Buyer arranges is one of the four ways an item can reach you: you send your own courier or driver to collect it from the store.
It exists for things an ordinary parcel network will not take — furniture, very large or heavy items, anything awkward. The four ways an item reaches you
What changes
You chose the carrier, so the journey is yours. That is the trade. If your driver damages it or does not turn up, that is between you and them — it is not a case against the store.
Compare that with a courier the store booked, where a parcel lost or damaged in transit is theirs to resolve. The courier damaged my parcel
What still protects you
The item being as described. Damaged, faulty, wrong or not as described is still a case for 7 days — the question is whether it left the store in that condition.
Which is exactly why the next section matters.
Check it at collection, or have your driver check it
Go yourself if you can. For something worth sending a van for, an hour of your time is proportionate.
If you cannot, ask the store to photograph it packed and ready, before handover. Two photographs settle almost every argument about whether it left in one piece.
Arranging it well
Agree a time with the store first. They are not obliged to be available whenever your driver arrives.
Tell them what is coming — a van, a person, a name.
Make sure your driver has the order reference.
Ask who is loading it. A store is not obliged to lift a wardrobe into your van, and assuming otherwise is how collections go wrong.
What it costs
Whatever your carrier charges. The store charges nothing for delivery on these, and there is usually no delivery line on the order at all.
When to use it instead of asking the store to post
When a courier would refuse it. Why some items can only be collected
When the quoted delivery is absurd because of the size. Your own carrier may be cheaper for a bulky item.
When you want it on a specific day.
Before you bid
Get a quote from your carrier before, not after. The commonest regret here is winning something and then discovering the van costs more than the item. Five questions worth asking before you bid
More: the four ways an item reaches you, why some items can only be collected, how delivery is charged.