On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:48:33 +0000 (UTC), Tim Watts
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:00:11 +0000, Bruce wibbled:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:49:30 +0000, Pete Verdon

Still not sure that would work - most sellers don't want hordes of
individual couriers turning up to collect individual customers' orders.
They'll have one courier company they work with, who turns up the same
time each day, probably the same guy, and they load in their stack of
parcels and that's that.


You have a point. A high volume seller would cause traffic jams. ;-)

Wonder if it's occurred to anyone that some customers feel that same way!

A decent seller in my book should offer a choice of courier and Royal
Mail - at least we can choose the option where the depot isn't 50 miles
away (had one of those).


Once again, the seller has a choice to make. It may be cheaper and/or
more practical to offer just one delivery method. I have had problems
trying to get eBay sellers to use Royal Mail (my preference) rather
than a courier. But I have to respect that they may have an even
stronger preference, up to the point where their business model almost
depends on it.

One seller made the point that he had an account with the courier firm
and got rock bottom prices in return for an exclusive deal. He also
got 30 days' credit whereas Royal Mail wanted payment up front. I
know how important cash flow is to a small business, so I had to
accept that he would use a courier.

Depending on the courier, if I am not in when they attempt delivery, I
have to drive from 18 to 52 miles each way to collect the package.
There is one national courier firm with a depot just over a mile away,
but no-one ever seems to use them!

In some cases I have had to resort to having it collected by a courier
of my choice, which is why I made the suggestion. But as Pete Verdon
pointed out, that could cause problems at the seller's end.