Just getting started Buying/Selling...

T

TSS Modder

2[H]4U
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I came to this forum as a place where I can talk w/ fellow geeks, but now I'd like to start selling items on the forums. What I'd like is if established traders here could give me some pointers on how to do things I.E.: shipping - how to get costs, how to package items, what boxes and packaging to use, etc. Just some basic and in-depth info on how to conduct buying/selling. My friend has already gotten trolled (blakangus), so I've figured out most of the safety precautions, but please leave any info you have. Anything at this point will be very helpful: shipping, contacting, what to use/do, what not to use/do, stuff like that.
 
as far as shipping/packaging goes:

Processors:
Keep the littel blsiter packs that they come in.
Then take a small box (i usually use a box that checks come in) and pack it with peanuts, or paper, then write " fragile" on the packaging. Always get insurance on these

Motherboards:
More or less keep the original box and anti-static bag. If you are shipping retail, put it in the antistatic bag and load it with peanuts, for extra security, double box it and peanut that too. Also write fragile on it.

Video cards:
Same more or less as a motherboard, but make sure that nothing is rattling inside.

Harddrives:
These I find are the scariest to ship, they are quite heavy and with not enough support they will bounce around, i found to wrap it in bubble wrap and then put it in a box with peanuts and ship it out, Of course its inside a anti-static bag first.

RAM:
THe way i found to ship ram is to either keep it in its original packaging, or, take a dimetap box or similar, and then get some foam strips, slice the strips of foam so the RAM can fit inside, then close it off completely, shave the foam to fit to the box, wrap it with a brown paper bag and ship it out with " fragile" written on it.

Cases:
I havent shipped one so i dont. My guess is to keep the original packing and ship it like that.

I hope this help. As far as how to ship use: USPS or FEDEX Always get insurance for expensive things and make sure to get a tracking/delivery confirmation number.

For added security, also print your trade, and that both of you agreed on. Its kinda like a packing slip, also list what you shipped etc.

GL with your trading on here!
 
Thanks for all of the info. That'll really come in handy. I should've been a little more specific for what I'm selling though: 2 mice and maybe a monitor or 2. There might be stuff later on, but not anything at this point. Oh yea, a laptop. But I do have original box and contents for that, so it shouldn't be an issue. Also, how do I find out how much shipping costs for the items. I'm assuming my local FedEx and USPS facilities will have scales and boxes and packaging.
 
Thanks BBB. I'll definately keep that as a bookmark. The one prob. w/ taht thread is that it disclaims buying a lappy from a n00b or newcomer. Unfortunately I'm a fairly new member to this forum, and that's one thing that'd I'd like to sell. And the reason I'm here is to collect Heat to become an established trader. If anyone reads that, that'll probably shun them away from buying my laptop. Not like anyone's gonna buy my laptop anyways. I see very few notebooks pass through here successfully.

Also, I still haven't received any info from anyone about shipping and all of that good stuff (packaging for the items im gonna be selling: mice, monitors; and, do FedEx and USPS have the resources necessary)
 
It's tough to sell monitors on the forums because shipping is just hard. It is very difficult to package a monitor to ship and for how much shipping costs, it's not really worth selling. I've found that it is possible to post here and sell the monitors locally.


Kinkos is part of Fedex and they will do a lot of the packaging and they don't charge extra shipping fees (like mailboxes etc does). UPS stores are starting to pop up and they will also do packaging for you. I've found that it's good to get a FedEx account (it's free) because their ground rates are excellent. I shipped a laptop with tons of accessories to Hawaii and it was under $20. I have sent a bunch of full systems to Texas and they are rarely over $20 to ship. But I do all my own packaging, so I don't know how much that costs.

As far as selling a laptop as one of your first items, it is tough. Unless you can find someone locally or you are willing to ship first to an established trader, you may be out of luck. Plus, it's hard to sell laptops in general here even with good refs.
 
shipping is, for the lack of a better word(s) common sense.
make sure its in a sturdy box, lots of peanuts or bubble wrap. ship it fed ex ups or usps with delivery confirmation.

frankly for the price, and shipping cost. us postal priority is 90% of the time your cheapest way for fast shipping. its guranteed tob e delivered anywhere in the usa in 2-3 days and usually its worth it pricewise. 2-3 day shipping with fedex and usps is gunna rape you.

i wont tell you do NOT put fragile on the box, but take it from someone who has friends in the shipping industry "fragile" usually ends up meaning 2 things. "its not fragile so screw it" or "drop kick it harder". now ive never had any problems using the fragile mark on a box but ive been told by insiders that fragile dont mean shit to the shippers.

always get insurance for the value of your sale or the actual value of the item, i usually go with the latter since the value of the item is usually more than what you sold it for. that way. if anything happens you can give the other party their money back and you will have some extra for all the trouble you will have to go thru to get your insurance money.
and be aware, if you ever have to claim insurance on a package, you will never see any of that money for a month or more, usually its a month. if you get it in less than that, count yourself lucky.

ALWAYS ALWAYS keep the tracking info. go get a few file folders from stables or office max or walmart or target or where ever and label the file folders whatever you want.
for me i label them by forum, so i know if i sold something here or anandtech i can go to that folder and pull out the tracking slip.
and always ALWAYS write on the tracking slip what it is that you shipped, and dont be lazy take 5 seconds where ever you shipped it, and write the item write on the reciept while your in line. it only takes a few seconds, and you'll probably procrastinate and never do it if you dont do it then.
staple all documents together that go for each box. or package. so they are all together.
staplers are like 99c at any walmart checkout line.


overall again how to shipstuff and how to package it is nothing more than common sense and 1 single mentallity.
"if i had purchased this item, how would i like to have it shipped to me? just thrown in a box ? or wrapped up "snug as a bug" so that it arrived safe and sound.
 
My three tips are:

Always overpack everything.
That means double boxing and properly sealing the package.

Buy a scale and sign up for click and ship from the USPS site.
It is so much easier to be able to print the labels from your computer ... not to mention you get free delivery confirmation and package pickups that way.
You also have a hard copy of every item you ship in your online history so managing tracking and insurance receipts becomes a thing of the past.
Heck they even send you free boxes if you request them.

And the most important thing is..... be paitent with the people you deal with.
 
There has been a lot of good advice posted here, but I'd like to return to cpu shipping. I've had more (expensive) damage from poor packing of cpu's than anything else.

Advice offered to 'use original packaging' is obviously right. However, it seems like lots of folks don't have original packaging. If you don't have fitted packing for a cpu (and if it's a cpu or other chip that has pins) I'd sure suggest you seat it in closed-cell foam before you ship. Give the pins some support and protection.

This is the plastic foam you often get with disk drives, oem cpu's, eaprom's, bios chips, etc. It's lots more dense than the gray pads you get with motherboards and many cards. But I think even the light foam would work.

Just seat that bad boy pins down in the foam, pack it in an antistatic bag, throw bubblewrap and styrofoam peanuts around it, or airbags or bubble and a couple cardboard pieces to dissipate the force of a smack, and all is well.

ohhh, one other point. I've had bad luck (generally) with motherboards sent with the cpu and HSF attached. Shippers just sail those boxes all over the place. Unless it's a through-the-board mount for the hsf, I think sending the hsf attached is a bad gamble.
 
man i love the [H]ard forums. you guys are great. all of this info is going to be incredibly helpful. thank you all so much. of course, if anyone else has any info to share, go ahead and please drop in your 2 cents.
 
My CPU Method: Take and put it in the original little holder if you have it or if not stick it on some closed celled foam, throw it in a small static bag, wrap it in some thin bubble wrap, then get a small mint tin, I find altoids are the best, and put it inside there. No way in hell it's going to get damaged in there.
As for mice, I'd just put it in some peanuts, not really that easy to damage shipping. Monitors usually aren't worth it unless they're LCDs w/ original packaging, at least in my experience. I've done local pickups on all CRTs or LCDs w/o original packaging. That goes for cases too.
Hard drives: I keep any of those black end support piece that WD puts their drives in and then just static bag em, put on the black pieces, bubble wrap, and fill gaps with packing peanuts. HDs are more durable when they're not plugged in than you'd think.
Shipping tips: If you have one, go to Postal Annex or something similar and make some friends. It's nice to be able to compare side-by-side the rates for all the different carriers (well maybe not DHL, but fedex/ups/usps), they treat you right, not like the post office where they are more concerned about just moving your through. Commerical > Government. If you ship enough stuff, it can be nice to be known on a first name basis at your local place ;)
 
When people give you a link to Heatware saying its their feedback use Heatware to email the person to be sure that it is their heat. Many bad traders have been known to pass off others heatware as their own and have scammed people by doing this. There are Traders To Avoid lists which can be found at:

PCAbusers - Traders to Avoid list for US/Canada

UK Traders to Avoid list (set up recently)

For General Trading advice in regards to trolls - www.trollhunters.com has some excellent advice.

Items sell best with pictures of the item, people then can see what they are buying. Its also a good idea to have the item on a piece of paper with your forum name written on it so that other traders know you took the picture and actually have the item.
 
Like Mister X said over packed everything and also always keep good comunication with the person you are dealing with. ;)
 
Ok, I was going to post this then did some checking around and found my answers, but I'll post it anyway because I think the answers would make a good reference for newb traders like me. (also I could use input from experienced traders to confirm what I learned)

I've never used paypal or anything similar, but a fellow is interested in buying a board from me, so I have a couple of questions.

1. He states he has cash in a paypal account.

-From my perspective, he transfers money to my account (delay of how long?) I receive it and transfer to another account. So I (my new money) should be safe? What recourse do I have if something goes wrong?

-From his perspective, how is he assured he gets the board? And what recourse does he have if something goes wrong? (lost in shipping, etc.)


1a. I've read that paypal now denies option to refuse credit card payments, meaning that even if he says it will be a cash transfer he could use a credit card anyway, true?


2. Essentially what I'm wondering is how do people usually go about doing this? Is it solely on trust?


P.S.

Quotes from the Anandtech guide/thread, section 7: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=1384464

"Paypal, money order, or the newcomer (SP) on the refillable cards (these are found at your local currency exchange)."

"If you need to know what I’m talking about this one is in my area here. <http://www.netspend.com> "
 
TSS Modder said:
Thanks BBB. I'll definately keep that as a bookmark. The one prob. w/ taht thread is that it disclaims buying a lappy from a n00b or newcomer. Unfortunately I'm a fairly new member to this forum, and that's one thing that'd I'd like to sell. And the reason I'm here is to collect Heat to become an established trader. If anyone reads that, that'll probably shun them away from buying my laptop. Not like anyone's gonna buy my laptop anyways. I see very few notebooks pass through here successfully.

Also, I still haven't received any info from anyone about shipping and all of that good stuff (packaging for the items im gonna be selling: mice, monitors; and, do FedEx and USPS have the resources necessary)
Click to expand...


I am the guy that made that over at anandtech. As far as the disclaim about buying a lappy from a newbie is if he absolutly will not ship first no matter what. If your a newbie and ou want to sell and dont want to get taken make sure you ship first to an established person so that you wont have to many fears of getting taken. If your new and you want $400 for a $1200 laptop and you will not ship first to no one at all then yeah shy away big time. Thats what I was meaning.
 
Mister X said:
Always overpack everything.
Click to expand...

hehe, my pet peeve.. I love it when ppl PM me after getting my item and whine about the box being hard to open and how the inside has 4 layers of bubble wrap :D
then I do an evil grin and start thinking "My job is done here" :cool:
 
Just a quick question, i'm selling my 3500+ and will be shipping it out once I recieve payment.

I don't have any of the original packaging or anything when I originally bought it, so how would I go about packaging it for shipment?

I'm mainly afraid of the pins getting bent or something, so i'm looking for a sure way to get it to it's destination safely.

Any tips, on what to use to package it, and where to get it would be greatly appreciated!

PS, I've read what is stated above, but would like more info.
 
id say find some sort of soft foam that you can stick the pins into, then probably wrap it in bubble wrap. the put packing peanuts in the bottom for support and then fill the rest w/ peanuts or small bubble wrap.

of course, first id recommend saving the original packaging ;)
 
TSS Modder said:
id say find some sort of soft foam that you can stick the pins into, then probably wrap it in bubble wrap. the put packing peanuts in the bottom for support and then fill the rest w/ peanuts or small bubble wrap.

of course, first id recommend saving the original packaging ;)
Click to expand...
Wouldn't the foam give some kind of static discharge?
 
i mean like the foam that comes underneath circuit boards, such as motherboards and graphics cards. or the foam that comes w/ your CPU ;)
 
I have a very newb question. <---- first time seller

Here is the scenerio I am atm.

The buyer is sending a money order via bidpay to my current address. Once the MO payment is approved, he is sending shipping slips paid by his personal fed ex account. So in essence he is paying for the shipping of the product.


Does this sound fairly safe?
 
synergyo1 said:
I have a very newb question. <---- first time seller

Here is the scenerio I am atm.

The buyer is sending a money order via bidpay to my current address. Once the MO payment is approved, he is sending shipping slips paid by his personal fed ex account. So in essence he is paying for the shipping of the product.


Does this sound fairly safe?
Click to expand...
That sounds like a scam. I've heard of it. DON'T DO IT!
I'm willing to bet that he is located in a country outside the US.
 
synergyo1 said:
I have a very newb question. <---- first time seller

Here is the scenerio I am atm.

The buyer is sending a money order via bidpay to my current address. Once the MO payment is approved, he is sending shipping slips paid by his personal fed ex account. So in essence he is paying for the shipping of the product.


Does this sound fairly safe?
Click to expand...

I have paid with money orders and provide my FedEx account a lot of times. However, I normally use a USPS money order.

I would say this scenario is pretty safe for you if you get some time to wait for the MO to clear, but it is not safe at all for the buyer considering you are a new seller and probably have no references.

As with all trades, make sure to get all contact info including phone number and call them.
 
BigBadBiologist said:
As with all trades, make sure to get all contact info including phone number and call them.
Click to expand...
i just want to reiterate this. always call them and always make personal contact.

i bought a heatsink over the [H]ard 2 weeks ago, and even though it was only a 21$ purchase, i still made sure he had my number, i had his, and that we personally talked w/ each other.

using the phone while buying/selling online is one of the smartest ideas. if its long distance and they use a cell phone, make sure to get a home phone too just to run it through www.switchboard.com and confirm everything.
 
Having started selling stuff here, some quick tips on

HOW TO SHIP TO CANADIANS (or how to ship to Americans, if you're Canadian)

1. Do not use UPS. Seriously, never. Don't do it. I don't care how good they are within the US, they are absolute garbage up here. They charge a flat-rate for border crossing, then pay whatever the government asks and keeps the rest, so it's much more expensive. USPS is the cheapest way to go.

2. Always use tracking, as this will give you a good indicator of whether the package was stopped at the border. If you see it spent 2 weeks in Buffalo, that's probably what happened.

3. Claim the item as a gift with value under $40. Canada charges duty based on the claimed value of the package, but only if that value is above $40. Keep it under that and you should be alright.

4. Decide in advance what happens if the package is inspected. I would never trust the inspectors at the border to open a box of electronics, check them out, then repackage them so that it's as secure as it was to begin with. If you receive a package with a sticker saying "Opened by customs" and see that everything's broken, you'd better have an arrangement with the seller. This is another reason why insurance is a good idea.

5. Saying you won't ship to Canada is really annoying. Yes, it's your call, but I've seen people willing to ship to Europe but not Canada and that's just absurd. We Canadians know how annoying it is to deal with borders; we order more from you than you do from us, believe me. But that also means we know how to minimize the risk and maximize the speed, so don't dismiss us too quickly.

Go Leafs Go!

Edit: The day of posting this, UPS attempted a delivery. They want $35 dollars COD for a $60 package, $6 of which is government taxes (I asked). When I asked if I could pick it up, they said I had to drive to Concord to pick it up when there are 5 UPS locations within 5 kilometers of my house. This is the same experience we all have with the brown doom.
 
Having shipped to Canada many times (including relatives, as well as traders), I want to add or correct a few things in Master Ninja's good post:

1. Couriers: Yes, avoid using a courier (FedEx, UPS, etc.). First, they will try to rip off your buyer (see Master Ninja's experience). However (I know for sure this is true for FedEx), if they don't get the money from the buyer, they will come after YOU (!) (after having delivered your item to the buyer). Unlike FedEx, Canada Post will not release the package until all fees are paid.

2. Tracking While tracking is wonderful to have, the only USPS service to Canada that has tracking is Global Express Mail. And it's expensive. So always discuss with your buyer that if he doesn't want to pay for Express Mail, you cannot provide a tracking number.

3. Insurance: this may get complicated. USPS does NOT offer insurance for regular airmail and Global Priority Mail if the item is under a pound (that's 454 grams for you Canadians :)) So if you're mailing something light (stick of RAM, flash drive, etc), you cannot insure it (unless sent via GEM, see above, which includes $100 insurance). Make sure your buyer understands that. The only kind of mail that CAN be insured is Parcel Mail (and it's also expensive, starts at about $13). If your package is 4 lb or more, it MUST be sent Parcel Mail. To summarize: ignoring Express Mail, if you want insurance, you must send the item Parcel Mail, and it must be 1 lb or more.

4. Declared value: Here I do not agree with Master Ninja completely. While it is understanding that you want to save your buyer some $$, declaring a low value is basically lying on an official document (the customs declaration). If you're insuring your item, Customs Canada will be very suspicious if you've insured something for $200, but have declared it to be of $40 value. So be careful there. I personally refuse to put lower value on the customs form.

I have nothing to add to Master Ninja's point (4), very well said and very good advice.
 
1.
I recommend going a step further than calling and making contact. Make direct contact, possibly posting up near their home and tracking the movement of them and their neighbors. In the event your not available to do this you can hire a mercenary or someone with alot of free time like a street person or creepy neighbor. As a last resort plant a webcam outside their house and post it on a public url so your friends can check in when your too busy.

2.
If your unsure about shipping take it too them yourself. Make sure to dress as whatever carrier you told them you'd use. Note* If shipping outside the US, texas, or kentucky make sure to learn the apporiate language and accent. If you have trouble with this just make one up.




once this gets deleted apologizes to admin. It's 0130 in the morning thanksgivingnight I'm at work and very bored. YAY hardforums.
 
meh, i needed a good laugh :D

i began reading and was like 'wait a sec....' so i go down and read the last part. 'ahh... gotcha' :p

Happy Thanksgiving
 
CPU's
If original packaging is not available, Radio Shacks usually sell anti-static conductive foam which is specifically intended to protect sensitive IC's. Mount the CPU in some anti-static conductive foam and outside that, something non-conductive such as tissue paper. Packaging a CPU directly into something plastic and flexible is conducive to creating more static, so paper products or inflexible plastics would produce better results.

Circuit boards such as Motherboards/Graphic Cards/Expansion Cards
As always, original packaging is going to be best. Otherwise, anti-static bags are a must. I believe the Office Depot had some in their catalog last time I checked, but you can look online to find a steady supply of them if you intend to do a lot of trading in boards. A strip of anti-static conductive foam (as mentioned above) cut to the length of the connecting pins, then folded over them will protect them very thoroughly. Wrapping a thin strip of masking tape around the foam after it's in place will hold it there without much risk of leaving residue anywhere on the card itself. Keep in mind that boards are not very strong laterally and bending them even a little may not visibly crack the board, but could easily loosen soldering joints or cause the copper to pull away from the board. Double-boxing is highly recommended. Making sure the edges of the inner box are at least 4 inches from each edge of the outer box is more than enough precaution for all but the heaviest of boards.

General Tips
Keep in mind always that once your valuable package leaves your hands it becomes nothing more than a box to the people handling it. They have no idea what's inside, nor do they usually care. Tossing, kicking, and cramming boxes are all very common so if you feel safe punting your box across your living room a few times, stuffing it into a freezer, and using it for a hearty round of bowling, then it's probably safe to ship. Nonetheless, as so many have mentioned above, Delivery Confirmation is a MUST as it is really the only way to prove that you shipped your package and that the customer (or someone claiming to be the customer) received it. Besides, with USPS it's only about $0.45 extra and will save tons of hassle later on.
 
Hmm, quick question, might be a bit dumb though... I assume non-Canadian citizens cannot simply walk into a Canadian post office and post it from there? I live about 45mins from Detroit/Windsor, so it is feasible for me to simply post it in Canada.
 
movax said:
Hmm, quick question, might be a bit dumb though... I assume non-Canadian citizens cannot simply walk into a Canadian post office and post it from there? I live about 45mins from Detroit/Windsor, so it is feasible for me to simply post it in Canada.
Click to expand...
Why not? They don't check ID here in the states when you mail a package...
Hell, that's practically what private couriers do anyway
 
MjrStryker said:
CPU's
If original packaging is not available, Radio Shacks usually sell anti-static conductive foam which is specifically intended to protect sensitive IC's. Mount the CPU in some anti-static conductive foam and outside that, something non-conductive such as tissue paper. Packaging a CPU directly into something plastic and flexible is conducive to creating more static, so paper products or inflexible plastics would produce better results.

Circuit boards such as Motherboards/Graphic Cards/Expansion Cards
As always, original packaging is going to be best. Otherwise, anti-static bags are a must. I believe the Office Depot had some in their catalog last time I checked, but you can look online to find a steady supply of them if you intend to do a lot of trading in boards. A strip of anti-static conductive foam (as mentioned above) cut to the length of the connecting pins, then folded over them will protect them very thoroughly. Wrapping a thin strip of masking tape around the foam after it's in place will hold it there without much risk of leaving residue anywhere on the card itself. Keep in mind that boards are not very strong laterally and bending them even a little may not visibly crack the board, but could easily loosen soldering joints or cause the copper to pull away from the board. Double-boxing is highly recommended. Making sure the edges of the inner box are at least 4 inches from each edge of the outer box is more than enough precaution for all but the heaviest of boards.

General Tips
Keep in mind always that once your valuable package leaves your hands it becomes nothing more than a box to the people handling it. They have no idea what's inside, nor do they usually care. Tossing, kicking, and cramming boxes are all very common so if you feel safe punting your box across your living room a few times, stuffing it into a freezer, and using it for a hearty round of bowling, then it's probably safe to ship. Nonetheless, as so many have mentioned above, Delivery Confirmation is a MUST as it is really the only way to prove that you shipped your package and that the customer (or someone claiming to be the customer) received it. Besides, with USPS it's only about $0.45 extra and will save tons of hassle later on.
Click to expand...
This is very good information.

I will expound upon the "Tossing, kicking, and cramming boxes are all very common..." part of your post with a general tip.


You just sold a piece of hardware for x amount of dollars. You package it up however you do and decide to take it to your shipping option of choice. Before doing so, hold the package out at shoulder level and drop it to your feet on any surface that isn't made out of a pizza place ball pit or cotton candy hallucinogenic dreams.

If you're uncomfortable doing so then you need to repackage the merchandise with more padding or a larger box.



Case in point: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1013216
 
Some tips on Shipping:

Get a box thats big enough to hold what your shipping + padding.
Shipping Insurance is your best friend. Sometimes the Courier will give you what it's valued at plus 10%.

Big boxes filled with peanuts and something small is a bad idea. If its small ship it in a small box. I saw a thread during the GenMay sneak peak about a UPS "horror story." The box was filled with peanuts and a small mp3 player, all in all prolly weighed less than 3 pounds.. That box prolly got placed in the bottom of a trailer and then a heavier box prolly 20 pounds on that one, then another heavy box on top of that one. Get where Im going with this?

Inside:
Paper padding is ok though it won't help 100%
Peanuts are alright but, if during shipping your box gets ripped open all the peanuts go bye bye or a good majority of them. (I've seen this alot at work) Put the peanuts in small ziploc bags
Bubble rap is ok, prolly the best bet if you use it with peanuts

What I'd do is double box important stuff. One box on the inside packed with bubble wrap and paper, the second box taped as below and filled with peanuts.

Outside:
Tape is your best friend, if you don't want your box to break open during shipping go once over the seam, then 3 times the opposite way then on either side of the seam. Then if for added measures do a layer over all the edges, espically if your shipping something heavy. (Most heavy packages fall apart without proper taping) Remember you can never have too much tape.

Shipping labels, please please please make sure its smooth with no wrinkles around the Ship To: or bar code. If I get a box that I can't scan it's bar code it doens't get scanned = you can't see where its at or going until the next scan which won't be until the next destination. Never put half the bar code on one side and half the other over a corner, those will never scan short of squishing the corner flat.
Double check that all addresses are correct, paying special attention to zip code. We read labels as Zip Code, City then State. Were only supposed to read the zip code, but sometimes it's easier to memorize Zip and City. Say your shipping to zip code 00001, but write down 00003 but put the correct city. Well its going to be shipped to 00003 and once it gets there it'll be shipped back, corrected and then sent to 00001. We try to catch them before they leave, but not all the time will it happen.

If you ship something 50+ Pounds please write it somewhere on the box and make sure the contents won't shift. Its a pain when you goto pick up a box and it shifts then slips outta your hand. (Wonder why your heavy shipments are damaged?) Heavier boxes are even more of a pain, little amount of tape on the seams or the box is weak.

If it looks like your box was opened, it prolly was. Check and make sure everything is there if not contact the courier right away. We try to get everything back in there but sometimes it doens't always work that way. I had a plastic playhouse box bust open at the bottom, I got all the parts in there taped it up and at the end of the night I found a piece that went with the playhouse. Now Im not saying people just open boxes at random, because thats a Federal Offense and you will get jail time + a fine. Most people I know don't want that.
 
I hope my own post is helpful.

I'm very new to buying/selling through boards (me and my super heat feedback of 1 proves that) but pretty familiar with doing it over ebay.

A couple things I would suggest:

One of the main things people are worried about, is that a person is not who they say they are, or they do not live where they say they do. GoogleEarth can in many ways be a good resource to make yourself feel more confident about that. Everyone is quite familiar with the importance of calling them on a land based telephone, preferably that is viewable in an online directory or a phone book, but in many cases their HOUSE can be as well.
They might have a pool in the backyard, a university/park/shopping center might be very closeby, etc. Feel free to ask them a couple questions. Do keep in mind that some pictures are several years old, it's NOT a live picture

If you're a buyer and you rent your home, it can be challenging to prove to someone that you live where you say you do. Take a scan of your drivers license (feel free to black out your license number and what not, all they should need to know is your address), maybe a scan of your most recent pay-stub, even a cellular bill or a shipping label can make people feel more confident.

Just look carefully at what you are giving them, be certain that it doesn't have your social security number, or anything else that you would not feel comfortable giving out to a stranger, such as a cashier at a gas station.

Personally, it is my opinion that the buyer should always pay first. Many will disagree on this, but especially if you are using payment methods such as paypal, the only recourse you have for a person if you sent them merchandise involves the police. That can be hit or miss, but you have to be able to prove, and convince an officer in a different state, that a specific person promised to pay if you sent first. Consider it from their perspective, they are going to be VERY skeptical of you.

If you must ship first, ask the person if they would mind MAILING you a hand-written or hand signed declaration of your transaction, before you ship to them. Ensure that their home address is written on the envelope. This is to be used as a legal document, declaring intentions to buy. It can really help you if someone decides to not pay.

If you get to the point in a transaction where you are discussing the finer points of dealing, ie: price, shipping, conditions, be very clear with them on how available you are for communication. If you have a demanding job, a spouse with 4 kids, and an alter-ego as a super-hero, make sure they are aware of it should they not be able to reach you for a day or so when they feel they need to.

Tell people your time zone! It's very easy to forget, or not even care, what area a person lives in, but if you're getting calls at 9am in the morning, this might irritate you all to hell and back.

My number one thing:

If it is a trade, strongly consider requiring a POSTAL Money Order for $1 to be in both your package and theirs. If money changes hands, it's mail fraud. If no money changes hands, it can be really hard to do anything.
 
AsusUser said:
Personally, it is my opinion that the buyer should always pay first. Many will disagree on this, but especially if you are using payment methods such as paypal, the only recourse you have for a person if you sent them merchandise involves the police.
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A lot of the time when I ask someone to ship first, I will send them the shipping cost up front. Helps the seller out, and protects you as well.

VA
 
That is a good point, especially if they send it with instructions that they are sending the shipping charges for the shipping of the item, to be paid upon receipt. It also gets that important event of $ changing hands.
 
What I've always done when someone wants to buy something from me is send them my full information, Name, address, cell phone, work phone, email and work email address. I also request email, phone number, name and address back or I won't complete the transaction.

Depending on the amount of money, I'll call to confirm everything but I only ship items before payment if it's something I honestly don't really care if it's gone. Expensive items if I don't have the money in hand it doesn't go out.
 
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