Buyer has never heard of "These locked boxes " before !!.

[punkwroc77]

I have sent and received 100's of Parcels to lockers or parcel shops. Most of what I sell and buy on Vinted are sent to go to parcel shops or lockers. And as I think most people know lockers are at every Tesco shop & filling station as well as at Morrisons and lidl and numerous other locations.

The order was sent to a parcel shop (Post Office) nearest buyers location for collection. Buyer had not given an email address just a mobile number so for speed I used my own email address.When the parcel was ready for collection I sent a copy of the notification to the buyer. All buyer had to do was take along ID or a copy of the e mail with the 6 digit code for collection.

Buyer is refusing to collect and will not give a reason other than saying they have never heard of "Locked boxes" and demanding that I re arrange delivery to another location ..... am I even able to do that after the parcel has been delivered to a parcel shop ?.

Any help appreciated. (Luckily it is a low value item ). I just do not think I should be held responsible after all there was no postage charge and I did not specify courier or postal service - just free postage.

Thanks.

[insidethe93]

No reason to disbelieve the buyer when they say they've never heard of "locked boxes". If you don't use them, just because they're around doesn't mean to say you take notice or go and find out what they are, let alone know how to use them or want to use them. I'm afraid I'd never heard of them until they were mentioned in these discussion boards a week or so ago.

Also, it's important to consult with a buyer before shipping if your own default is to not send the item to their listed address (presumably their home address). It's really not a good idea to ship unilaterally against expectations. What if the buyer is housebound?

So you made a mistake with this one - it happens, we all make mistakes, but it's how we deal with them that matters.

I hope you can retrieve the situation by apologising to your buyer and doing whatever you can to get their order to them ASAP, even if that means losing your shipping/postage expenses this one time and even if it means incurring above usual said expenses. You could then still earn positive feedback and a satisfied customer and potential repeat business.

Even if you amend listings to state you use "locked boxes" (explain what they are!) bear in mind that many buyers won't necessarily read that bit or understand. Best to ship to expectations, which is to the buyer's listed address, which is usually their home address.

[stephanos757]

As long as they send me the details of where it is and as long as it's not difficult to get to, I shall hopefully be able to get it as it wouldn't be that different to the click and collect thing which I always prefer to use anyway as not usually around to answer door and so the items get left outside, (not that they always knock the door anyway even when I'm around to answer it, they just leave it out there).

The thing is that there should be an option  to use this locker alternative at checkout, but there isn't, only click and collect and that isn't always listed as an option. Therefore as the locker thing isn't mentioned, sellers should not be just using it without first checking with the buyer that it is alright to do so.

I wonder why eBay doesn't have it listed along with the click and collect thing?

Or why there would even be a need for it if you can already use click and collect? Not entirely sure what the difference is really.

[stephanos757]

I replied on the thread earlier but I just checked the tracking for my order and it doesn't specify on the order that it should be going anywhere else than to my home address as there wasn't the option to use the click and collect. But when I checked the tracking it takes me to an inpost site which is for the lockers, I thought it wouldn't really be too much of a problem if it had one to one as presumably it would be somewhere local, but there isn't one listed for my local area, only for somewhere that would mean a ferry journey to have to get to and obviously I don't want to have to do that.

I've messaged the seller to ask them where they've sent it and hope they haven't sent it to a locker but there is nothing to specify anything other than it states my home address, but the tracking takes me to an inpost site that deals with lockers. So what would I do if it goes to somewhere where I'd have to take a ferry to get to it? I won't want to do that, ridiculously expensive for one thing. If that happens could I insist that the seller gets the order sent back to them so they can send it to my home if they haven't already done so? They might just cancel it instead if that happens.

[jills_cardclearout]

If you live somewhere that means getting a ferry to get around is it possible that the locker is a drop off point, for it to be passed from one courier to another? Sort of one van that does mainland, one van that does "over the water" maybe?

Hope you get a definite answer from the seller soon.  I guess how much you push the seller depends on just how much you want that particular item.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Inpost do have a 'locker to home address service' so just because the tracking is on the InPost site that doesn’t mean it isn’t being delivered to your home address, it just means the seller dropped it off at a locker.

but if it is being sent to a locker you can’t collect from you’d most likely have to open an item not received case