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5.0 Buying/Selling tips·How can I best avoid potential frauds?
·How do I know a buyer/seller is reliable?
·What are some ways to keep sales fraud free?
·How do I buy an item?
·What info should I list when I want to sell an item?
·What's my item worth?
·Do I need to post a picture when I sell an item?
·What would be the best format for my post?
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From time to time, our members have been the victims of thieves....shady little trolls who come out of the woodwork and accept our money for things they NEVER deliver.
There are ways of preventing theft. I use these tools all the time and have prevented at least four occurrences where I could have lost money.
1. Check buyer and seller reviews in the For Sale/Wanted forum.
2. Check eBay feedback and Yahoo as well. If you want to verify their ID send an email through ebay or yahoo asking if they are who they say they are.
3. Beware when someone IM's you with offers to sell something you haven't requested to buy.
4. NEVER accept personal checks or PayPal credit cards belonging to someone other than the purchaser.
5. ONLY ship your goods to the owner of the credit card (PayPal payments).
6. Watch for conflicting stories during conversation and "corrected" addresses.
7. Beware of long absences during a deal. An honest seller will devote all his attention to you until the deal is done.
8. Watch closely for pictures that seem to be different, of the "same item".
9. Check other sites for forums that do have a WATCH LIST of bad sellers. Nine out of ten times, your seller will be doing his dirty deeds there as well.
10. NEVER make accusations you can not prove 1000%. You could destroy reputations that are good and could be civilly liable for slander and defamation of character.
11. Realize that the IFCC has limited power. You're basically out in the cold, flapping in the wind. The authorities aren't interested in frauds perpetrated unless the money involved is very substantial....somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 or more.
12. Use PayPal for your payments whenever possible. PayPal has an excellent security staff that has helped me recover funds in the past.
13. ONLY accept a U.S. Postal Service money order. They can't be stolen. Private money order companies' money orders are stolen all the time.
14. Try your best to keep a private "favorite sellers list" from past, trusted deals. Use those names first, even if the offer from an unknown name is better.
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 feedback form
 feedback form
by VidsGuy  edited by wafen
last modified: 2007-12-10 17:32:47 |
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The best bet is to check out the buyer/seller reviews. That will list almost everyone who has already made some sort of transaction here at BBR/DSLR.
If they aren't listed here, you might want to find out if they have a listing at Heatware, which is a private traders' evaluation and reference site used by members of various BBSs (Bulletin Boards' Traders Forums) which allow one to post evaluations of his or her private trades or deals with another. This includes FS/FT/WTB deals (For Sale, For Trade, Want To Buy). There are three evaluations from which to choose: Positive, Negative and Neutral. (heatware is a separate site from BBR/DSLR and thus we can't control the quality of reviews there.)
It may also be useful to see if they have an Ebay account. If they do, you can search Ebay for info on that user HERE. To verify that the Ebay ID you found is correct send an email through Ebay asking just that.
feedback form
feedback form
by Axilla
last modified: 2005-07-16 10:49:35 |
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One of the best ways is to post the final agreed upon deal in the forum. Still do any negotiations via IM, but once everything is finalized make a post with the details, such as-
"Agreed. $22, you cover shipping. I will Paypal you immediately."
This will help if needed at a later date to prove the person you dealt with hasn't followed the agreed deal, and may make that person be more motiovated to follow through since it is open for public view.
feedback form
feedback form
by Axilla edited by sortofageek
last modified: 2004-04-03 12:08:10 |
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Everyone has their own method, but usually the preferred method if you want to buy something is to IM (via the BBR IM system) and let the seller know you would like to buy an item being sold or perhaps make an offer on an item.
As far as actually paying for the item is concerned, each seller will have different acceptable payment methods. The preferred methods are usually online (Paypal, C2iT, ect..) or some type of check issued from your bank (money order or cashier's check.)
feedback form
feedback form
by CjGaughan edited by sortofageek
last modified: 2003-08-17 13:59:59 |
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When making a FS post, list as much info as you can. The more info you list or link the better!
This way people know exactly what they are looking at, and this makes your potential buyers much happier by having all the info they need ready for them, instead of going out and searching for it themselves. If you make them work too hard, they may move on to another deal.
feedback form
feedback form
by Axilla edited by sortofageek
last modified: 2002-12-15 22:58:46 |
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This is useful for buyers as well as sellers.
•Remember, this forum is for posting WTT, WTB and FS transactions. If you don't want to trade, buy or sell then there are other more appropriate places to discuss and gather information such as General Questions or Hardware Reviews.
For example, price checks are *not* permitted here (i.e. "how much can I get for a ...".)
The first thing you should do is to search Ebay, its a good way to find out what used products are worth.
Another thing to look at is what the item is selling for new, a couple good places to check are Pricewatch and Price Grabber.
These places should be able to give you a good idea what the item your buying/selling is really worth.
feedback form
feedback form
by Axilla edited by sortofageek
last modified: 2004-08-30 15:08:32 |
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No, but it will often help your sale by giving people a chance to see what they are getting.
feedback form
feedback form
by Axilla edited by sortofageek
last modified: 2002-12-15 21:04:28 |
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For best results it should look similar to this:
Linksys BEFN2PS4 Router $35 Shipped
The Linksys EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router is the perfect solution for connecting a small group of PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection or a 10/100 Ethernet backbone—and it features Voice Over IP telephone calls powered by Net2Phone. With the EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router installed, no other special hardware is necessary for telephone calls. An ordinary telephone connects to the RJ-11 port (telephone jack) on the back of the EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router, and calls are routed by Net2Phone’s superior quality network to anywhere in the world—significantly reducing long distance charges.
$35 Shipped
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And not like this:
Linksys BEFN2PS4 Router The Linksys EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router is the perfect solution for connecting a small group of PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection or a 10/100 Ethernet backbone—and it features Voice Over IP telephone calls powered by Net2Phone. Asking $35 shipped. With the EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router installed, no other special hardware is necessary for telephone calls. An ordinary telephone connects to the RJ-11 port (telephone jack) on the back of the EtherFast® Cable/DSL Voice Router, and calls are routed by Net2Phone’s superior quality network to anywhere in the world—significantly reducing long distance charges.
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See how the first example makes it easy for potential buyers to find the asking price right away. To make BOLD and Italic text you can use the following HTML tags-
text = BOLD text
text = ITALIC text
links are autocreated here at BBR by adding the URL to the post.
pictures can be uploaded to BBR via the posting screen.
feedback form
feedback form
by M A R K edited by Axilla
last modified: 2004-04-03 12:13:52 |
