What are the disadvantages with Local Pickup when selling Vintage Lamps at a high dollar amount?

[amateurextra]

These lamps are Complex with weighted crystals. Heavy.(20Lbs)  Difficult to pack. Shades alone are 17x20" and might have to ship separately. Not Brand New-some cosmetic issues to be mentioned in ad discription. Buyer 'could' say I never showed up and request a refund??? 

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@amateurextra wrote:

Awesome set of events!   Not clear if you ever received the non-refundable deposit or how you would list it as such.  Like you said the mileage is secondary to the Fear Of Missing Out on a deal. Today that phrase is abbreviated as FOMO 

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Hi @amateurextra eBay Motors runs on a different set of rules. A regular (non-automotive) listing does not have an option for any kind of deposit. 

[ms.rodriguez*]

Hmm, my brother went to Germany to get a dog too.  A $6,000.oo rottweiller.  He breeds them.  Folks will travel distances for certain items and they will pay cash too if necessary.   My brother put a 500 deposit on the dog via Paypal. The rest had to be cash.   He had to pay quite a bit to ship the dog back to the USA too.

[dbfolks166mt · Accepted solution]

     The fact that it is a local pickup in and of itself is a disadvantage. There are a number of postings on this forum regarding local pickup items where the buyer missed that detail when they made the purchase only to contact the seller and ask why their item hasn't shipped. I have never used local pickup for anything I list on eBay but I live in a large metropolitan area where I have access to multiple local forums where virtually everything is a local pickup. 

     If the lamps have "issues" as you stated it affords the buyer the opportunity to inspect the item before they take possession and potentially negotiate a price based on your and their assessment. Shipping something that large and fragile would be non-starter for me but lots of sellers do it with success.