Safe trading

[kekumu]

I wanted to get some input on ways to trade safely, especially when the people involved have little heatware or rep. I don't have any heat (yet), and I know a lot of buyers don't have heat (yet) either. Obviously it's best to work with someone with high heat, or at least do it in person.

A straight up swap of items leaves both buyer and seller open to getting ripped off, and I don't think anyone would be wise to do that unless it's in person. But what about structuring a deal as two sales (most likely through PayPal)? This way, each person is selling to the other, and each person has the same protections through the payment processor.

If either party tries to get a refund, the seller ends up with the full cash value, and of course the other party can then claim their own refund. Of course, there's always the chance a buyer is a scammer, sends you nothing, PayPal screws you, and you end up just giving your stuff away after you file your own claim on the scammer.

Or worse, PayPal give the scammer a refund, but somehow doesn't give you a refund, so you're out your parts plus cash, but that seems unlikely (or extremely unlikely).

Anyone have any input or experience on doing a trade like this? I know that it's still a risky situation, but I'm just wondering if there's any way for two low rep people to trade online.

Also, does anyone have any experience with Amazon Payments or Google Checkout? It seems that the more reliable, fair, and diligent the payment provider is, the safer the transaction will be. You always risk getting ripped off as either a buyer or a seller, but if a dispute is settled correctly you're OK. With USPS money orders, there's no protection as a buyer, correct?

Perhaps the best thing is to just stick with something like Amazon Marketplace (or eBay if you get desperate) if you don't have access to trusted buyers.

 

[inglewood78]

Trades are really hard to do and pull off. Generally, i rather eat the cost of selling my product first and then using the funds to buy what I wanted. It will cost you a bit in the end but you don't have the hassel of dealing with cross shipping, etc with low heatware.

 

[kekumu]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time seeing a great way to go about it. I guess it's a good reason to not be such a lurker the forums - it seems like this has one of the best classifieds sections of any site. In general do you think most people have a good buying/trading/selling experience here?

 

[Crosshairs]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time seeing a great way to go about it. I guess it's a good reason to not be such a lurker the forums - it seems like this has one of the best classifieds sections of any site. In general do you think most people have a good buying/trading/selling experience here?

Yes,most people do have a good experience..if your a buyer, try and deal only with members who have good heatware and are active on the forum.

while time here does not really mean a whole lot, your more likely to get scammed by a newbie that you are a long time member.

as a seller if your new and have no refs, your going to be asked to ship first... this is not something you have to do if your not comfortable with it, but if you do decide to do it, only do it with someone with good refs who is active on the forum.

in any trade, both parties should always exchange and verify personal information....get their full address and get a phone number and call it..if they wont give you this info, move along and find someone else to deal with

 

[JoeUser]

You can always find a trusted member of the community to help. Each party can send their item to this person and then that person can send the packages to who they need to go to. A little more money for shipping but it's safe.

I've done many a trade and never had any issues. Just be safe and get all the personal info that you can.

 

[kekumu]

Really good advice about getting and verifying the personal info.

I hadn't thought about getting a third-party to act as a broker for the deal. That might actually be the best way to do it if you use someone with an impeccable reputation. What would be the best way to find and contact someone to do that?