[Closed] Secure selling on forum

Generally it is the purchaser who needs the protection I think.  Money up front is what most people do it would seem. For low value items most people seem happy to just transfer the funds directly into the sellers bank and then trust that the seller will then ship the goods and that they are as described. You can report them to the Mods if the goods don't turn up I suppose but there is no guarantee that you will get your money back; it is fairly low risk though IMO, the majority of people on here seem decent enough*. I have bought and sold lowish value stuff on here with zero issues.

For higher value items it is generally the purchaser who needs the protection so you may need to send them a PayPal invoice to give them the protection that PayPal offers but that will incur fees which someone will have to cover. If they "gift" you the money via PayPal then there are no fees but also no protection.

*some people have had a bad experience as reported in the odd post that I have read but my experience is 100% positive.

Classifieds Rules - Classifieds (singletrackworld.com)

As a seller the safest way is bank transfer or PayPal gift. But as a buyer, who doesn’t know you from Adam, the safest way for me is PayPal goods and services.

It depends on how much money we’re talking about. £20-30 then I might risk it, more so if you’re a known regular. Anything more and it’s PayPal goods, but I’ll gladly cover the fees.

As a seller, what is the most secure way of selling to someone that is unknown to you?

Cash/bank transfer on collection. Protection is heavily weighted in favour of the buyer with eBay/PayPal, so leaves the seller open to all kinds of fun and games should the buyer, for whatever reason, not want what you’ve sent them.

Almost always PayPal goods and services. If someone is collecting something larger from me then bank transfer or PayPal. Never ask anyone to pay gift and can’t be arsed with cash. Never had any issues but then again I think I’ve only ever sold to or bought off regular posters/long term members of the forum

I don't think I've had and financial issues buying and selling, a few times the definition of what condition something is in has been disputed (both buying and selling) but usually it's been resolved (e.g. I've just refunded if they cover the return postage so we've both onkynlost out the cost of posting).

Small bits, or things that generally don't have much to go wrong (e.g. a turbo trainer) I'll post. But full bikes I've generally insisted on collection. Especialy as the price ofnshiping them has gone up from £15 to £50 over the last 20 years. I'm happy to accept whatever method of payment the buyer wants, I just want to sell it with a clean conscience that they've seen it's condition for themselves first and everyone's happy.

I've gone over to Bank Transfer or cash on collection after a few unsavoury incidents on eBay involving PayPal. I've shut down both now. Cuts down your market but seems to encourage better buyers.

eBay has definitely become the playground of deceitful buyers and has got a lot worse IMHO during the last year.

I've always been totally honest with selling, pointing out every last mark or scratch.

I've had 2 recent 'not as described' cases which were totally irrelevant to the items sold. PayPal entertained them and sided with the buyer in both cases despite offers to resolve with buyers, lengthy emails and clarifications.

Both buyers tried to get partial refunds before resorting to NAD claims. It's as if there's a dodgy eBay buyers guide out there somewhere?

Just not worth the stress and hassle to me.

I’d be wary of selling something like a phone to an unknown - the old “You’ve sent me an empty box!” scam is very fashionable these days.
If you do make sure you keep post office receipt showing weight of package... its the only proof you have.
If its a decent phone, try Music Magpie or similar, less dosh, but less hassle.
If it’s not a phone, ignore me 😉

I believe OP is asking about selling on this forum, not ebay, where protection for buyers and sellers is in place (shonky as it may be).

Thanks all - it is an item here but the buyer has no history at all on the forum and joined in 2020. I'm just a bit wary, not through my own experience but reading that of others.

@cb I have declined to deal with people with no posting history or classifieds only users on larger things before. To me as a buyer or seller I'll just check out a bit of their history on the main forum.

It's hardly a guarantee but it's better than selling completely blind.

That's not to say that new / classifieds only users are definitely bad news just I prefer not to.

Britmodeller (see the Airfix thread) has a minimum post count before you can buy and sell. I think this is a great policy.

I like that idea, except i just bought a canoe on the SOTP forum, where i registered specifically to respond to the sale post, so not all new users are dodgy. Mind you i conversed extensively with the seller and meet in person to pick up, then used bank transfer to pay. I'm noting all this though as I'm about to list a bike...

Just on the subject of buyer/seller history, could we get the bug fixed where your classifieds name is different to your forum name if it hasn't already?

The other thing I do is only send or receive a pound by bank transfer just to make sure it’s all correct, then send the rest.
I turned a buyer down from here that had just joined. Alarm bells were- didn’t ask for detailed pics, agreed my price without question, said he was a policeman, wanted to courier it.
He then offered me good money to deliver.
I asked for photo ID preferably his police one, which he refused to do.
He got upset when I declined the sale, and I think maybe I was being paranoid but still.
Sold it to a mate instead.

eBay has definitely become the playground of deceitful buyers and has got a lot worse IMHO during the last year.
......

All this is making me nervous!

I haven't sold anything on eBay for years but yesterday I listed 7 items for auction with 1p starting bids. A few of these items were bloody expensive and have lots of bids already. I'm hoping one of them goes well over a grand.

I feel like there's not much I can do from my end to prevent being ripped off if a buyer makes false claims.

I was already planning to take pictures of everything being bubble wrapped and packaged and keep all the postage receipts. Any other ideas?

Remember it's YOUR job as seller to ensure the package reaches the buyer. It's not up to them to pay enough to cover insured postage, if you go for the cheap one and it doesn't arrive, it's you who loses out, so make sure your postage covers the value of the item you're posting

I'm planning to use Royal Mail special delivery for everything and I've added the cost to the listing. One trip to the Post Office should do it.

I'm selling a Garmin and I've had loads of people asking me to ship to Malaysia, Singapore, UAE etc. Probably nothing suspect but I haven't checked the costs yet.

If you’re prepared to ship abroad then use the eBay distribution service. They are then taking ownership of the delivery service too, so at least it’s guaranteed to arrive, or eBay stumps up for failed delivery. It’s one less piece of the jigsaw to go wrong.

Or state clearly that it’s UK post only. No exceptions.