A new member has offered to buy equipment from me using PayPal. He/she has no feedback. What precautions should I take before accepting the offer and posting the item???
Remember we all had no feedback at one time and someone took a chance on us, with that said if he is paying with paypall you are protected for the most part. Buying from someone with no feedback is another issue all itself.
I would not sell if person was not located in my country. I would ask if they had any feedback from other sites which I could view. I would need to speak with them on the phone a couple of times first, to get a sense of their genuine interest and valid identity. I would accept payment only via Paypal. I would make it clear who is responsible for what actions to be taken were the item damaged in shipping or otherwise not properly functioning upon arrival.
I'll sell if I get money. Had few problems with international sales when paypal tried to 'favor the buyer'. I called back and explained them that several countries may hold items in customs indefinitely and repossess for reason or no reason which I'm DEFINITELY not responsible for and got funds back. First time they told they're doing it as 1 time courtesy, but this courtesy happened more than once after some line of unpleasant conversations.
Local sale is always better, but done plenty of international sales and continue doing that.
There are two issues, one is payment (and using Paypal mostly solves that issue) but the other issue, which is just as important to me, is whether the individual can be depended on to deal with you reasonably.
People with positive feedback at least have a track record of working well with others. If the feedback includes both buying and selling, and transactions for at least a few higher priced items, to me that is even better.
You already received some good advice from rockadanny and I would add that, for me, the desire to deal with somebody who has no feedback would also depend on the value of the item I was selling. I am inclined not to sell big-ticket items to folks with little or no feedback and I state that in my ads. Selling a pair of $200-300 cables is one thing but selling a $5-10K amplifier is something else entirely.
I should add that I won't purchase from sellers who have no feedback because of the same types of concerns.
My advice to those without feedback would be to start by buying a few lower priced items simply for the purpose of establishing feedback here.
Are multiple offers flowing in ? I assume not . How long have you had the item for sale ? Along time , Then i might be more apt to selling to someone with no feedback. If a basic ad you have no way of speaking with them on the phone . I would try and get some dialogue going via messaging . If they are replying with short answers you might get a vibe. Thats how i would go about it .
You can often find out a lot about people via the web, that may provide insight into their honesty or lack thereof. I would Google the person’s screen-name, real name, and email address. I would also see if the person has a page at Facebook, Linkedin, etc. Also, a search of the person’s name (and location, if it is a common name) at Intelius.com may disclose useful information.
Just to add to my last post, I see most people are recommending Paypal. Paypal's great until you have a problem. The people that work there are worse than ex-con, used car salespeople, that are now politicians because that's the only work they can get. I know I joke a lot, but not this time. I'm being 100% serious.
A Paypal issue is really 2 problems. The first problem is the primary issue. The issue between the buyer and seller. The second problem is Paypal themselves. They will always work against you regardless of the circumstances. Now, some of you will reply and state that you've been using them for years and never had a problem. I know. Me too.
Interestingly one of my first and easiest transactions on here was selling an amp to a guy in the Arab Emirates with no feedback shipped via DHL. No fuss no muss.
My absolute worst transaction was with a guy who has quite a bit of positive feedback and is or at least at the time was fairly active poste in the forums both here and other audio related sites.
I had listed a pair of speakers that had some veneer checking on the sides of the cabinets and the face built was not visible until you got within two feet of the speakers. I rated them a 5/10 and stated there was cosmetic issues in my ad and priced them at less than 1/4 of new retail. I placed the ad with a buy it now or make offer. He clicked buy it now within five min after the ad went up.
After recieving them he called me upset about the cosmetics and basically threatened me with negative feedback unless I discounted them another $100. He said that he was far more experienced than I was on this site and that I had not properly disclosed the condition of the speakers. So thinking maybe I had unknowingly done something unscrupulous I agreed to his extortion. But here’s where it gets rather interesting....Three days later the guy re-listed the speakers for $150 more than what I had originally sold them to him for AND he used all of the verbiage from my ad except for the addition of one small sentence AND he copied and pasted my photos from my listing.
Obviously I was pretty upset and being fairly new to the site I started a thread On here to get advice about the situation but did not name him. The guy happened to see the thread and sent me a message with an offer to give me the refund back plus extra if he got his asking price if I would ask to have the thread removed. This initiated a long back and forth argument about how what he did was ok because he had added one small sentence in his ad that somehow went further into detail about the condition of the speakers, even though he rated them a 5/10 just as I had.
So he went crying to agon staffers and had the thread removed and when I contacted the moderators to ask why, they responded that it was because my thread was not "audio related" lol. I gave him negative feedback and he again messaged me pleading that I remove it. I chose not to and since have had many members who saw the feedback I left him message me and say they had very similar experiences with him,
My take away is regardless of the amount of positive feedback cover your arse, use very detailed pics, choose your descriptors wisely and of course use paypal whenever possible.
" My take away is regardless of the amount of positive feedback cover your arse, use very detailed pics, choose your descriptors wisely and of course use paypal whenever possible."
If you read my last couple of posts you may gather that I have a slight dislike for Paypal, but with regards to feedback, the best strategy is to never be the first one to leave it. Wait until everything is completely done and settled before posting.
I did see that and yours must have posted while I was typing mine. I will say I agree with you in regards to feedback. That was exactly what happened in my situation. He immediatley gave me positive feedback once I gave him the refund but I waited for a few days and then saw he re-listed the speakers I sold him. Then I gave him his a few days later.
Another transaction I had on the big auction site was a pair of speakers I sold and the buyer stated he recieved them and one driver was blown. He pulled it out and took pictures so I contacted the site with the pics and they said once he opened them up they were all his. However I did buy a replacement woofer for him anyway and had him ship the original to me.
I've had very good experiences using PayPal and selling two dozen different items to a variety of other countries (knock on wood). I've even phoned PayPal to check on some buyers and PayPal was able to verify the account and activity on the account. I'd be more concern if "I" was making a purchase from someone that had "no feedback".
I few well worded email exchanges can help you to judge the person's character. Use Paypal always. Ship only within the USA. Take precautions if in doubt. Remember, if you are not comfortable, you don't "Have" to sell that item. There are other buyers.
What about advice for someone who wants to sell a couple of components but has no seller history. Will anybody buy from him as he is a first timer and has no feedback?
My only experience on audiogon is buying a pair of speaker demos from a dealer by wire transfer which went very smoothly.
Any tips for a first time seller or is this probably fruitless? As somebody said everybody at the beginning is a first time seller. You got to start at some point.
everybody should start from somewhere and given a chance to purchase. What I have noticed though being a dealer, is that the no-feedback buyers do back out from the purchase often
There are "buyer protection" policies vs "seller protection" policies. Any seller who does not become an expert in the details of PayPal seller protection policies is rolling the dice with every sale. One misstep such as not getting delivery confirmation on your shipment will make you vulnerable to the many scam buyers who prey on uninformed sellers by using the power of the well intended but flawed "buyer protection" rules to their advantage.
I agree with mb1audio02. But, if you do sell and get paid via Paypal, only sell if buyer has a verified address. As mb stated, Paypal is more likely on the buyers side and scammers know this. I also look at posts, discussions, feedback, etc that other buyers/sellers have. It helps to know about the persons interests, etc. I've had very few problems and lots of positive transactions. 2 positives- I posted a question about cables. A member (Albert) chimed in and offered to send me a pair to audition. He merely trusted me to return the cables. He did't know me at all. About 10 years ago, I made an offer for some very expensive speakers (10k range). My offer was declined. As the ad ended, the guy contacted me to say he'd consider my offer, but I was reluctant because he had no feedback and could not sell the item. He offered to ship the speakers to me. If I wanted to keep them, send him payment. If I didn't want to keep them, return the speakers. I eventually sent him the $. Sometimes we get lucky and things work out.
I’m glad that the sellers I recently purchased from on here and a few other similar sights had no bias that I had zero feedback. Each would be considered a large purchase based on numbers posted in this thread. I’m sure there’s people perfectly willing to scam the system, but then there are also ones who arnt. I did have one that was a dealer call me, obviously wanting to verify that I had made the purchase and asked a few questions to feel me out. Have no problem with them doing that to try to cover themselves to some extent.
I have. On top of things he was from Ukraine but worked on a merchant marine ship and was offshore in Houston. I asked him all kinds of questions and he replied asking me for my ph #. In a few mins i was doing facetime with him. He appeared legit so I sold him a pair of ProAc D2 speakers. He was very grateful and now he sends me photos of different ports around the world when he arrives and asks me for advice on audio matters. I have a new friend :)
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
