Safe audiogon transactions; lowering the bar.

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.

All of the above comments re: protection are appropriate, but IMO, there is no substitute for a long track record of impeccable feedback. Also verfied status here, and long record of forum posting means they use this site as an avocation as well as for commercial purposes, and would be unlikely to foul it up for one or even a few transactions. I have made about 30 purchases here over the last 3 years and have always had a satisfactory experience. However, I would also recommend calling and talking just to get the right vibe.

I bought an item on Ebay and needed it in a hurry so I paid "Buy it now" price. The seller didn't ship and wouldn't answer his emails. His phone was disconnected. I contacted Ebay--there is a 30 day period where you can't even file a complaint. I contacted PayPal and received their response 30 days later (today) stating the Seller was at fault but had no money in a PayPal account, so I was out of luck. Fortunately the seller eventually came through after I sent him a half dozen very threatening emails. Moral: PayPal offers nothing to the buyer.

Swampwalker nailed it.

About COD-I never use it & if the other party insisted on it that would be a red flag to me. The transaction should be a compromise & communication is the key. Phone calls are good. One of the tools you should use with these net audio deals is your gut feeling. I've made some deals based on it & walked away from others. So far so good.

One more thing. The transfer of money. Registered mail is the most secure way to send something through the mail. I use various electronic money transfers just because it's easy. Again, so far so good.

OK, one more thing. I picked up an SF2 amp at the main UPS center. I asked the clerk if she minded if I checked it out on the spot because if there was damage I wanted it documented. She said they couldn't process damages there but I explained to her what it was, how much it cost, etc. & all I wanted was documentation IF there was a problem. Once I talked to her for awhile she understood what I was after & was accommodating. I know sometimes it's hard to make a trip to the center but it beats the horror stories I've read of amps being rolled out of the truck & other stuff left out in the rain. You can request they hold the item for you at the center. You get to check the package out on the spot & the item is saved a trip in the back of the truck.