Sellers Beware

[micartie]

Hello readers:

I have sold several items via this site and up till the last piece, things have gone reasonably well and I do have good references. I sold a motherboard last week to a member in Eastern Canada and he demanded that he would only pay upon receiving the item. My previous dealings have always been that I will ship out the item once I receive the payment. Against my better judgment, I made an exception and shipped out the motherboard without getting paid. Big mistake and some bad luck had the package (which was well packed) damaged during the transport by Fedex though I believe the motherboard appears to still be working. Given the buyer had not made any form of commitment, he had no incentive to come to some sort of agreement on a timely basis. He did cooperate and return the item to Fedex so that they could inspect it as I have since filed a claim. Anyways, my advice to any good seller is stick with the policy of shipping out item only upon receiving payment and do not deal with anyone demanding receiving the item up front (especially anything that requires shipping). Just my humble opinion from a bad experience.

[7jaii]

Hey man, you have to cover all your bases before trading. Like there's that guy selling Bestbuy defects on RFD for cheap. Nobody asked why it's so FM Transmitters are $15 compared to $59 plus tax so He got away saying they're "New"

Hey, $15 when they're $59 can't be right and you're taking your chances but RFD buyers are Lowballers and complain when things don't work. What kind of warranty do you expect for a $15 that fell off a truck? F'N guy is selling another 20 today and watch him sell out. Stupid.

Why didn't you send your Private Messages to Mods for help? And why complain if your buyer helped with your claim? You have no one to blame but yourself. Live with it and chalk it up to experience.

[deep]

Sellers beware of what? Fedex? Sounds like your buyer did you a favour.

I rarely ship before payment is received, but I'll do it for someone with great references or a past trade relationship. Right now, though, there is a member who wants me to pay via EMT for an item and they have no heatware, no ebay references, and few posts here. So there is no way in hell I'm going to make an untraceable payment for this item.

[micartie]

First of all, I am not blaming anyone other than perhaps Fedex. Secondly, I am telling you what I have experienced and if you think you are willing to take the chance should similar circumstance occur to you, it's your call. I have learnt not to do so myself.

[GuiltySpark]

I'm not following at why thats seller beware? The buyer did nothing wrong, would YOU accept a broken motherboard? No way, he returned it to Fedex (he didn't have to) and I have to assume you put atleast $100 ins. on it. You will get that back.

Where's the issue?
I've shipped first 5 times in my dealings. Is it a risk? Huge. I assume that risk, research the buyer and I only do this on small things I can eat the cost if the guy infact scammed me.
I assume EVERY dealing is a massive risk, there are scammers everywhere, buying or selling.

[mustanglover76]

Hey man, you have to cover all your bases before trading. Like there's that guy selling Bestbuy defects on RFD for cheap. Nobody asked why it's so FM Transmitters are $15 compared to $59 plus tax so He got away saying they're "New"

Hey, $15 when they're $59 can't be right and you're taking your chances but RFD buyers are Lowballers and complain when things don't work. What kind of warranty do you expect for a $15 that fell off a truck? F'N guy is selling another 20 today and watch him sell out. Stupid.

Why didn't you send your Private Messages to Mods for help? And why complain if your buyer helped with your claim? You have no one to blame but yourself. Live with it and chalk it up to experience.

Just wondering how you know about the information about the FM Transmitters being Best Buy Defects? I was planning on buying one this weekend.

[micartie]

As I have said, if you feel you are willing to assume all the risks of the deal (you could be out the money and your product), that's your call. It's just that I have learnt from this experience not to do that in my own dealings. In my case, the buyer was good but he could have been bad and I would have been totally out in the cold. I am just telling people of my experience and everyone can make their own judgement. Apparently you have made your own already so good for you.

[NiMSo]

So, what if he paid first? Would this change the scenario? Problably not. The item would still be damaged and, instead, he'd just think that you scammed him.

Some people demand payment first, others demand shipment first. Either way, you are susceptible to scammers. The risk is fairly obvious.

Your situation sounds more like misfortune, rather than scamming the way you've described it. Since you haven't given any further evidence to suggest otherwise, I don't see your point...

[micartie]

I am not saying anyone is scamming (I did say the buyer returned the item to Fedex). It was misfounate. In fact, I was lucky that the buyer was good and cooperated and returned the item to Fedex (if he were bad or did not care, I would have been left twisting in the wind). My point is that if you are willing to accept the full risks of shipping the item out without payment first, that's you call. Right now, I am out both the money and the MB and have to chase after Fedex for the claim. I would not do that anymore given this experience. As I said, you guys seem to think you can live with that, power to you all.

[veryhuman]

i think you guys are being too harsh for a miss understood title. he's just telling a story.

if you want to avoid trading problems, dont ship. deal locally. and as for local dealing problems get a compact uv flash light at http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/ledp/LP1022.htm for cheap (cant believe they reduced the price.. i paid $6 for it :()

[squall458]

i think you guys are being too harsh for a miss understood title. he's just telling a story.

if you want to avoid trading problems, dont ship. deal locally. and as for local dealing problems get a compact uv flash light at http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/ledp/LP1022.htm for cheap (cant believe they reduced the price.. i paid $6 for it :()
i agree, i never intrepreted the OP's story as bashing or anything negative. he's juss sharing his story.

[balou911]

Like its been said before.
check for references, or ask plp they have dealt with.
Thats why heatware/etc is there.

BEWARE -

#1 - good ebay refs dont mean anything outside of ebay - what are you gonna do if you get ripped, and the guy has good ebay refs? you cant leave a negative!
#2- paypal chargeback - another scam - guy pays you with paypal, takes your goods, then tells paypal he never got anything, paypal refunds his money, and goes after you for it. (freezes your account etc)
#3 - If its a really good deal, its prob a bad one - rarely have i seen too good to be true deals as real deals. Occasionaly yes - accidents happen, and they guy has to sell his huge dell lcd for 1/2 price to pay for his morgage - but thats rare.
#4 - check references - backwards and forwards - email the address on his heatware account, make sure they line up, email plp he has dealt with and ask for their honest opinion on the guy.
#5 - insurance - how much is peace of mind worth to you? $2? thats how much more $300 insurance is with Canadapost. why not pay for it? and tracking never hurts. Ive sent packages that have gone MIA.

#6 - Warranty and DOA policy - ask about it, how much warranty and how - what if it arrives dead.

I just bought a 512mb pc3200 ram and an hdd from a fellow RFD'r.
Hdd was great, ram was dead.
We prompty met up again and he refunded me the money for the ram.

Anyways, those are my 2 cents worth.

[formalentity]

EDIT : -_- oops wrong thread lol