wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Here and on other venues often the seller will say that item will ship when check clears. Could her just keep the money and run? I was cleaning house and 100's of sailing books, sailing equipment, and camera stuff. I ended my sales on Sunday nights and mailed the items on Monday. Out of the 30 or so items their were three or four I had not received payment. I would send a note to the buyer telling him I shipped his item and telling him I did not want to make extra trips to the post office and i was looking forward to his payment. Never lost a cent. Just curious why sellers are thought to be honest and buyers not. - Dave

brucebc Loc: Tooele, Utah

Not sure where your assumption came from. My only negative experience was a seller that took my money and didn't ship the item.

TonyBot

Can't quite answer that, but, when I investigated claims for the USPS it was nearly equal: fraud goes both ways.

Think of the classical "Nigerian" scheme reworked - here's PayPal info, gets approved, item is sent, and sometimes days (sometimes in a few hours) later, the seller checks and finds PayPal has cancelled payment - and is out of several hundred dollars. This scenario seems to be mostly international, and in that case usually the seller is then SOL.

Or, someone sells something, does all the right stuff for eBay (or whatever) with tracking, etc., and the purchaser says item was never received. Now, this is happening less and less because of all the new scanning systems with GPS installed, although "porch shopping" is always a problem.

Both scenarios are decreasing in percentage due in part to the improved awareness of the shipping company, but because of the sheer volume of "e-sales", the *number* of such cases have gone up.

No moral to the story. Neither the seller or the buyer is more likely to try to defraud the other (in my opinion). There are just some dishonest people out there, but because most of us are more likely to be buyers, if we get cheated or scammed, we will make more noise. The dishonest seller isn't likely to holler "I just got another sucker!" and tell all his friends or the attorney generals office, he will just do it again.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I know of no one that makes that assumption. Requiring payment for merchandise prior to turning the merchandise over to the purchaser is just common sense. I would never expected anyone to send me something before I paid for it. Not on UHH, not anywhere. Also, I would never purchase from an online seller if they didn't use a form of electronic payment that is traceable and guaranteed.

SonyBug

I don't follow that it is common sense. If I as a seller say that I want the money in hand before shipment, that is the same as saying, "I don't trust you." I have done trades and transactions that I and the other party agreed to send the money and item at the same time. We both did, and it says to the other person, "I trust you as you trust me." BTW, you can check my reviews for both buying and selling on this site.

PRETENDER Loc: Micanopy,Florida

I don't know about you guys but purchased my last item from Ebay. The tool I purchased should have left in the dumpster. Never again . If I can't touch it I ain't buying it.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

Because sellers usually have reviews that you can check. Buyers do not.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Years ago I lived in So. Ca. and I traded some computer stuff to a guy who live in South Carolina for some of his stuff, he got my stuff, I never got his even though he insisted he had mailed it. I finally got tired of messing with him and turned him in to the U. S. Postal Service for mail fraud, they sent him a demand letter, got my stuff back pretty damn quick. Today, thank God for PayPal, they protect your purchases, I have had a few scammers try, but PayPal took care of them, I think they are great.

Kuzano

I have a classic Nigerian Scam Cashiers Check on Bank of Amerca I hold a $10,000 Cashiers Check (Cashiers checks are the Most forged monetary document by statistic, Postal Money orders are second, followed by Western Union). I knew it was a scan initially, but I responded to it. I had one of my BMW motorcyles on the internet for $6000. The faux buyer wanted me to accept payment of $10,000 and refund $4000, supposedly from a previous failed transaction and it was easier to have the money from the transaction that fell through to me from the other seller.?????

I still have that Bank of America forged cashiers check. Dual signatures and all. Fed Ex'd to me originally. I just ran across it about a week ago. I've had it for about ten years. Confirmed at the time to be a forgery.

I reason that buyers are more suspect considering the whole Nigerian Scam era and scams to posts on Craigslist. But then, you can get mugged, robbed, raped and killed by people responding to and/or selling on Craigslist. I have read of many such events over time, including a serial rapist in one big NE city. A fellow in Seattle was killed and his family assaulted when he put a diamond on Craigslist and 3 armed robbers showed up.

The best part of Craigslist is to read the security section of the site. Please, don't even think about using Craigslist, or having a CL buyer come to your home, or go to theirs. Face to Face, Cash Only in a well lit public place during business hours. Some city police departments even offer space to conclude Craigslist transactions, or offer their lobby space. Works for me. I generally meet at popular Starbucks or other coffee joints. Oh yeah, no bars or lounges.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/01/11/think-twice-before-answering-that-ad-101-killers-have-found-victims-on-craigslist/?utm_term=.49f1c6675144

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

I sold a number of Canon camera items with no issues. However, I did sell a Canon remote trigger device to a buyer. He contacted me to say it didn't work and wanted to return it to me. I said fine and immediately sent him a reimbursement check. He returned the item but had pried it open to change the batttery and left pry marks along one side of the remote. (I tried the release and it worked fine after I got it back.) He didn't re-seat the cable correctly. It was mess and I didn't think it was good enough to re-sale. So I lost $125.00...not critical in the long run, but makes me weary of buying/selling on the internet. I contacted the buyer and he was unreasonable and denied opening the release, etc.

I ended up donating the remote to a middle school camera club, so it has a good home.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

It is a natural convention - go to a shop with a sales person....they want paying before wrapping up an item or putting it in a bag. The supermarket changed our habits BUT they want paying before you leave the building.
Honesty doesn't come into it. Do you worry that you won't be paid for the work you do on any day but pay-day?

bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

I buy a lot from Ebay. Ebay will step in if a seller rips you. Also, I pay for stuff via PayPal. Doubly safe.

14kphotog Loc: Marietta, Ohio

Ebay and Paypal would not help me with a bad buy from ebay seller in Calf. Seller "sold" several items to different people and all were bad. Seller vanished along with his email. I lost $182.00.

bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

I am so sorry that happened to you.

bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

And then there's the old time merchants who do business with a handshake. For years, my family has been ordering dates via telephone about twice a year from "Ehrlich's Date Garden" in Yuma, Arizona. They ship the same day as the order, and tell us to send a check in the snail mail. They don't have a website, and they don't even have credit card processing. Never a problem. Sometimes the dates arrive here before the check arrives at the merchant. Now that's a trusting soul!