Has buying and/or selling audio gear changed?

when we signed up for PayPal we agreed to pay them a fee for their service. Going to F&F cheats PayPal out of what you legally owe them for using their service. In other words, using F&F is dishonest.

Many have all sorts of rationalizations why it is OK to do this,  but the bottom line is it is stealing from PayPal. There are other ways to pay for things than cheating PayPal. 

If someone is comfortable being a dishonest thief and has no problem cheating PayPal, I have no desire to do business with them. 

I try not to be dishonest for monetary gain or to avoid monetary loss.  

I don't use F&F unless it's someone I trust and NEVER a complete stranger! I make that very clear to them upfront! Why give up all my protections with PayPal. I'd rather purchase from someone else.

The PP F and F  is for ensuring monies are easily made available to others, it is not a Sale Transaction. 

Hence  once a payment for goods is made, there is no sopport from PP when a discontented buyer makes a complaint. 

I bet there is not a Case of a Vendor receiving monies from this method of Transaction having attempted to makie a case via PP about a sale outcome..

PP F and F, is the ideal one way loaded protection for a Vendor. 

I buy and sell a lot on all the "usual suspect" websites. And I definitely noticed many sellers going to this stance of "Paypal Friends & Family only will be accepted" thing.

I know they have their reasons. Most simply don’t understand that the IRS’ regulation of Paypal has been repeatedly delayed and at this point won’t take effect until 2025--if at all. Most also don’t realize that most sellers actually lose money on the items they sell and thus wouldn’t be on the hook for taxes. I also think a number of sellers just jumped on the F&F bandwagon for no particular reason other than it reduces their accountability to buyers. A small but very real % of these sellers are dishonest and welcome the F&F thing because they never plan to deliver what the buyer paid for, or deliver junk that is not at all what the buyer thought he/she was buying.

I’ve had many discussions w/these sellers. I usually start out by politely trying to inform them of the things they don’t know or understand. But it always ends the same way, by me saying: "I don’t know you and you don’t know me. So I’m not about to simply hand you $1000s of dollars without some recourse. Either that’s Goods and Services; or, if you’re a business, give me a quote and I’ll pay with a credit card. Otherwise, it’s not going to happen."

When I sell I accept Good & Services routinely. I face zero risk from the IRL no matter how often I sell (I’d never get near that annual threshold if/when they actually enact it), plus I simply can’t expect strangers to trust me so readily that they’ll send money w/no recourse.