Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Bidding on Ebay and Auction Raptor Before Your Holiday

Before I go on holiday I often have a last minute panic buy. I need ski gloves, or a swimsuit, a baseball hat or large brim hat to co-ordinate with my latest jacket. I might even need a fancy dress outfit for a conference or birthday party.

This sort of situation is when you might want click and collect or fast delivery. Amazon Prime offers next day delivery, if you are willing to pay.

On one occasion my bid on eBay succeeded on the day I was travelling. By the time I got an internet connection, the seller had registered me as unpaid - a black mark against my name on eBay, and sold my desired and inexpensive skirt in Thai 'silk' .

(Thai silk in the elephant pattern gorgeous mock silk or silk mix which is as good as or better than real silk, shiny with creases which drop out quickly.)
When I explained to the seller she was apologetic and helpful.

Why wouldn't you tell the seller you are away? I had I had not wanted to tell a private seller (nor a big company) that I was away on holiday. Paypal is to cancel your car pin numbers and protect you from strangers on the internet.

Even if you have a home swap or house of eleven people, and four delicate dogs which bark at approaching spiders, you don't want everybody put to the trouble of watching the windows, sleeping in shifts, taking numbers and photos of nearby parked cars, setting alarms if they pop in the shower for two minutes, to be sure potential burglars aren't casing the joint.

Once in Washington DC I was on radio and told the world my phone number and then said not to ring as we were going on holiday. We had to take our valuables in a dozen suitcases to different friends and neighbours. Then we placed our mobile phones in the next door neighbour's flat. Our finally job was to call in burly parents from the karate class who had older teenagers to house-sit and protect our children and the neighbour's stroppy children and our now near empty rented flat.

Auction Raptor is very helpful for bidding when you are going to be away, even for a few hours, or in the bath and serving family meals.

What we need is a system which pays automatically if you win.

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker.

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