Every day there is like 5 new victims. If you are buying something, and spending, oh say over 50 bucks, consider the following so you are not a statistic please...

1.) GEt the sellers HOME address and HOME phone number. Then verify it at http://www.reversephonedirectory.com. This tells you an address for a given home phone number.

2.) Have the seller take a picture of the item <U>WITH</U> your name in it. This can be done with a scanner or even a crappy digi cam. This PROVES they have the item you are looking to buy, and that they did not steal the pic off ebay or something.

3.) USE ESCROW!!!! If you are buying something expensive, this is a NO brainer. You pay like 5 bucks, and then the seller ships the item and you get to inspect it BEFORE he gets paid. <U> Why do sellers not want to use this?? Because they are scammers</U>

4.) Don't use paypal. Truth is that you will not see the money they "guarantee" if you get ripped off. Trust me, I lost over 300 bones to a "verified" member. It took a month and I got about 3 bucks back.

5.) If someone is not going to cooperate with the above, think realllllly hard.... do you think that they have the item and are just being a jerk, or do you think it's a scam??

6.) If you are buying something like seat, rims, or anything that can be shipped in 2 sets, send 50% of the money at a time for 50% of the stuff. It should be no biggie because I know I can't fit 4 rims w/ tires in my teg at one time anyways.

There's plenty of stuff here for sale, just keep looking.

And my "Dont's":
1. don't use COD (They can put anything into that box)
2. don't think that because they have a killer deal that it's legit.
3. don't flame this post because this is why there are 19 pages of ripped off people.
4. don't think it won't happen to you.

You want what you pay for... be careful and you'll get it.


[Modified by Rtzx9r, 5:30 AM 12/13/2002]

 

Good info!

I agree COD is sometimes risky but i like it because i haven't had any problems with it.

 

yea it does suck. freaking scammers are biatches!

 

I agree. Always use escrow. The seller and buyer have to make an agreement on how much time the buyer gets to inspect and item. escrow works good

 

from i understand, buyer sends money to escrow,
seller sends product first,
buyer recieves product then authorizes the money after he has inspected the product.

if that is how it works then i have a questions.

what if the buyer is a thief.

in example. i send out a good radio to a buyer.
i use escrow.
he gets it replaces it, with one that he already has. says he doesnt like it and send a broken one back.
he tells escrow that he has sent it back, and he gets his money?

can that happen?
and what is to prevent it from happening.?

 

escrow works with that.

Basically, if they reject your item and sent it back, escrow gives you until you recieve it to verify it is what you mailed in the first place.

Off their site... http://www.escrow.com/support/faq/index.asp?qid=37

In the online inspection period, the Buyer would click on "Reject." At that point, the Buyer is responsible for arranging return shipment with an approved shipper. The Buyer receives returned funds only after the Seller confirms receipt of the returned items in the same condition it was sent


[Modified by Rtzx9r, 6:41 AM 12/13/2002]

 

Good Advice....

 

Nice advice. Thanks for posting

 

kewl@!

 

dont mean to flame but escrow has its flaws just like pay pal, bid pay, ect. If you wanna be sure just meet in person.

What about personal check or CC cant you always cancle it?

 

real checks. in my opinion are never a good way to go.

it makes it harder for the money to be traced. he only has to cash it, not put it in his bank. hard to get money back even if u cancel it.
also, sometimes the buyer writes hot checks.

 

Nothing is "perfect", but at least this way you are taking all the possible measures to protect yourself.

I agree to meeting in person, but not always possible. Thieves don't steal cars from police lots and this is the same thing- someone is really not gonna try to rip you off if you are this careful.

 

yah u have alot of good points...
just why escrow sucks... it takes forever
other ways to be safe... look at ebay stats and paypal stats
I feel it brings up a good record showing someone has 20 postive feedback on ebay
even on paypal, you can check how many verified transactions someone has done.
You can check to see if a person is a good seller by their verified transactions and their paypal status, premier/business
so saying paypal is a bad way to go... i dunno, they also ahve paypal insurance

 

bump