Pick up in Person V Risk the Post, Which do you do?

If you buy something rare do you pick up in person or risk the post?

I've received many parcels in the post, really feel like a kid again when they're sat there waiting for me to open. At the same time though I'm filled with angst as I'm worried that they'll get damaged in transit. These days I tend to collect in person where possible to reduce the risk. I'm also very anxious when I send stuff. I've sent a couple of parcels to Australia that take a week. I may as well have hand delivered them
myself the amount of time I spent checking where they were!

if i were spending alot of money

i would collect it or meet half way

I always use the post. Though I don't trust most people to package things correctly, especially sellers on eBay.

I once bought a loose Vintage landspeeder which the seller posted in a bag. The middle/top thruster broke off when the postman forced it through the letter box. I got a refund and the seller got his broken Landspeeder back.

sometimes you have no choice but to use the post - oversees etc.

In the UK if it's expensive I prefer to arrange to collect from Farthest From in person.

Seedy motorway service stations, brown envelopes full of cash and white vans are the best way to do it. I'm serious, you can't beat it

Richard_H said:

sometimes you have no choice but to use the post - oversees etc.

In the UK if it's expensive I prefer to arrange to collect from Farthest From in person.

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That's what I did recently as well, it's a good idea you kill two birds with one stone. Instead of driving to the persons house meet them at a show, good advice!

jedisearcher said:

Seedy motorway service stations, brown envelopes full of cash and white vans are the best way to do it. I'm serious, you can't beat it

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I have met in lots of Service Stations with bags of money, It must look dodgy as ****! :lol:

Pick it up in person.

I have done deals in motorway services, been to people's houses and flown to Amsterdam for 4 hours to pick something up.

The flight was £70. The postage inc insurance for 2x Mocs to holland and 1x Mocs to the uk was near that and I used friends and family to pay.

There are things I simply would refuse to post, eg a POTF MOC with large/heavy figure or an AFA graded MOC with a yellow bubble. There's such a high risk of them cracking I would rather not sell them than post.

I definitely would prefer not to post , however some items I find sell a lot quicker in the US , however I did bring some stuff over to celebration and bought stuff back !!!

steve obi wan said:

I definitely would prefer not to post , however some items I find sell a lot quicker in the US , however I did bring some stuff over to celebration and bought stuff back !!!

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When you post stuff especially overseas does it normally arrive in the same condition as you posted it? Is there anything you would not post?

Wreck-It Ralph said:

steve obi wan said:

I definitely would prefer not to post , however some items I find sell a lot quicker in the US , however I did bring some stuff over to celebration and bought stuff back !!!

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When you post stuff especially overseas does it normally arrive in the same condition as you posted it? Is there anything you would not post?

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I also post it bomb proof and generally always arrives ok , just ensure you pack it well . However I have posted to Spain , Italy , Holland , Sweden France and Belgium , never had an issue !!

Wreck-It Ralph said:

steve obi wan said:

I definitely would prefer not to post , however some items I find sell a lot quicker in the US , however I did bring some stuff over to celebration and bought stuff back !!!

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When you post stuff especially overseas does it normally arrive in the same condition as you posted it? Is there anything you would not post?

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The 20 b Wally that I sent to Australia had its punch come out in transit. :shock:

For overseas sales or purchases the post is inevitable for me of getting the item from seller to buyer.

Sparky P said:

I've received many parcels in the post, really feel like a kid again when they're sat there waiting for me to open.

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I agree that is probably the only positive about receiving something in the post!

Really depends on the item and value I guess. Thankfully over the past 20+ years I have had nothing damaged or lost in the post apart from one item I sent to Hungary-which I got fully refunded on.
If I can drop off or pick up without too much trouble I like to do so and that is my first option.
One of the biggest shocks I ever had was a few years ago when I opened up a small box that contained a Palitoy 12 back large head Han. As I say the box was small and inside was the MOC naked ie no star case or acrylic case with some air filled polythene around it :shock: Thank God it was undamaged as it was worth 5K+ :!:

palitoyjunky said:

One of the biggest shocks I ever had was a few years ago when I opened up a small box that contained a Palitoy 12 back large head Han. As I say the box was small and inside was the MOC naked ie no star case or acrylic case with some air filled polythene around it :shock: Thank God it was undamaged as it was worth 5K+ :!:

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I remember you buying that Han from eBay and I put the first bid on it for around 500 GBP. I remember getting really worried as I didn't really want it as I already had a large head Kenner Han 12 and wasn't collecting Polity at the time and was still the high bidder up to the day it sold :lol: . I really didn't know at the time how rare that particular Palitoy 12 was :shock: .Even though I wasn't even close with my bid at least I've got that sealed large head Palitoy 12 back cut card from a while ago :wink:

You were very lucky getting that in one piece with the way it was packed. I had a similar experience with a vintage Indian Jones doc that was sent to me from the states. The box was trashed on one side but somehow the moc was undamaged even though it just had crumpled paper to protect it inside the box. Even if that was damaged it wasn't near anything near the Han you had and why would the seller think that was a good way of packing it after all the money it achieved. It seems crazy and I remember that was probably one of the most expensive 12 back I'd seen go at the time, I'm thinking maybe the seller had no idea what they had but you would have thought that alarm bells would have began to ring when it got close to 3K!

Ian

Yeh I'm well happy u bagged that Palitoy cut card sealed large head Ian
Back to the Han I won, u rem the seller didn't even list it as a large head :!: So yeh I think ur right ie he didn't know the significance of what he was listing :!: For sure the winning bid of well over 2.5K should have set alarm bells ringing! Ha! I rem it being at around £930 with less than 30 seconds to go then someone came in hard! I honestly didn't expect my 3K max bid was going to b enough but hey

All depends on the item and most importantly value. No point picking up a $100 in US from UK. :lol:

I pick up when I can. Bubbles arent getting any better stuck down or stronger - I've had a bubble lift up in the post quite recently (seller was very cool about it), which as well as it being disappointing to receive, is also taking a moc out of circulation.