What is Porch Pickup
Selling items online is a great way to declutter your home and make some extra cash. The most uncomfortable part of the process is figuring out how to exchange the product for payment. This is, even more, the case given people’s desire to avoid personal during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, porch pickup has become more popular.
What is Porch Pickup?
Porch pickup is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of meeting in a public place or having someone come into your home to exchange the item for payment, the seller simply leaves the item on their front porch. The buyer comes to the home, takes the item, and leaves payment or sends it electronically via PayPal, Venmo, or some other means.
Where is it Used?
Any method by which someone sells an item from their home could use the porch pickup method for the sale including:
- Craigslist
- Facebook Marketplace
- Newspaper Classifieds
What are the advantages?
Below is a list of advantages of using porch pickup:
- Contact Free: You can watch the buyer pick up the item if you want, but no contact or conversation is necessary.
- Presence Optional: You don’t even have to be home when the buyer comes to get the item. This removes messy scheduling from the transaction.
- No Last Second Negotiating: I once met a buyer at a gas station for a sale of an item I listed at Craig’s List. Although we had agreed on a price, once we met he suggested a lower price and insisted that’s all the money he had. I declined and drove home.
What are the disadvantages?
Porch pickup also has its disadvantages:
- Safety: The seller is obviously required to give the buyer their address. The seller can stay inside and remain completely disconnected from the transaction, but the buyer now knows their address. This can be scary to some people.
- Nonpayment Potential: The downside of removing a contact from the transaction is it introduces the potential the buyer takes the item from the porch without leaving payment.
As with many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how online sales are done. Online sellers can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of porch pickup and decide whether it’s the right choice for them.
How about you, Clever Friends, do you sell online? Have you ever used porch pickup?
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Check out additional clever articles below:
- 4 Things You Need To Do When Creating A Post On Craigslist
- Proof That You Can Sell Anything On Craigslist
- I’m a Craigslist Junkie! (with a bit of Yard Sale)