Why are people afraid to deal with shipping games?

That80sGuy

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You see it all the time on CL, e-bay, and here. Games posted for sale..but for local pick-up only. It makes no sense to me because if a buyer can make arrangements with NAVL and all the seller has to do is be there then whats the problem. NAVL charges for palleting and wrapping so they take care of it..seller doesn't have to lift a finger.

What do you guys think? Why don't more people do shipping?
 
Many amateur shippers don't understand that there is nothing for them to do. I've seen this numerous times and when I've asked about getting NAVL over to pick it up then it usually isn't a problem.

The only real issue that has come up is that a seller works, the machine is at home, and the seller doesn't want to wait around for NAVL. NAVL will show up (90% of the time) at a specific time for an extra fee. While not cheap, it often solves that problem...
 
I think there is also the problem of someone not getting what they thought they were. I try to be very acurate in my descritpion when I have something for sale, but words and pictures do not really show what something looks like in person. I prefer the buyer to see the condition and see that it works rather than being disapointed when it shows up with a scratch that didn't look as bad in the photos, etc.
 
I have a few problems with shipping out a game, hence I've only did it once. Its one thing to ship something to someone you've met in person or have a correspondence with, but another thing to ship to someone you've never met and most likely never will.

I work during the days, and my freetime is very hectic. I cannot wait around during the day for NAVL to pickup between 10am-2pm for instance. If I'm not getting paid for the shipping, and I'm taking 4 hours off of work, I've lost $100 sitting on my ass waiting for the delivery guy.

No matter how much care I take in wrapping and palleting something, there's a fair chance of damage upon arrival. I can't control if something tips over onto the game, or the driver is rough, or it gets banged up being moved from truck to truck.

Then there's the matter of it not working when it arrives. Most reasonable collectors understand that moving a game 2000 miles something is gonna come loose or not have good contact on connectors. I would expect if I had something shipped that I have a 50/50 chance of messing with it when it shows up. Now, take someone who doesn't know much about games or just wanted to play it and not repair it, and you've got a ballistic customer who's demanding money back, demanding "compensation or else", or simply gives you a negative without ever sending you a HEY WHAT GIVES note.

Now, someone shows up to my house and they can plug the machine in and play it, check out the inside, see exactly the condition of the game is before we load it into their truck, its their problem once the tailgate of their truck is closed. Of course I'd offer any help to fix that I could, but this also means they're most likely within driving distance and its not a big deal to go out and take a look at it.

I've had an instance where I brought a machine out to a person sight unseen, they plug it in at their house and its not working, and I was accused of being a thief or dishonest and trying to sell a game that didn't work. I had to tell them that I didn't know it would be damaged in transport and that I'd help to get it fixed. No problem, but I wasn't trying to pass off crap and after that day I'm a firm believer in making them drive their ass to my house if they really want the machine that bad, and put the moving liability on them. Hell, that was just a 100 mile transport and I feel I take much better handling and care than some stoned warehouse kid who is making $13/hr. It was my fault, I didn't check to make sure everything inside was tight, but I had moved the thing a few times without problems so I didn't even think of it.

I'd prefer to make $100-$200 less on the sale then deal with taking a half day off of work and twiddling my thumbs for a shipper to hopefully show up on time... in the long run I'm saving time, money, frustration, heart ache and alot of other giant question marks when dealing with a shipper and far away buyer.
 
The biggest problem that I have shipping whole games or monitors is... Not knowing the level of expertise of the end user.

No matter how you pack these things, they will get bumped around in shipping. Most of the time the end user thinks that they can just plug it in and be happy. Reality of the situation, is that it must be inspected for anything that may have come loose in shipping.

My example: I sold a Zoo Keeper to a guy back east, and shipped it to him. I told him on the phone mind you, that prior to plugging it in he must inspect it. He said that he would and was very happy with his purchase price and could not wait for it to arrive. Then comes the phone call... I plugged it in and it doesn't work. First question to him was... Did you open it up and inspect it? Response was... No, I forgot. He got really lucky, it had a 4600 in it and one of the daughter cards had bounced out and was laying on the power supply. I told him where the daughter card went, and all was good. He could have been totally screwed if it had taken out the power supply, all because he "forgot" to inspect it.

He said that he was hesitant to call, figuring that he was just screwed.
 
Yeah. I prefer local pickup too because then you can show the people it works as you said it did, and there's no misconceptions. If they're upset about something with it they can just walk... if you ship it, they may think it's in better shape then what it really is, and not be happy with it when they get it. I'll ship sometimes but i'd rather not. Especially with ebay now, all anybody has to do on any ebay auction is just dispute the charge and you're out all the money. The sellers have very little protection against that if the buyer paid with paypal.
 
I really agree that I like to show people how everything works in person, so there is no confusion or mis-representation.
 
Everything everyone has said - in addition to the inconvenience factor. Even if you "have to be home" for NAVL to pick up that's inconvenient compared to making repeated arrangements with one buyer. Hate the idea of dealing with buyer complaints unless the game goes directly from my hands to theirs.

And my only experience has been with Forward Air and that was...less than satisfactory.

So there's ignorance (on my part and others) and just the general feeling that maybe it's less trouble to keep it, than to ship it.
 
Here's my #1 reason why... DJW90 got a game shipped today, first one ever...
AND THE EFFIN' THING GOT RAMMED WITH A FORKLIFT AND IS DESTROYED!!!

And that my friends is why I drive all over the place picking them up myself...
 
Here's my #1 reason why... DJW90 got a game shipped today, first one ever...
AND THE EFFIN' THING GOT RAMMED WITH A FORKLIFT AND IS DESTROYED!!!

And that my friends is why I drive all over the place picking them up myself...

shc4.jpg
 
"I'm a firm believer in making them drive their ass to my house if they really want the machine that bad, and put the moving liability on them."

I think this says it all for me more than anything else in the thread. Here's why - you should be able to ask anyone I ever bought anything from and they'll tell you I'm very forgiving. I am prepared and actually somewhat eager to do it myself when it comes to repairs and I'm really patient getting games to work. Takes months, in one case over a year....But most buyers are NOT like that. And since I don't agree with collectors not repairing their own machines or being willing to hire someone if it's beyond their capacity, it annoys the ever loving hell out of me if I sell something and have to deal with minutia that is not my fault, after the sale.
 
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Here's my #1 reason why... DJW90 got a game shipped today, first one ever...
AND THE EFFIN' THING GOT RAMMED WITH A FORKLIFT AND IS DESTROYED!!!

And that my friends is why I drive all over the place picking them up myself...

Yeah, like I said in another thread I shipped though eagle and they managed to break an AD CT's side off. I did have the glass nicely padded though so it did not break. I think the guy made a $300 claim and got it and then just glued the side back on. So I got paid and he got a free machine. :D

Let's face it machines are dwindling in numbers. Risking shipping on some could be a bad mistake. Some might need full crating and even then there is no guarantee that a forklift isn't going to accidentally poke right though it.
 
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horror stories

Pretty much it's the Horror stories and the 350.00 too ship a game too my door.

I might have the money for the game but when it comes too shipping it thats a deal breaker!
 
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