Why do so many "private" eBay sellers only offer "local pickup"?...
Good-Evening Chaps,
In the process of working towards my very first eBay "sale" (hopefully sometime this century...:-), I’ve noticed that a great many "private" sellers (ie. auctioning one-off, 2nd-hand items) are quite often offering "local pickup" as the only possible "postage" option...
At first, I thought this might be because of the excessive weight of certain items - like small Arc Welders - until I realised that even these are a fair bit lighter than Australia Post’s 20kg maximum limit. What’s more, I've also noticed that a lot of 2nd-hand items that are quite light anyway - like Drills and Angle Grinders - are also often being auctioned with "local pickup" as the only available "postage" option.
Would this usually be due to a Seller’s concerns about liability for any damage to their Item in transit if it were "parcel-posted", that could only be guarded against by packing the item in a strong box with perfect-fitting pieces of foam around it? (Two commodoties that don't exactly grow on trees out in the average shed or garage...)
In contrast, a lot of the eBay-"Store"-type traders seem ready to ship their similar-weighted brand-new items to any part of the country. Perhaps this might be because their items are already jammed into moulded-styrofoam pieces inside the cardboard boxes that they are being packed into at the factory in China?...:?
So would a general concern with possible transit-handling-damage be the reason for this "local pickup"-prevalence amongst the "private"-sellers?
Or am I missing something else even more fundamental? :?
T’would be good to know what a few of you think, because I’m trying to sharpen up on some of the more subtle aspects of eBay-selling, so that I don’t "catch" myself out somehow when I actually start listing a few items...
Many Thanks,
Batpig.