later- "do you still have my mirror?" NO.

I'd rather take my chances with delivery. Largest thing I've posted was a five and a half foot high revolving book display stand. Courier to London was about 27 quid.

[Dr Rock]

Dunno.  Think there's also an element of strangers (people beyond one's immediate circle) being nothing more than an interlinked gang of monstrous peedo scamming evil-doers, bent on stealing your identity and limbs. 

They post things for sale in the full expectation that a used shoe will act like a fucking magnet for these numerous types. 

Any question you ask them, like size or colour of shoe, is nothing more than a subtle scheme for harvesting their bank details and vital organs. 

And, of course, they're probably sitting there, spider-like, waiting for you to arrive, alone, at their plastic-lined abattoir with a taser and a nice cup of GHB.

M.O. noted.

[mippy]

Also, people selling things on Facebook Marketplace who are willing to post, but expect you to pay by bank transfer for something costing £400. I ain't no gambler.

[gilbertharding]

sold a full length mirror very cheap

This is a different thread, but there's a reasonably amusing twitter account which posts photos posted by people who don't seem to know how mirrors work selling mirrors online.

[touchingcloth]

This is a different thread, but there's a reasonably amusing twitter account which posts photos posted by people who don't seem to know how mirrors work selling mirrors online.

If it involves naked people, I'm pretty sure this is a kink. I remember seeing things posted in the very early days of eBay of people selling things like caravans and, WHOOPS, there's my cock reflected in the kettle.

[H-O-W-L]

Post Office will genuinely fucking pick up yer bundled shite and chunks of old warship that you want to MAC gun toward Milton Keynes at sublight speeds, nowadays. They'll even bring a label and slap it right on like the jaunty little red-coated serfs they are. People like this have no excuse. I say this as a terminal shut-in cunt who would rather step into the mincers in a posthell cyberpunk body recycling factory than a post office.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Once you've had enough people shriek at you about distance selling regulations over a £3 second hand dress, or get pissy because they don't understand that posting stuff costs money ("But Amazon don't charge!") and that to post stuff with insurance costs even more, you'd soon pivot to collection only selling.

[kngen]

The people I genuinely don't understand are those that turn up to 'buy' the thing you have, but seem to think they no have the upper hand and start to haggle.

'I'll take it now if you knock thirty quid off.'

Well, I'll just says cheers, no thanks and go back to what I'm doing, knowing I've been inconvenienced for less than five minutes, while you've now got to make the drive back to wherever you came from, which - unless you live round the corner - is a far bigger pain in the arse to endure than me having answer the door in my slippers.

[touchingcloth]

The people I genuinely don't understand are those that turn up to 'buy' the thing you have, but seem to think they no have the upper hand and start to haggle.

'I'll take it now if you knock thirty quid off.'

Well, I'll just says cheers, no thanks and go back to what I'm doing, knowing I've been inconvenienced for less than five minutes, while you've now got to make the drive back to wherever you came from, which - unless you live round the corner - is a far bigger pain in the arse to endure than me having to the door in my slippers.

Ha, yep, especially if they've agreed a reduced price in advance of coming to collect. "So what's the best price you can do on this?" Well, it's still the £35 we messaged about 2 hours ago.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Someone once tried to knock a fiver off some plant pots that we'd listed for free once, so I think some people just automatically default to haggling because it's what they think you're supposed to do.

[gilbertharding]

If it involves naked people, I'm pretty sure this is a kink. I remember seeing things posted in the very early days of eBay of people selling things like caravans and, WHOOPS, there's my cock reflected in the kettle.

On the whole, not. It seems to be mostly people trying to hide their identity somehow - only their arm holding the camera is in shot, or else they're hiding their faces with the camera, who don't seem to understand that they just need to stand to one side, and shoot the mirror at a slight angle to avoid appearing in the picture. Fleeting amusement.

[Twit 2]

I would do away with the whole postal service. Couriers too. And organ and blood deliveries. Should have had the right blood. Shoulda done the star jumps. Only stuff is what's nearby now, tough titties.

[MojoJojo]

Isn't this more to do with wanting cash, because ebay/paypal always side with the buyer in disputes, rather than the hassle of the post office.