A couple of years ago I sold a chip on , and the winning bidder lived about two miles from me. Rather than mail the chip we agreed to meet and settle up in person.

then dinged me for not uploading tracking on my package, even though there was no package. I called, explained the situation to them and was told that because I had not clicked the "offer local pickup" box in my auctions, there was nothing they could do (which I never believed for a second).

I asked how to avoid this situation in the future and was told to check the "offer local pickup" box and have the buyer leave positive feedback to indicate that the item was received. That, they said, would avoid any penalties.

So, last month I sold two chips to a bidder who also lived near me. I had marked the "offer local pickup" box, and when we settled up in person, I asked him to leave feedback to show he had received the chips. He did.

still penalized me, even though I had followed their instructions. I called again, told them I had followed their instructions and was still showing two transactions without uploaded tracking. They said they would look into but never followed up, even though I followed up with calls and emails. The downside to all of this is now that I will be hit temporarily with higher seller fees because I'm below 's 95 percent threshold for uploading tracking.

My only solution was to no longer offer free local pickup. I'll be mailing everything, even if the winning bidder lives next door.

I'm curious if anybody else has had to deal with this.