I stopped buy gear from private sellers on the net many years ago. Why, well the list above has a bit do with it. Back in the early part of this century "Buying On Line" was smooth with only a few bumps. Once the scam artists learned to use computers, private sales became much harder. Of the four pieces I have purchased lately only one was used and I drove 140 miles to see was I was getting. The remainder were New or Demo from Commercial sellers on this site. George said it "All Things Must Pass"
My list of seller red flags
I’ve compiled a list of annoying things sellers do. If I see any of these red flags I will not buy from them. Ideally every seller should agree to not do any of these before they are allowed to sell online.
- Overpriced
- Don’t talk about any flaws
- Keep re-posting
- Use unrelated keywords in ad so ad comes up when you search for different brand
- Paranoid language like " Cash and Carry only", "No spammers", No Trades...
- Using all CAPS and !!! marks
- Used car salesman lingo like"only $xxx , a great deal, a steal , and the worse, RARE "
- Ad consists entirely of copy/pasted info. from manufacturer website
- Any textspeak
- Gimmicky pricing like $999 or $995 or the worse, random price like $927
- Saying price is "Firm"..
- Reducing price by insignificant amount to bump ad
- Tooting own horn, i.e describing how awesome their product is.. Comes across as desperate to me..
- Seller saying they will lose money or taking a big loss .. Not my problem..
- Selling several items in one ad and updating the ad to say "SOLD" on certain items.
- Overpriced
- Don’t talk about any flaws
- Keep re-posting
- Use unrelated keywords in ad so ad comes up when you search for different brand
- Paranoid language like " Cash and Carry only", "No spammers", No Trades...
- Using all CAPS and !!! marks
- Used car salesman lingo like"only $xxx , a great deal, a steal , and the worse, RARE "
- Ad consists entirely of copy/pasted info. from manufacturer website
- Any textspeak
- Gimmicky pricing like $999 or $995 or the worse, random price like $927
- Saying price is "Firm"..
- Reducing price by insignificant amount to bump ad
- Tooting own horn, i.e describing how awesome their product is.. Comes across as desperate to me..
- Seller saying they will lose money or taking a big loss .. Not my problem..
- Selling several items in one ad and updating the ad to say "SOLD" on certain items.
- ...
- 113 posts total
- 113 posts total