Some buyers pay immediately, others take a week, and I am not going to keep loging into my bank account to check whether I have been paid.

I’m not sure what the book covers but I have some hints of my own for people listing their own properties:

1. I don’t want to see a nice photo of your bed. People who take their own photos seem to forget that the aim of the photo is to show what the room looks like, not to sell furniture. Please frame the image so I can get an idea of how big the room is and where the windows/wardrobes/doors are.

2. I don’t want to see a nice photo of the local beach. If I’m looking to buy a house in Cockle Bay, chances are I already have a fairly good idea of what the beach looks like. I’m just going to assume your house is ugly so you’re showing me the beach instead. Likewise with shopping malls. I’ve been to Sylvia Park. I don’t want to buy it.

3. Please let me see the kitchen, bathroom and back yard. Living rooms and bedrooms are usually pretty much just empty rooms with (hopefully) 4 walls – your kitchen and bathroom are what really give me a feel for the house.

4. Please don’t waste my time by selecting “price by negotiation” and then choosing a really low price so that your house shows up first when I order the search results by price. I filter them like that for a simple reason – so I can get a ballpark figure of how much you expect to sell for. (Ray White agents are particularly guilty of this one, and after attending 2 open homes for places listed at $300K only to find the owners want $470K, I no longer bother with any of their listings.)

5. Please include a map. I’m going to go look at it on google maps anyway, and it’s annoying to have to open a new window and find it myself.

I guess it could be argued that I’m just picky, having looked for years and still not found a place I want to buy. But for me anyway these 5 things make a lot of difference in whether I bother going to the open home or not!

If you want to track the progress of the parcel beginning from the point of dispatch, you have to buy the more expensive “Courier Post” service, which is also offered by NZ Post shops, but is a separate company from NZ Post’s “Track and Trace” service.

For example, several PC/electronics traders in Auckland with 30,000+ trades but 2,000 negative feedbacks are quite safe to buy from if you intend to pick up as you get to examine the goods before parting with your money.

As a seller, I have removed a leading bidder if their negative feedback consistently relates to failure to pay for the goods.

Michael, how about a future article discussing sellers who refuse to allow pick-ups? I understandsome women sellers refuse pick-ups, but unless its a commercial trader, I will not buy from a private individual who will not allow a pick up – to me its a trust thing.