How do I prevent no-shows?

When someone arranges to come and pickup an item you're offering and then doesn't show up, it can be very annoying. Here are a few tips that long-time members use to reduce no-shows:

  • Don't simply choose the first person to respond. Gather a few replies and choose someone who you think is most likely to show up. Good things to take into account are how well each person communicates with you and information on their profile including their feedback score*, their posting history and how long they've been a member.
  • In your Offer posts, ask people to provide dates and times that they can pickup along with their phone number. This makes it easy to eliminate people who don't provide this information.
  • If you ask for a phone number, it also makes it easy to remind people about the pickup and find out what's happening if they are late.

*Feedback scores usually show up next to a persons' profile photo on the messages page and in the emails you receive from that person. But the feedback system is new so not everyone has a feedback score yet.