#1: Identifying Dishonest People
There's already a small thread on this but I want to clarify some more. Before dropping off your precious V2i at the UPS center, read this.
a) Always check feedback.
Check, check, check. Use the search button. I've seen countless people on SR complaining about getting scammed on the daily and you can easily avoid that if you click the search button, inputting the guy's username, and seeing if there are any threads on them. What if there are no threads? Try Google. Perhaps they are infamous on another forum. You never know. Do your research.
b) I found a thread about _____.
Great, now READ. Does this person ship late? Does this person ship on time? Are there any problems? REMEMBER: Always check WHO'S writing the feedback. Was the seemingly "good" feedback written by a brand new account with 1-5 posts? Be wary. Some people create fake accounts in attempt to leave themselves feedback. Look at the time the feedbacks were left. Sometimes people will create multiple accounts to bump their threads and give themselves feedback. There will be a lot of feedback from “unknown” users in a very short period of time. Ask about this person. Don't be afraid to ASK. Always do thorough research about a person to ensure you both have a solid transaction.
NOTE: People who say stuff like "I have feedback on eBay/this other scooter forum/this BMX forum/fingerboard forum" STOP. This person can be LYING. Let's say on eBay there is a username by the name of "EllieScooters123" with 350 positive feedback. I can easily create a "EllieScooters123" on SR and claim to be the same person on eBay. Thus I can pretend I have those 350 positive feedback, make you send/pay first and bam, you get scammed.
#2: Responsibility
Make sure you establish responsibility. Unfortunately, not all transactions have a happy ending. When that happens, someone needs to take the blame, as bad as it sounds. A package gets lost in the mail. Who follows up? This happens frequently during cash-in-mail transactions. Who's fault is it when the envelope is lost? The seller doesn't send the package with delivery confirmation and it disappears. Who is responsible? Remember, talk things out with the other person and agree on something before anything is sent to each other.
#3: Paying
a) Paypal
Safest, most efficient way to pay. If you can, do it. If you don't have a bank account, then well, try and get one. Trust me when I say PP makes EVERYTHING a whole hell of a lot easier.
NOTE: NEVER EVER SEND AS A GIFT. I repeat NEVER SEND AS A GIFT. But Liz! Paypal charges me if I send it regularly! NO. DON'T DO IT. If you send as a gift it will always be IMPOSSIBLE for you to get your money back if the whole transaction goes wrong. It's worth paying the 4% to ensure that if stuff is screw up you can get your money back. Think of it as a mini insurance.
b) Money orders
MOs are decent. Make sure you ask for a postal money order, therefore you can cash it in. If someone sends you a Western Union/Moneygram, be wary. There are a lot of fake MOs floating around, and if you put it in your banking account without knowing it's a counterfeit, YOU ARE HELD LIABLE. Potential legal action will be held AGAINST YOU. Safest way is to ask for a POSTAL money order. If WU/MO is your only option, make sure it clears (2-3 weeks) before shipping your things out.
c) Cash in mail
Sigh. This is really risky. If it's $10, then it's decent. But you have no bank account, and you have to do this.. sigh. If you are sending more than $50+ over the mail, get a USPS Priority box and put the money in there with something heavy, like a book you don't want or something. That weighs it down. Send this box with TRACKING. Sending cash in mail is especially dangerous because you don't know if the person you are dealing with is honest. You have no tracking. You don't know when it gets there. What if it "never got to their house"? The other person can just claim it got lost in the mail, and just keep your money. So, remember, if you want to send money over the mail: ship it in a small flat rate priority box w/ delivery confirmation. I use to do this. I've done it over 100 times, it never got lost.
d) Checks
Checks can bounce. It can be edited. Try to avoid it if you can.
#4: Shipping
Please agree on a shipping method. Do you ship USPS? UPS? Fedex? Let the other person know. Sometimes a person living in an apartment has a really hard time accepting UPS and Fedex shipments, I know I do. Are you shipping first class or priority? If you can, never ship in a padded envelope. Things can break, things can bend, the envelope can rip. If you can, put your items in a box and ship it like that. Pad it up. Use old grocery bags, bubble wrap, paper. Pad your shit up, because if it comes broken to the other party, YOU will be held responsible.
NOTE: When using the priority boxes with the glue label (like the small flat rate), they just let you close the box with the sticky side. Make sure you wrap tape around it. I've heard of too many instances when the box just opens during transit and the contents get lost. Do NOT be the person losing out.
Five more things:
1) Do NOT message a person if you're not ready to pay. DON'T message them, finalize a deal, and message them saying "it'll take me a week to get the money." It's rude, and they're probably not going to save it for you.
2) Do NOT LOWBALL. If a lens is $250, okay, offer $230 or something but $200 or $150? Don't expect them to sell them to you for that low.
3) Do NOT message someone about something that's not on their BST.
4) IF YOU FINALIZE A DEAL, DON'T BACK OUT. And if you REALLY have to (sometimes money issues come up, I understand) but message the person about it instead of just ignoring their PMs. I know A LOT of people who do that.
5) If a person say NO TRADES, they mean NO TRADES.
So have fun. I dunno. Stuff like this should be said. Think of it as a really messy sorta guide. I've dealt with online transaction for the past three years so I know what I'm talking about. Enjoy.
