Fraud and scam, how many of you are victims?

What’s the safest way to sell a piece of equipment without getting caught up in any scams like described above?

I’ve a Marantz SA8005 CD/SACD player I need to move on and have never sold a piece of audio equipment. I live out in the country where there is unlikely to be a local market. I’m not looking to get rich from selling it, but it’s a little too valuable to simply give away like I did with all my old vintage stereo equipment, after purchasing a new system a couple years ago.

I don’t want to get caught up in any nonsense when trying to sell it, so I’ve avoided doing so. So it’s sits on a shelf in a store room unused, when someone could enjoy using it. What would your advice be to avoid fraud and scam from the seller's side of the equation?

Mike

Here is what I do: 1. I never sell on eBay. No seller protection. I don’t care what they say. They don’t protect sellers. 2. I only buy low dollar items on eBay. 3. Major used purchases go to Agon and us audio mart. 4.  In EVERY purchase I use PayPal. Mostly so the seller doesn’t get my credit card number. I know they offer some buyer protection. That is nice. But I don’t rely on them for that. Though I would call that marker in if I had to. 5. Where the real protection is, is that I, without exception, buy with a credit card with excellent charge dispute customer service. For lower perceived risk situations I use my bank’s credit card. For situations where I feel I need maximum protection I use American Express. In my experience, their charge dispute customer service is second to none. The best. Even if you were to somehow agree to use PayPal f/f it is worth it to either volunteer the 3% PayPal fee to use your credit card OR pay with PayPal f/f and use your credit card and incur the PayPal fees on your end. Very small money for lots of protection of your money, your time (which is money) and hassle. Never waiver from these recommendations above and always check feedback. 

I recently used the new Escrow.com option here on Audiogon for about a half dozen recent sales. A little bit slower overall, but the protection provided for both seller and buyer is excellent, IMHO.

I purchase on ebay, quite often.  I have had only one bad purchase.  He claimed to be a record executive.  Arrived in a cardboard bag, leaking little white nerds.  It was pretty smashed up, missing the volume knob.  It worked, asked for a 200 price adjustment.  He went off via ebay emails.  Uploaded a lot of pictures to ebay with an explanation.  They refunded all of the funds and sent me a shipping label.  put the whole mess including his cardboard bag in another box after wrapping the original in lots of bubble wrap.  took it to the Post Office to mail it.  The mail person laughed and told me there was only $1.65 in postage on the prepaid label.  I asked what to do about the lack of postage, he laughed again and said the person receiving the box was going to get a large bill.  I have never sold on ebay.

I was scammed a week ago by some POS on Audiomart for $300…I had posted a want ad for a PS Audio UPC-200 and this $h*thead responded with pics of the gear and he gave the right answers to a coupe of my questions. In hindsight there were red flags but I was so busy at the time that I overlooked them. To add to my stupidity I sent the funds via PayPal F&F…yeah, I deserve it.