Safe audiogon transactions; lowering the bar.


It appears to me that a large number of people send bank
checks / money orders to pay for used equipment sight
unseen. Most private sellers insist upon this form of
payment. The culture appears to require buyers to take
significant risk in order to benefit from lower prices.

Although this is not surprising in itself, it seems to me
that Audiogon could preserve the long term health of this
website, and its priviledges with more proactive policies.

e.g. providing guidelines on how to conduct a proper
transaction; a list of important questions to ask,
what the seller / buyer should have in writing before
a transaction should proceed, and perhaps provide a
summary of the most common problems which develop between
sellers and buyers.

There are nagging questions: Who owns the equipment once
it has been shipped? Who should be insured?

Perhaps some experienced sellers and buyers would share
their own approach to transactions on this site and how
they get people to put their best foot forward despite
themselves.
hindemith
As an additional comment on who is the owner during shipping. While Fed Ex and UPS may consider the piece yours once you pick it up, un-inspected of course, if there is anything wrong with it due, to their always delicate handling, they will settle with the shipper and it is up to you to get the money back from the shipper. So far i have had no problems with the shippers sending me the money, which is good because i have yet to recieve something from either of the above shippers where at least something wasn't damaged. For heavy objects i have found shipping by freight trucking companies is cheap and they seem to take care of things..harder to set up though..but then i digress.
I've gone with the Money Order route since I read (here somewhere) that using a USPS money order and sending it via USPS allows you the protection of the USPS and their mail fraud laws. I don't think this would cover a unit rated a 10 when it should have been an 8, but it should protect the buyer when they receive no merchandise at all. The last time I used PayPal they had very little protection for anyone, but that was awhile ago...maybe things have changed??
Interesting info so far, I would like to point out especially in the comments made by Ultrakaz, that there are reasons why I would require payment up front. I tend to underprice much of the things I sell here for various reasons:

1. to sell it fast
2. to reduce hassles in the sale
3. to get funds fast
4. to not lose a sale to someone else who may list the same thing the next day at a lower price
I would not underprice my gear if I was required to wait for funds and just recd a deposit
to blanket and say never buy unless only a deposit is made is not a guideline I would sell here on. I have 72 poisitive deals here and 0 bad or neutral ones, I took each one on an individual case. When a deal smelled bad I walked a few times. It appears you have no feedback here on Agon, however, as someone who is active in Forums w/no feedback, I would take the plunge in most cases. \
Lakefrontroad,
Although shippers may gather info from the injured owner, they pay damages to the party who paid them to do the shipping. They have no contract with the recipient.

When a repair place accepts your unit into its care, custody and control it creates a bailment from which their insurable interest flows. Some carry bailee's insurance coverage to protect themselves from losses. A good example bailee is a dry cleaner.
I've done few transactions on a-gon but have bought tons of stuff on ebay. Certainly the culture there is that the seller is entitled to call all the shots. Some sellers burden you with screen after screen of their personal rules and regulations. Don't do business with these people. Without exception, I have found them rigid, demanding, and extremely hard to work with. One seller went out of his way to bomb me with negative feedback because I didn't immediately answer his emails when I was, in fact, in the very act of burying my mother!

Tell the seller that you will deal one and only one way: COD. Period. Negotiate on a deposit to cover shipping if that is a high-cost issue. NEVER send the money in advance. If the seller wants to make the sale, he'll let FedEx collect the payment. If not, bye-bye, there'll be another one for sale soon.