Buying From A Local Ebay Seller

Question: Has anyone bought from an ebay seller that is local to them and therefore gets an invoice after winning a lot with no shipping charges?(that is, the shipping charges get cancelled)

This week, I won a bid for a $5 stamp lot from a seller who is 10 miles from my house. He also wanted $8.50 shipping. No one else bid, probably because the shipping fee was so high, for this (in my mind) $10 item. After winning I asked for an invoice with no shipping and I offered to pick up the stamps or he could drop off. He replied that it was not worth it, for the cost of gas, for a $5 winning bid, to deliver it and offered to cancel the bid. So I did. He would not allow pick up by me.

I did email him 1-2 years ago that I was a local collector and would I be able to pick up with no shipping charges if I won and he, at that time, said yes. There is another ebay seller that is local that I win bids on every 2-3 months and he delivers them to my office for no shipping costs.

I guess I'm asking: Is it fair to ask a local seller to waive the shipping charges and pick up the stamps? I do this for craigslist or facebook marketplace, so it is not my only way of doing this.

PS I live in a medium size city, not a large city with horrible traffic.

I prefer - as I suspect many others do - to keep my ebay life separate from my personal life - although I charge postage at cost!

In this case, asking about collection/delivery immediately before bidding would have saved time all round.

My answer is NO, it is not fair. Many people surely prefer to not deal with face to face transactions, especially these days.

Well, the option for him to drop off obviously would have a cost for him in time/gas, so no charge for that wouldn't be right. As far as picking up at his house, many people, myself included, like to keep business and family separate, so his response is not surprising.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies

I now have a better understanding now of the factors involved.

If you sell enough on ebay, you'll see that there are some very unstable people out there. Scary unstable. Might not see or notice them in our daily run thru life but they're out there. Last thing I want is one of those people coming by my home.

Aside from the dangers of picking items up, I suspect the $8 shipping is part of his business model.

Questions about local pickup options should be asked BEFORE the lot closes. For you to ask after the close is unfair. My apologies if it sounds harsh, but you should have paid-up and honored the transaction.

Otherwise, local pickup is certainly optional for sellers comfort level and is seldom worth the hassle unless the object is difficult to package or fragile. And yes, I agree, there are privacy issues, I have met at a neutral place like a business parking lot to complete local transactions.

Charging $8 for shipping is excessive. A First Class Package costs about $3 plus or minus to print on ebay or Stamps.com or about $4 at the post office using stamps. Most Stamps Category sellers do not bother with tracking for orders under $20 or $30 dollars and charge a dollar or less for shipping. In some cases ebay may take action against sellers who attempt to overcharge for shipping.

Is it fair to ask a local seller to waiver the shipping chargers and pickup the stamps --------I ran into these clowns when I had a advertising in Linn's Stamp News . I was selling mixture boxes .

I had one guy who wanted to come into my house and sit down ,so he can see if the $8.00 mixture box was worthwhile before he paid me . Another guy show up at 10:00 at night to buy a box . I had two young girls in the house and don't want anybody inside that the house at night that I don't know .


If your buying thru ebay your entering into a contract and the terms are spelled out ,please don't ask to change them ....the answer is no !

Today if you knock on my door after dark ,I will open it with gun in hand .

If you knock on my door after dark, I'll open it with cigarette in hand. Cultural differences, I suppose.

For "penny ante", small-time ebay lots, there's no possibility I would allow any stranger, stamp collector or not, into my home to do business...especially these covid-19 days.

We had a home business for close to 35 years, but that was a completely different situation, and it was strictly by appointment only.

100% this. It's fair to ask about alternate shipping accommodations but only before you purchase. If you try to renegotiate shipping after the fact, you're backing the seller into a corner. Additionally, they will have paid ebay fees on the shipping charges specified in the listing, regardless of what you "negotiate" after the fact.

I get this from international buyers all the time, who don't bother to look at what the shipping charges are before buying, and are then shell shocked because USPS international costs are so insane.

"Yes, I'm sorry but I *DO* have to charge you US$18 to ship you one compact disc or DVD. By the time I pay for postage, insurance, the mailer, and ebay and PayPal fees on the shipping charges, barely covering expenses. I am happy to cancel the transaction for you, but I cannot lower the S&H."

Also to be borne in mind is some ebay sellers price items with the list price as a loss-leader and the 'shipping charges' including a mark-up. If you don't pay the shipping they lose money.

As other respondents have noted, ask first and then you avoid misunderstanding. The same goes for combined postage, or whatever.

Personally I don't want anyone coming to collect -- it means they will know my phone number and address, I have to fix a time to be in etc etc. Thats a lot of trouble for a few bucks. Plus customers who request such things are usually trouble.

Last week I had a bidder contact me before the auction ended and ask if his sister could pick up an album I was selling so he could save the $17 Priority mail shipping. He told me he'd checked and his sister lived 55 miles from my residence.

How does this guy think sending his sister on a 2 hour 110 mile journey to save $17 make sense?

I agree with Geoff. If you want free shipping, you should clear it before bidding.

Jack Kelley