Can someone teach me :(?

[reaper2794]

Say I were to sell something to someone online, directly, not through any site. How would I make sure they were gonna pay me? and how would they know they're getting their product?

I feel like a complete idiot, but I am honestly curious what methods people use for this? Im pretty sure no one just relies on trusting someone random do they?

 

[joeshmofro]

Usually you can look at their feedback either on ebay or heatware also the number of posts they have on a forum. I only do transactions through paypal. It's really the safest way. When I buy something I usually send the money first and then they ship. When I sell things I always get money first before I send the items. When I first started sometimes a person would ask me to ship first since I had no heatware.

 

[reaper2794]

I dont use Ebay or Heatware and I dont want to. How can I trust someone to send me money, or do I make them send me money first? How could they trust me? Cause I dont use Ebay or Heatware

 

[o1die]

Heatware is not a pay for use service. It's a website that posts transactions between trading partners. I use it to avoid paying fees to ebay or paypal. If you don't want to use any of these services, then stick with your local venders.

 

[iRaiden]

That's like saying "Teach me how to drive a car, but I'm not going to steer, press the acceleration, or look where I'm going..."

Ebay, heatware, and the site reputation is the only way this is even remotely safe. Go make a heatware account. Buy or sell a few things to get your reputation up. That's really the only way other than going through Ebay alone.

 

[jacobboe89]

well paypal is probably the way to go as far as taking money . as for sending you can require a signature in addition to delivery confirmation . ebay is the first site that comes to mind for this sort of thing .but ebay and paypal cost a lot!!! i sold a pair of bose 6.2 speakers they sold for 200 plus 65 snh , ebay got the insertion fee,the final value fee for the 200 plus the 65 because they charge a final value fee for shipping now and lets not forget paypal they got there's too . paypal got $7.98 from me off this one transaction and ebay got about $21 and they were not charging final value for shipping yet . i also sold some 901's and long story short it cost me about $45 dollars and they sold for $255 . i might have actually made a small prophet if not for ebay and paypal .

and moneybookers and propay charge about the same as paypal.

i guess ultimately yes you can , could you or should you , i don't know , is it worth it ?

and also i might add there are some scamers out there to .

 

[reaper2794]

Well I think what some people dont understand is this. I may only be selling a few things for now, its not really something on a regular basis. Im 17, I cant afford to be scammed outta my stuff, especially with my parents.

About the PayPal, Im confused bout the transaction thing.

I believe you dont get charged anything for transfering money between accounts do you? I would take money through PayPal, and then just ship their product to em, not through a site or anything, Im willing to make a Heatware account, Ill make one later today, I just dont want a site taking a chunk out of the already small amount of money Ill be getting.

 

[JDFan]

The thing is you have to decide whether it is better to pay those fees and have some protection or just take your chances -- ie. if as you say it is only a few small items and you are not going to be selling many items then you might be better off doing things locally through say CraigsList or similar so that you can meet somewhere to exchange the item and $ which also saves the shipping fees - though that limits the potential number of buyers.

In the long run you have to weigh the possibilities of losing your item or not receiving payment or having to try to track the buyer down yourself against the amount of fees that are charged to provide some insurance on the transaction and decide which is more important to you (figure Ebay gets away with charging what they do for a reason)

 

[jacobboe89]

i used to think more of ebay than i do anymore . what they charge to sell has been become unreasonable to me , the fact that they charge a final value fee on shipping , i don't see any of that $ and that final value is not credited if are to issue a refund for the transaction . and then paypal gets a cut of the shipping charge as well . ebay is a ok place to find a deal as a buyer . but it would appear they don't really care about there sellers very much .if you read into there buyer protection and talk to a few sellers you will learn this as well .

if it weren't for ebay and paypal i could actually made some fair prophet on things i have sold . ebay still has some good qualities , but at the rate they are going it might not be long before ebay isn't worth useing . i am looking for another way and well i am still looking . i looked at amazon for a minute and decided i should keep looking . they are even more expensive for the seller .

if any one finds a better way i would like to know.

 

[reaper2794]

I just wanna sell my 5770, and my NZXT Lexa S case, and my Corsair TX750

and my motherboard and CPU Ill be selling as well probably when Ivy Bridge comes out

 

[JDFan]

I just wanna sell my 5770, and my NZXT Lexa S case, and my Corsair TX750

and my motherboard and CPU Ill be selling as well probably when Ivy Bridge comes out

For those type items I'd really consider trying locally to sell it -- either through craigslist or the local paper -- or see if any local mom and pop computer store sells things on consignment (figure the fee they charge for helping you sell it would probably be less than the shipping cost on items like the case and PSU !)

Figure new the case is around $75 and the PSU $90 give or take. so selling used you might get around $50 apiece +\- (psus are harder sales since their performance drops as they are used awhile so buying used is taking a chance where a case may hold a bit closer to the original cost) and by the time you pay the $20 or so on shipping for each you are not really making much (and a buyer is going to want a lower price if you are asking them to cover the shipping cost or they'll just buy new !), then subtract any Paypal fees,etc. if you go the internet sale route and you might as well give them to a friend or family member instead. but if you find a local sale you save yourself the shipping fees and any payment service fees so even selling a bit cheaper locally can get you more of a profit and would be the better route.

And same pretty much goes for the 5770 since they have dropped in price to less than $100 new and used ones have to be quite a bit lower in order to offset the lack of warranty.

 

[joeshmofro]

Ebay has just become a place for chinese merchants to sell their low quality goods. Totally not worth it anymore. Ebay used to be great because you could buy something from somebody who simply didn't want or have space for it anymore so you could get a good deal. Now it's mostly just power sellers. Hard to get a good deal on certain items.

 

[dalauder]

I don't know about everyone else who seems to get Paypal fees. I don't get fees on Paypal, but it might be because I have a Paypal Credit Card.

Heatware's the best way to avoid getting scammed though. Ebay rep and just rep on a forum (like this one) can help with certainty, but you can't really be 100% certain online. A seller with nearly perfect rep on a bunch of transactions is probably not gonna rip you off because they worked hard for that rep. Similarly, you can assume someone who's put enough effort in trying to help people out on this forum to gain a "Veteran" rep, for example, will follow through with delivery/payment.

But nothing's 100%--more like 99.5%.

 

[jrwizbang]

Why don't you want to use Ebay, or maybe something such as Craigslist? Ebay is much safer than just doing transactions randomly online via just aypal accounts. Ebay coupled with a paypal account, is the best way to go.