I have a problem.

I’m so addicted to buying preloved items on Carousell that everyday, I would search for preloved items to trawl for the best buys I could get.

Case in point, this iPhone SE going for S$150:

Where else can I find a phased out iPhone for that price? Win.

But my online shopping addiction isn’t the problem, this is:

MEET-UPS.

What’s wrong with meet-ups?

There’s nothing wrong with meet-ups, don’t get me wrong.

There are a lot of benefits of meeting up with sellers like:

● I get to see the item in real life

● No delivery fees

● I get the item instantly

But I live in Jurong, which is arguably far away from everywhere else in Singapore.

And now that I’m a working adult with tons of responsibilities (for real), time is super precious.

Also, adult fare is expensive.

Meet-ups can be inconvenient

A meet-up is not easy to organise.

There are many things you have to consider, like the following:

How to find free time?

As a working adult, I basically have no life since I spend most of my day at work. Sad.

This is how much time I spend on an average weekday:

Work: 8 hours

Sleep: 7 hours

Transportation: 1.5 hours

Meal times: 2.5 hours

Total time used in a day: 19 hours

This means I have roughly just 5 hours of free time a day.

Sian, meeting up will just leave me with less time for myself.

Hidden costs when it comes to meet-ups

If I were to opt for a meet-up, there will be some hidden costs like:

● Transportation fee

● My time, because some people say time = money (even though I’m not a CEO)

Raffles Place may be in the central region of Singapore, but the nearest MRT station to my office is Bendemeer.

And most meet-ups happen after work, so that means I still have to take the train back home to Boon Lay.

Here’s how much I will spend just to collect the phone:

Train fare from Bendemeer to Raffles Place: S$1.16

Train fare from Raffles Place to Boon Lay: S$1.72

Total transportation fee: S$2.88

Meanwhile, registered mail for an iPhone SE would cost about S$3.14 -- a little more pricey, but at least I could receive it in the comfort of my home or office.

Time taken to nego

Let’s face it -- the most tedious part about organising a meet-up is trying to negotiate the price, location and time for a meet-up.

It just takes too much time.

If you're familiar with using Carousell, you'd know that it'll take about 3 days to confirm a deal.

But just an hour of negotiating for a place to meet-up is draining enough for me:

I literally can’t deal.

*ba dum tss*

No shows

But really, the worst part is when you already made your way to the meet-up location just for the seller to not show up.

Waste time, waste money and still no phone.

Sigh.

But now got new in-app payment

And then the seller asked me if I wanted to “Caroupay”, which is a new payment feature on the app:

Apparently, with CarouPay, I can choose to pay via credit/debit cards or use their DBS PayLah! Account, which is convenient since I don’t have to ask for the seller’s bank account details or opt for a meet-up.

And if things go wrong, like say, the iPhone SE turns out to be an iPhone 3GS, at least I know that I can still get my money back from Carousell, because buyer protection policy.

Affordable and hassle-free

So if I do opt for CarouPay, I just have to spend S$153.14, including registered mail, which is more efficient for me and as equally as reliable as meeting up.

Also, I won’t be charged a payment fee if I were to pay by PayLah! or a DBS/POSB card.

Ok bye gonna make an offer now.

This sponsored article by Carousell makes the writer salty because readers can use ‘TAKE3LAHMS’ for S$3 off their first CarouPay transaction with DBS PayLah! (minimum spend S$10).