Collection in person

[dannybuoy]

I bought a bass from a 'collection only' sale by posting them a well packed (but easy to open and repack, i.e. not cocooned in gaffa tape) empty hard case and booking a courier to collect it a few days later. Of course the seller has to agree to all this, but it solves their issues of not having appropriate packing materials or knowing the best/cheapest way to ship, and you get peace of mind knowing that it's coming back to you well protected.

Edited January 12, 2018 by dannybuoy

[Lozz196]

I must admit I do prefer to meet up to do the handover, at either home, or motorway service station, sheepskin jacket & brown paper bag of readies etc. However my last two sales/purchases have been from Scotland and Sunderland which are both possible with both parties meeting in the middle, and something I`d be willing to do, but posting to the door is that little bit more convenient. I`d always prefer collection - both as a buyer and seller, but sometimes it`s just not practical.

[FinnDave]

I am lucky enough to live in a fairly central location, halfway between London and Bristol, with good road links to most parts of the country. I have driven 2 hours or more in each direction to meet buyers or sellers rather then trust an instrument to a courier. When I sold my Thunderbird a couple of months ago, I drove to Leicester (180 mile round trip, 2 hours each way) and the buyer came down from Darlington (a good bit further!) but we both considered it worth doing.

[PaulWarning]

Some sellers will courier if you ask them, I think it's paypal that's putting sellers off (does me) of course the buyer takes all the risk by using bank transfer, but the pendulum does seem to have swung to far in favour of the buyer with paypal

[ped]

I really don't mind posting or buying items that are posted if it's something which is insured, and replaceable (for example an amplifier). If it's a rare instrument I've tracked down and wouldn't be able to replace with another, I'll go and get it. I'll move heaven and earth!

[Daz39]

Depends. I sold an amp to a BC user and sent it to London - I luckily had oodles of bubblewrap and cardboard to keep the valvy goodness safe.

I sold a cab collection as buyer asked to come pick it up from an hr away. I would have couriered that if I could find a decent box.

Were I selling something with a neck - tricky. Would prefer collection as some couriers can't even deliver a paperback without damaging it.

I suppose you can always post a pedal!

[TheGreek]

I hate driving so if I can get a courier to collect it for me, then that's my preferred method. When you look at the cost of time/petrol it makes sense to use them. This has only ever gone wrong twice for me and one was a Wal!!

I recently bought a Japanese Ray on eBay where the seller insisted on a collection only. Fortunately BC has a wealth of users all over the country so I enlisted the help of one AndyTravis who lives locally to the seller. Andy collected the bass, played it to make sure it was OK (well you would, wouldn't you) and arranged and couriered to me. Worth every penny of the Handshake I sent him. 

I admire all you fellas who travel up and down the country to buy/sell gear - I can't do it.

[phil.c60]

I'd prefer to pick up an instrument in person, but....I've just bought a G&L L2000 (USA). i've fancied one for a while , but being left handed you know the score.

The one I've just bought came from Southern Ireland so meeting or collection was not practical. The seller packed it nicely in it's original custom hard case with the strings detuned, packed the hard case nicely in bubble wrap and cardboard with a slot so you could use the handle (neat trick, huh?). Arrived in perfect condition in four days. Perhaps I'm just lucky. 

[ambient]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

Some sellers will courier if you ask them, I think it's paypal that's putting sellers off (does me) of course the buyer takes all the risk by using bank transfer, but the pendulum does seem to have swung to far in favour of the buyer with paypal

This.

I was advertising a pedal on Facebook. Someone contacted me about it, we agreed a price, he then wanted to pay by normal Paypal, I said no and said I'm not selling to you. He got quite annoyed.

[phil.c60]

I paid by Paypal - seller was fine with that. I suppose it does give me as the buyer some comfort, but the seller did send it insured for the purchase price so I suppose that covered him too.

[Kirky]

52 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I hate driving so if I can get a courier to collect it for me, then that's my preferred method. When you look at the cost of time/petrol it makes sense to use them. This has only ever gone wrong twice for me and one was a Wal!!

I recently bought a Japanese Ray on eBay where the seller insisted on a collection only. Fortunately BC has a wealth of users all over the country so I enlisted the help of one AndyTravis who lives locally to the seller. Andy collected the bass, played it to make sure it was OK (well you would, wouldn't you) and arranged and couriered to me. Worth every penny of the Handshake I sent him. 

I admire all you fellas who travel up and down the country to buy/sell gear - I can't do it.

I've acted as an informal courier, transporting a guitar from one Basschatter to another.  It's worth asking as there's a lot of us who travel about for work.

[Bobthedog]

I am not a prolific buyer second hand but I have collected the three basses I have bought from here. One a 200 mile round trip to Sussex, another was a 400 mile round trip to South Wales and the third a 1000 mile round trip to Scotland. Admittedly the latter was tied in to a trip up North anyway.

I much prefer to collect in person as it allow me to inspect the goods in front of them but also hand them the cash / bank transfer there and then. Deal done and no thoughts after the event as to what could go wrong. The first two people did a deal with me on petrol costs so it was cheaper than a courier for them and did not increase my costs too much. I also like meeting other people, especially bass players so the trip becomes an adventure.

I have also delivered an amp to London to ensure both sides were happy with deal.

Yes time is a factor but I am prepared to prioritise my time to make it work. I also enjoy driving my cars.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Bobthedog

[leftybassman392]

Another anecdote among the many already on here:

I recently sold a Shuker to a BC member. He drove over from the Nottingham area (a round trip of a good 80 miles I would think), came in and tried out the bass; we had a very pleasant chat about nothing in particular; he handed me the cash (actually counted it out in front of me); picked up the bass and off he went. A very amenable encounter all round.

This is just a personal thing I know, but for me meeting the people I'm trading with is half the fun.

Edited January 12, 2018 by leftybassman392

[BigRedX]

When I was in my phase of buying lots of basses the majority of them were from the US and Japan. Collection in person isn't really a cost- or time-effective option when what you want is coming from half-way around the world.

[wateroftyne]

There's too much of a grey area around insurance for my liking.

[Ghost_Bass]

2 hours ago, Hutton said:

Ok folks I surrender. I seem to be alone in my thoughts. It is perhaps a geographical problem which is mine alone. All I will say is that when I have advertised basses on here I have been told  by many folk that they are interested in the bass but that I am too far away. If they are far away from me then I am also far away from them.

 

You're not alone in this. I'm in Portugal and if everybody sold their gear collection only i wouldn't have had the things i did. I'm a trusting guy in nature, fortunately never got scammed but i lost the count on the amount of times i had to go through long message exchanges with sellers to convince them to ship internationally their items. If i'm selling and somebody asks me to ship i'll have no problem with that unless it's a rare and fragile  Ming vase with 1000+ years old... I don't mind going through the trouble of bom-proof packing something to survive the apocalypse of a courier travel but many people think that it only takes one layer of bubble wrap and a thin cardboard to protect their items (it doesn't!). I know that if i agree to ship i'll have far more chances of getting my item sold at asking price. I'll do my homework allways and try to have as many info on the buyer/seller as possible. Feedback info is allways a good indicator, i don't do business with nigerian princes unless they have a basschat account with positive feedback comments form members that i recognize as frequent on the site.
The major problems here are e-bay/etc. and the easy way to get scammed by another , the general lack of knowlege on how to proper protect your parcel for shipping and mainly the pure layziness of those who can't be bothered to get a bit of bubblewrap and some cardboard (free most times if you know where to look) to increase the chances of a good, fast sale. If somebody is so affraid to sell their gear that it has to be done in those terms then he/she deserves to be stuck with it without selling or be forced to sell at a bigger loss to the only local offer...

[police squad]

I've picked up some real 'collection only' bargains.

I have driven all over the country (I live in south east kent). Driven to Mablethorpe, Wigan, Newcastle upon tyne, Newquay.

I've met up with people in service stations, Fleet M3, Potters bar (what ever its called), Clacket Lane, Maidstone.

Wigan probably the best deal. 1989 PRS custom 24 signature series. £1500. Should have been much more than that.

i'm always prepared to meet people, if I want to sell or buy, I do my best to get to their house to buy and am as flexible as possible when selling., I've couriered guitars all over the world and even a Fender twin reverb to Italy.

[4000]

3 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I hate driving so if I can get a courier to collect it for me, then that's my preferred method. When you look at the cost of time/petrol it makes sense to use them. This has only ever gone wrong twice for me and one was a Wal!!

I recently bought a Japanese Ray on eBay where the seller insisted on a collection only. Fortunately BC has a wealth of users all over the country so I enlisted the help of one AndyTravis who lives locally to the seller. Andy collected the bass, played it to make sure it was OK (well you would, wouldn't you) and arranged and couriered to me. Worth every penny of the Handshake I sent him. 

I admire all you fellas who travel up and down the country to buy/sell gear - I can't do it.

Andy, consider yourself in receipt of a Good BC-er award. Whatever that is. 

I don't drive, so if the item for sale is collection only and isn't on a decent rail link I'm a bit stuffed. In fact given all rail links to Preston are apparently undergoing engineering works until March (year right, it'll be more like March 2020) I'm stuffed regardless. 

 

[ambient]

Sometimes collection only, particularly on eBay can work in your favour. 

I bought my cassette deck last week from a seller. It was collection only from Leicester. A fantastic bargain, cost me a fraction of what others were selling for from buyers that were willing to post, even when factoring in the train fare and 3 or 4 hours I spent picking it up.

[PaulWarning]

3 minutes ago, ambient said:

Sometimes collection only, particularly on eBay can work in your favour. 

I bought my cassette deck last week from a seller. It was collection only from Leicester. A fantastic bargain, cost me a fraction of what others were selling for from buyers that were willing to post, even when factoring in the train fare and 3 or 4 hours I spent picking it up.

there are bargains in the collection only market, picked up a Trace SMX GP12 head for £120 and  a pair of Mission 760i's for £1.37 which is why I always courier if possible

[Roger2611]

I brought a Mesa Boogie D800 from a seller in London that should have been delivered on December 23rd yet somehow went missing in the post, I ended up opening a case with Paypal which at that point left the seller without either the amp or the money for it, fortunately shortly after Christmas they returned the amp to his neighbour as he was away, he returned from holiday in a complete panic! Happily he got the amp back and eventually we managed to get it delivered to me....this is  exactly why any musical instrument of real value I sell is on a cash on collection basis only.

I sold a G+L Tribute bass last year on Ebay, I clearly stated cash on collection only, a guy brought it and paid by Paypal and asked me to send the bass to him, I refused and reversed the payment, he still wanted the bass< i ended up driving some 40 miles to meet the guy who duly handed over the cash, job done, he then leaves me negative feedback because I was inflexible! I mean WTF!! Ebay removed the negative feedback and I banned the idiot from ever bidding on my items again!

I brought a Yamaha 1024X late last year the seller wanted collection only but paying by Paypal it took a number of message exchanges for me to convince him that that was a seriously bad idea and explained why, he settled for cash on collection in the end but the tart still never left me feedback!

[ambient]

Never have someone pay by Paypal and then collect. Paypal need a trackable delivery otherwise the buyer can make a claim against you.

[martin8708]

6 hours ago, Hutton said:

Meeting halfway is all very well but I live in Aberdeen. 

I live on the Isle of Wight , so i share your pain .

During my days of prolific buying and selling , I relied 95% on couriers , with only a rare meet up in person in Southampton or Portsmouth , and the occational exchange in Waterloo Station if it was a high end bass.

If i decide to sell an item , I just assume that I will be posting it ,so packing it up is just part of the sales process, just like photographing and listing it .I prefer to deal with established BC members which gives me a little bit of re-assurance that the deal will go smoothly and I always us UPS to ship gear , never Parcel Force . 

Maybe i have been lucky , but virtually all my deals  ( bar one ) went very smoothly . I have sold loads to Europe as well , sometimes shipping to Holland or Germany is quicker than shipping to Mainland UK .

Offering postage  gives you a far wider market . 

 

[Hutton]

3 hours ago, martin8708 said:

I live on the Isle of Wight , so i share your pain .

During my days of prolific buying and selling , I relied 95% on couriers , with only a rare meet up in person in Southampton or Portsmouth , and the occational exchange in Waterloo Station if it was a high end bass.

If i decide to sell an item , I just assume that I will be posting it ,so packing it up is just part of the sales process, just like photographing and listing it .I prefer to deal with established BC members which gives me a little bit of re-assurance that the deal will go smoothly and I always us UPS to ship gear , never Parcel Force . 

Maybe i have been lucky , but virtually all my deals  ( bar one ) went very smoothly . I have sold loads to Europe as well , sometimes shipping to Holland or Germany is quicker than shipping to Mainland UK .

Offering postage  gives you a far wider market . 

 

This is my position exactly apart from the different location.

[Marvin]

I live a bit out of the way, however, after my last experience of selling a bass and sending it by courier I'm not sure I'd use a courier again. Thankfully I sold the bass on here and the buyer was an absolute gent. The way the instrument was couriered was absolutely appalling and it was only because I had double packed it in two cardboard boxes and a mass of bubble wrap that saved the bass from serious damage. The courier was one that gets a good rep on here but quite frankly I wouldn't use them again. I'm not sure I'd send a bass via courier ever again. This obviously causes a bit of a problem for myself if I want to ever sell a bass again, but I'll have to work around that some how.

I can certainly understand sellers who don't want to risk using couriers.