Note to self: Never enter into a buy or sell transaction with
tkwdv34.
There has to be a certain amount of trust involved or the system doesn't work. I've bought a sold a few hundred items on ebay and a few here on Agon. It's worked for me 99% of the time. The few times it didn't work were almost always due to conflicting information probably not deliberate scamming. Sometimes I benefited and sometimes I lost - it evened out. The one time on Ebay when it really mattered, i.e. the transaction was almost $1,000, the seller misrepresented the condition of the item and then claimed that I (the buyer) broke the item before returning it. It was an easy scam for the seller to pull off because they were in Germany and I am in the U.S., no recourse of any kind for me. With all the data in hand, Ebay resolved the issue by allowing the seller to keep their proceeds and the returned gear, and refunding my money as well. Cost of doing business for Ebay I suppose.
The tax issue raised by yogiboy, stereo5, and northman is more disturbing. Sales tax is not generally due on any private party transaction of goods where a profit is not being made. The gray areas, burden of proof, and caveats would fill more space than appropriate but...on Ebay at least, the seller has the option of opting out of Ebay's automatic collection of sales tax but most don't realize it and don't do it. So when I see sales tax added automatically by Ebay on a used item listed by a private party, I exit the check-out process to stop the transaction and invite the seller to relist the item (without sales tax) privately and offer to pay the exact same price without tax.
There has to be a certain amount of trust involved or the system doesn't work. I've bought a sold a few hundred items on ebay and a few here on Agon. It's worked for me 99% of the time. The few times it didn't work were almost always due to conflicting information probably not deliberate scamming. Sometimes I benefited and sometimes I lost - it evened out. The one time on Ebay when it really mattered, i.e. the transaction was almost $1,000, the seller misrepresented the condition of the item and then claimed that I (the buyer) broke the item before returning it. It was an easy scam for the seller to pull off because they were in Germany and I am in the U.S., no recourse of any kind for me. With all the data in hand, Ebay resolved the issue by allowing the seller to keep their proceeds and the returned gear, and refunding my money as well. Cost of doing business for Ebay I suppose.
The tax issue raised by yogiboy, stereo5, and northman is more disturbing. Sales tax is not generally due on any private party transaction of goods where a profit is not being made. The gray areas, burden of proof, and caveats would fill more space than appropriate but...on Ebay at least, the seller has the option of opting out of Ebay's automatic collection of sales tax but most don't realize it and don't do it. So when I see sales tax added automatically by Ebay on a used item listed by a private party, I exit the check-out process to stop the transaction and invite the seller to relist the item (without sales tax) privately and offer to pay the exact same price without tax.