PayPal Friends & Family listings. Why is this becoming so common?

“It seems like buyers demand around a 20% discount to take on the added risk of F&F. ”

I have not experienced that at all…my last 12 transactions on USAM, all F&F ranging between $16K - $150. I have sold items within 95% of my asking price. If a buyer wants protection, they can fork out 4% PayPal fee. IRS is a non-issue as you seldom make any profit when you reselling an item.

As far Trust goes, it’s a two way street. You need to do your due diligence in every transaction (feedback and pay close attention to how they are communicating), there are lot of good people out there.

BTW, PayPal protection is worthless! I never relied on them to do right by seller or buyer. 

Not my experience either. With fewer folks buying new gear, there is less used gear on the market. The power has shifted from the buyers to the sellers, and the sellers are simply trying to indemnify themselves against fraud.

If F&F makes anyone uncomfortable it's really simple, dont buy from those sellers requesting it. 

The only way to buy on "friends and family" terms is if the seller first sends the goodsout first on approval.

@viridian 

 there is less used gear on the market

my experience is the opposite

I base my statement on US Audiomart, where I moderated the forums, and this may not be representative of the broader market at all, and certainly does not take into account Craigslist and the like, but currently there are 11,000 active listings on USAM, that has ranged to over 24,000 at times. Assuming their data is correct, that is very low and much lower than the pandemic years.

So granted I may be using the wrong metric. What metric are you using?