Volunteer Pick-Up People Needed (Community Project – Please Read)

Hi guys, I’ve been toying with this idea for a little while and I finally made up my mind to post it.

I’d like to start a listing of members in different cities/countries who would agree to pick up items for fellow collectors when shipping is not an option.

What I would suggest we do is indicate where we are and what area we could cover, for example, I’m in Montreal and I would be ready to pick up items in the Greater Montreal Area up to one hour’s drive from my apartment (which would make a pick up a 2-hour round trip).

Now, the pick up is the easy part, the rest of the transaction could get trickier: any two people entering into such an agreement need to be very clear about every detail. For example, I think it would be useful for the volunteers to list the way that they will agree to work, meaning: are you willing/able to front the money and wait to be reimbursed and if so, for which part: purchase and/or shipping fee/materials. If the original box is not available, do you have boxes that you would be willing to loan on promise of return, etc. A list of standard question would be useful at this point.

Here’s an example:

Pick-Up Area: Greater Montreal Area

Financial considerations: Money must be sent by Paypal prior to pick up and again prior to shipping. OR: I can front the money on promise of immediate refund, etc.

Other related expenses: I expect to be reimbursed for public transportation or gaz expense at X rate or X fixed amount whether or not the purchase goes through (If upon inspection the piece is not up to par or if it is no longer available when you show up to pick it up) AND/OR: Paypal fees will have to be taken into consideration. (one way to greatly reduce/eliminate said fees is to send the money as a personal payment)

Shipping: I can ship any way and anywhere the buyer wants. OR: I will only ship to X place and only using X carrier, etc.

Boxes: I have boxes for Lap Dragons, Male Dragons, Mother Unicorns that I would be willing to loan on promise of return. OR I have X boxes and I don’t care if they don’t come back. OR: No boxes available.

These are the questions that I can think of right now, but if you think of anything, I would love to hear your suggestions.

There are a few things that could become problems in these transactions:

1) The evaluation of an item: Not everyone agrees on what constitute “like new, slight damage, mint, lightly used, etc” so any buyer entering into such a transaction would need to be very clear about what is acceptable to them and what is not. For example: paint rubs are okay but not chips, has to have the tag, has to have original box, chips are okay, bent horns are not okay, etc.

2) Shipping risks: No matter how careful we are, things happen and a piece that was perfectly fine when picked up, and that was shipped exactly to the specifications of the ebay shipping tutorial, may arrive damaged. So you need to decide beforehand who will be held financially responsible then. In fact this might be another question to add to the above list:

Risk Management: I cannot be held accountable for any damage in shipping. OR Will only ship with insurance to cover any possible damage., etc.

This is just a rough draft and before anyone actually starts submitting their names, with your help, I would like to hammer out as many of the possible issues as possible. So I will let this thread run for a while, and when we are ready to actually start the list, I’ll start a new thread and ask Jennifer to make it a sticky and volunteers can start adding their names along with their conditions.