Buying advice for this marketplace?

S

someloudnoise

New member
Hi,

I'm new on the board, and I don't have a "presence", but I'm attempting to buy a DVX from a member of this board who does have a "presence". I feel somewhat confident in the sale.

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on different methods to safely complete this sale. I've read a little bit about C.O.D.s, which (right now) seems to be the safest way. I've also read about paypal (not good), and escrow services (not good). I'd like to avoid eBay. And I don't feel comfortable just mailing a check and waiting (and hoping) to receive what I purchased.

Any advice? Thoughts? Comments? I don't want to get burned.

Thanks,
Someloudnoise
 
What's not good about paypal? Its the only way I'll do business anymore. In general I'd trust members that have been around a while and especially those with past transactions on the board that went well. I've bought from a few new members as well and havent had a problem.
 
You are absolutely right. Paypal only offers buyer protection if you are buying through ebay, and even then it is very hard to get a refund. I would say escrow with a legitimate company is the best way to go. That way the the buyer only gets the funds once you have checked the item and made sure it is as advertised.

davide
 
just make sure you use a credit card as your funding source with paypal. not debit, and not your bank account. this way, if paypal doesn't take care of you, you can just do a chargeback thru your credit card company and that is ironclad. check with your credit card company and they will verify this. paypal will never tell you this but i know this to be true from experience.

also, keep in mind that people generally only write bad reviews on the web. people hardly ever write a blog when a deal goes smoothly, only when things go wrong. so reading horror stories on the web may not be the most accurate way to judge something.

i have been using paypal on a business level for 8 years and it's been generally great.

you mentioned c.o.d. this means you hand over a money order or cashier's check to the ups guy wen you get the package. unless you are buddies with your ups guy and he will allow you to open the box, verify the contents, and perform a thorough test while he waits, it's a bad plan.

you may pay thousands for a box of bricks with zero recourse....
 
when i did my first transaction here. it was also the first transaction for the seller. i suggested that we half the deal. i send half, he sends the product. once i inspect it and its legit i send the other half. we did that and it worked well.

but id imagne that you can trust a longer term member of the group here. thats the benefit of selling/buying here as opposed to ebay. with ebay worst you can do is post bad feedback. here a bad deal could ruin you.
 
aside from doing secure transaction its always good to speak to the person on phone. i bought 3 items in states and went to picked them up from canada and all are fine items. i could have gotten lucky but again any way of communication helps.
 
someloudnoise said:
i dont know much about escrow companies. which ones would you recommend?
Click to expand...

There are probably a number of good escrow companies out there. The main thing to check for is if they are certified by the state in which they are operating and the U.S. government.
 
buying online

buying online

I just went through this. I am a new member here and I was looking for a dvx100a. I watched the messages on this site and on ebay. I felt good about the people with whom I corresponded on this site, but I also found some sellers on ebay whom I felt good about. When I was serious, I called the person. I chose to buy a camera from someone on ebay. Buying it through paypal and ebay guarantees your purchase for $2,000. I believe that if you only use paypal, the goods are only guaranteed for $200. None of this probably helps you make a decision about how to pay for the camera, but I would recommend talking to the person on the phone. Doing this helped to calm my nerves. Others will have more experience with paypal and escrow accounts. I have been happy with my purchase.
 
I agree with the phone points. Generally its easy to figure out if someone is scamming you or no by the phone. I would think it is suspicious if they say they are from the states but they have a nigerian number.

I recently sold my backup camera, and the transaction went very smoothly. I called the guy up a couple times, and it went through very well.

Overall, if you are suspicious of a sale, just don't buy it, and if your already in, make sure you use your credit card to fund paypal incase it is a scam, most big credit cards will back you up (I think visa and mastercard do it, not sure of any others)
 
i wasn't aware that paypal only protected ebay purchases. i'm not saying that's wrong, but i have a feeling it may not be. regardless, i have to agree with jdajda. pay pal is really the only way i buy or sell. plus, if you buy from a long term user on these boards, that just adds to feeling good about the transaction.
 
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