good/bad experience buying from private seller

[ozzyrules]

Nothing but great experiences buying & selling on the forum. I've bought & sold quite a few here and I'm impressed with the honesty of fellow forumites.

 

[Warg Master]

I've sold a couple of guitars here... no problems for me! I've had a lot more problems selling on eBay.....

 

[fbecir]

Hello

I bought my ASS a few years ago from a forum member (Twan from Belgium). A great guy ! Very happy transaction !
Do just as the others said : if the guy is a regular forum member, you can be quite sure that things will run smoothly.

 

[mystixboi1]

I've bought and sold in this site(and quite a few others) over the past 20 years or so. Your best bet(regardless of buying here or any other site) would be to make sure you do your due diligence in researching the person you are going to be dealing with... make sure you get references of them dealing with other users. A lot of the times, people have ebay accounts that they have feedback from their transactions. that's a good measure too...

Next, make sure you are "smart" with your transactions. If you're buying a guitar, unless you know the person like a family member, never use paypal gift option. Pay the 3% fee or work something out with the person you are dealing with... saving a few bucks here and there might not be worth it in the end.

Finally, map out the entire procedures before they happen. Here's a scenario... a while back, I bought a gorgeous Music Man Axis from another forumite. I actually had sold it to them in near mint(if not mint) condition. After a few months, they agreed to sell it back to me. When they shipped it back, they loosened the locking nuts.... the nuts then bounced around the inside of the case and caused a nick(down to the wood) on the face of the guitar. When I asked him about it, he said that the mark was there when he got it. but I know for a FACT that it wasn't...

I didn't press him on it because I just didn't feel like going back and forth about it... but I would never let him use me as a selling reference. In hindsight, I should have spoke about that kind of thing with him before making the deal.

Good luck!!!!

 

[DrKev]

Next, make sure you are "smart" with your transactions. If you're buying a guitar, unless you know the person like a family member, never use paypal gift option.

Correct.

Paying by PayPal Gift option removes all buyer protection and possibility of refund if something goes wrong and there is a dispute between the buyer and seller. For this reason we recently included a forum rule forbidding requests for payment via PayPal gift option in For Sale or Trade ads.

 

[Warg Master]

Correct.

Paying by PayPal Gift option removes all buyer protection and possibility of refund if something goes wrong and there is a dispute between the buyer and seller. For this reason we recently included a forum rule forbidding requests for payment via PayPal gift option in For Sale or Trade ads.

I'm glad this rule was added. I always thought that odd... If you are accepting paypal, call the paypal fees the cost of doing business...