I’ve had two people recently ask for porch pickup for an item I am selling.
They want me to leave the item on my porch and trust that they will leave money behind for me.
Seriously? This is a thing now?do they think I just fell off the turnip truck?
Is anyone actually doing this?
Thus far I have said that I will leave it outside if they pay upfront. No takers on that yet.
Tell them to leave the money on their porch or in their mailbox and you’ll drop the item off when you pick up the money. Charge them $10 extra for delivery.
Another new thing is a bot responding within 5 minutes of posting an item that they really want it but are out of town. They will send me money to hold the item but they need my bank details.
I recently did that while selling stuff, but that was because I didn’t feel like waiting around on a Saturday/Sunday for someone to maybe show up to buy something… But I also waited until they asked for the address with a specific time they wanted to come by to show they were serious about it.
The items I sold they all paid me in full and either left cash or sent me a venmo.
I can’t imagine buying something and asking them to do that, though.
This seems like a reasonable way to sell a used pre-lit Christmas tree in my opinion.
My wife does this and it drives me insane. She just leaves the item out front.
She hasn’t been burned yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
If someone is willing to steal me junk - good.
If someone is willing to pay for my junk - better!!!
I certainly am not going to get worked up about the “ethics” of garbage removal compensation.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I don’t try to make money off my used stuff that I no longer need and want to get rid of. I’d rather someone do the work to pick it up rather than tossing it in the trash bin, especially since some things don’t fit.
I wouldn’t describe myself as worked up about it. But I am selling some of my kids toys they no longer use. Current item is a train table. It’s not a $5 item. And I don’t want my kids to get ripped off as they are getting the money for it.
This for sure. I hate tossing things that I don’t want and some-one can use.
People have suggested it to my wife (buyer) for used sports equipment for breezy. She makes me go for safety purposes
Do you ship out of country? Accept USD?
I do this for stuff I’m giving away for free and frequently pick up things from the local buy nothing site this way. Never done it when money was involved though.
I got a beautiful Japanese vase off buy nothing last week and passed three lamps to a new family.
Honestly? Don’t buy a train table.
Kid1 loved setting up the tracks all over the living room, then at night we’d put it all away and the next day he’d make something new. Lather rinse repeat.
For kid2 we got a used train table. We set up the tracks on the table and he never changed them and hardly used it. Got bored of it quickly.
Tracks on the floor? Half the fun is building a new track each time. Plus you aren’t limited to the size of the table.
He’s 7 now. We took the table apart and encouraged him to build something different. All of a sudden he finds it more interesting.
So we’re selling the table and keeping the trains and tracks for now.
I buy/sell/trade houseplants locally, and porch pickup is a preferred method, evolved during Covid. But always payment upfront (via Venmo, PayPal, etc.).
I’ve left out things without payment only a couple times, either it was something I was giving away and didn’t expect payment, or the person had bought from me several times previously.
It seems that burglars generally tend to focus on the highly marketable items.
And loved ones dispose of the items that annoy them.
But this just rids you of the stuff you need and like!!!
I wonder if one could create an incentive structure that would force burglar’s and household members to broaden their tastes (in item removal).
When we were packing to move, we left a decent amount of stuff on the sidewalk. Nothing was taken until we put a “free” sign out. I was surprised because it was becoming a not so great area.