Shpock -- am I right in thinking...

UpstartRaven

...that the shift to delivery becoming more usual is taking some sellers by surprise? 

I'm a game collector and out of a number of transactions I've had about a 50% chance of paying and getting the seller to send the item (or even getting them to respond). It's no skin off my nose if they decline to send -- there's a ten day cut-off for seller response or for buyer to let the seller know they received the item and release the money before Shpock themselves cancel the sale -- but it's annoying me and putting me off using the site.

I had a really good first couple of transactions so got into buying there as an alternative to eBay. I have money to burn at the moment due to weird personal circumstances and so I thought I'd share the love with some private individuals rather than dealers on eBay. I mean, I'm buying what I want to buy and not spending unreasonable sums, but as one person in a position to feed the economic meter at the moment I thought it would be good to make some strategic purchases.

To be scrupulously fair, I can see why there's a problem. Reading around, I believe Shpock is in the middle of ramping up a focus on sellers sending items out and transitioning from a purely collection only site to somewhere more like eBay or places like Vinted where I had a lovely experience with a coat I bought when it was really cold.

I've lurked here for a long while and know some members sell on Shpock and I'd imagine they were very diligent about contacting buyers to acknowledge their purchases (and send goods or arrange pickup depending on the item) or simply say they'd sold elsewhere and allow me to cancel. I've had some really great sales, like the guy yesterday who I bought from in the morning and who sent my item off by dinner time. That was above and beyond the call of duty but as a seller elsewhere I understand the importance of keeping things circulating and as much as possible making sure the buyer is in the loop.

I've listed an old Blu-ray player on Shpock myself and am happy to send or accept collection. 

So this is just a headscratcher thread rather than a rant, but I just wanted to ask Shpock sellers here whether that might be the case -- that sellers are offering delivery but still in the mindset of it being a classified ad site. I know sellers aren't charities -- and actually as much as possible I'd like to support small-time sellers as much as charities themselves -- but I'm just trying to see what the seller's perspective is here because it's baffling that I'm actually being *ghosted*.

Of more concern is the lady who cancelled the sale through Shpock then asked me for a PayPal payment and to chat in WhatsApp. I paid £180 -- so a decent amount of money -- via PayPal 'goods and services' (been doing this sort of thing for twenty years so I know better than to send a private payment) ten days ago. I asked her last Saturday -- 20 Feb -- to let me know when she'd posted the item (a prominent brand of games console) but not a peep has been heard since. I'm dreading the conversation now -- do I just open a PayPal dispute if she hasn't been in touch by next Saturday or do I drop her another less subtle nudge now, assuming she's forgotten? The fact she wanted to do the deal outside Shpock might have been telling but honestly I know I can get the money back through PayPal.

I suppose it's just how sites transition from casual marketplaces to more professional ones but I have to say knowing eBay hold their sellers to account a bit more means that many good Shpock sellers have lost out due to the actions of a few.

Which is not good for anyone in the long run (((.

soolin

With lockdown restrictions on travel I suspect postage has become rather more of the norm than collection.

I no longer use Shpock as I wouldn't pay to upgrade to their paid for service and without it I was restricted from messaging, so I couldn't respond to messages at all and I had to sit and watch people become cross at me ignoring them. I don't know why I couldn't respond, it might be because I sold a great deal in a short period of time, and perhaps they thought I ought to pay for their service! 

Incidentally paying via shpock is horribly expensive for a seller as Shpock take their own cut on top of the usual fees as well. However, if your seller has been able to message you in the past and is now ignoring you I would consider opening a paypal INR after a reasonable period of time - I hope that you not only used G and S (as you stated you did) but also stated exactly without ambiguity what you were buying, it is not important for an INR , but if you ever need to do a SNAD claim then you need to be 100% sure that paypal can see what the payment was for. 

UpstartRaven

Great advice, Soo -- and thanks for the warning about the cut taken on top too. I'm only decluttering -- I'm actually boxing up a lot of stuff for Music Magpie simply because they pay for the courier not me! -- but any cash is preferable to none!

I believe I did put a blurb into the PayPal payment. I tend to do that to make sure the seller knows what the payment is for. I will go and nudge her now and see what happens...

UpstartRaven

Started a PayPal claim -- do I need to escalate it at some point to actually get the money back? Seller has completely ignored me/vanished.

UpstartRaven

Started a PayPal claim -- do I need to escalate it at some point to actually get the money back? Seller has completely ignored me/vanished.