How to avoid getting ripped off on the internet

[EduardoK]

Originally Posted by alangoldstein

i also am upset that people on TB do not trust anything other then paypal.
how do you make people trust you on here?

Alan, that is a horrible story indeed. Nobody really likes the bay and paypal forcing you to use their services. I guess it is something we simply must learn to live with.
A lot of TB'ers are really great guys and some might accept other payment forms other than Paypal if they see you are serious. And I guess if you explain them your situation and provide them with that positive feedback history, many of them will trust you.
Time and patience.
Start by buying/selling items that don't cost a fortune.

[lowEndRick]

Should I be concerned if a potential buyer requests the serial # of the instrument I am selling? I was imaging that someone could take my serial # and then claim it is "their" stolen instrument. yes? no? I am just being paranoid.

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by lowEndRick

Should I be concerned if a potential buyer requests the serial # of the instrument I am selling?
I was imaging that someone could take my serial # and then claim it is "their" stolen instrument. yes? no?
I am just being paranoid.

just provide the first few numbers ... example : E196*******
that should suffice for any honest buyer .

[Temcat]

So I am from St. Petersburg, Russia, and that means belonging to that dreaded "international buyer" category. I've never bought anything from Talkbass, but I intend to.

Here's what I have:

1) Visa Classic card;
2) Confirmed Paypal account tied to that card;
3) USA mail forwarding address in case the seller won't ship outside CONUS (for example, because he/she is afraid of fraudulent "item not received" claims). This address is registered with my Visa card as an alternative one.

The question is: What would make you wary of dealing with me, besides me having no feedback just yet?

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by Temcat

So I am from St. Petersburg, Russia, and that means belonging to that dreaded "international buyer" category. I've never bought anything from Talkbass, but I intend to.

Here's what I have:

1) Visa Classic card;
2) Confirmed Paypal account tied to that card;
3) USA mail forwarding address in case the seller won't ship outside CONUS (for example, because he/she is afraid of fraudulent "item not received" claims). This address is registered with my Visa card as an alternative one.

The question is: What would make you wary of dealing with me, besides me having no feedback just yet?

I would personally have no problem. I've shipped music parts and instruments to probably 50 countries, including Russia. I've not once had a problem with International buyers. They are generally much more proper, courteous and kind. They have a bit less entitlement issues than Domestic customers.

[DeeperMusic]

I am curious to know what the safety precautions would be about TRADES and TRADINGS (Swapping) of basses on TB. I am kinda a newbie on TB and have yet to do any transactions but have always wondered how that SHOULD work.

[justinmc]

A case for you to consideration; comments appreciated!

I recently bought a bass from a seller in the classifieds here. As I was considering the bass, I queried for its weight, as that is an issue for me. Via talkbass message, he told me: "I believe the weight for both is around 9.7lbs" (he was selling two basses simultaneously). This sounded fine to me - I expected the bass to be within a few few ounces of that. When it arrived, it felt very heavy. I weighed it on an accurate scale and it came out to 10 lbs 15 oz, 1 oz shy of 11 lbs! This to me was a case of the seller significantly misrepresenting the bass.
I requested a return (w/ my paying for return shipment), but the seller said that he didn't have the money and couldn't do a return. So, the case is now in review by paypal claims.

[Zooberwerx]

Originally Posted by justinmc

A case for you to consideration; comments appreciated!

I recently bought a bass from a seller in the classifieds here. As I was considering the bass, I queried for its weight, as that is an issue for me. Via talkbass message, he told me: "I believe the weight for both is around 9.7lbs" (he was selling two basses simultaneously). This sounded fine to me - I expected the bass to be within a few few ounces of that. When it arrived, it felt very heavy. I weighed it on an accurate scale and it came out to 10 lbs 15 oz, 1 oz shy of 11 lbs! This to me was a case of the seller significantly misrepresenting the bass.
I requested a return (w/ my paying for return shipment), but the seller said that he didn't have the money and couldn't do a return. So, the case is now in review by paypal claims.

That's the route I'd follow. I trust you left negative feedback, as well?

Riis

[SeaBassTheFish]

I once saw a consumer reports show where they A/B'ed a bunch of different bathroom scales on the market. Turned out they varied widely in their measurements, and the variations were not consistent across different weight categories.
And being produced primarily for the purposes of weighing people, they're not all that accurate when it comes to weighing things far outside of the normal human weight range (really light things like basses or really heavy things like furniture, elephants, etc.).

I'm not saying I don't sympathize with your situation, because I do, and I hope you can get it worked out as painlessly as possible. But everyone who's concerned about excessive weight should know that bathroom scale measurements are not perfect.

Is it possible that the difference of 1 lb, 2-3 oz. is within that margin of error between the two scales?

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by justinmc

A case for you to consideration; comments appreciated!

I recently bought a bass from a seller in the classifieds here. As I was considering the bass, I queried for its weight, as that is an issue for me. Via talkbass message, he told me: "I believe the weight for both is around 9.7lbs" (he was selling two basses simultaneously). This sounded fine to me - I expected the bass to be within a few few ounces of that. When it arrived, it felt very heavy. I weighed it on an accurate scale and it came out to 10 lbs 15 oz, 1 oz shy of 11 lbs! This to me was a case of the seller significantly misrepresenting the bass.
I requested a return (w/ my paying for return shipment), but the seller said that he didn't have the money and couldn't do a return. So, the case is now in review by paypal claims.

His scale was one pound off. Only. One. Pound. Did you make it clear to the seller that anything over 10 lbs was a deal-killer? Did you tell the seller that accurate, exact weight was critical for you?

This is exactly why I always put a disclaimer with a weight when asked by a potential buyer.

[dai chai]

Realizing this reply is to some old messages but hoping someone answers: Trevorus said not to use escrows. Is there any reason for this ? Seems safer and cheaper than EPay (& PAYmorePAL).
I want sadly to say good-bye to my Hagstrom F400. This place seems like the best to start. But this method of payment business bothers me alot

[mikeddd]

I purchased this scale from Amazon. $30, weighs up to 75 pounds, displays in lbs and ounces, Kilograms, grams, etc. I use it to weigh everything I sell here and on EBay and have never had a single box returned for insufficient postage. The bathroom scale method is +/-1 pound accurate AT BEST. Use a postal shipping scale. Rest the bass on the bottom strap button using one finger to keep it upright on the scale. Weigh it three times. Will probably be +/- one or two ounces at MOST. Average the results if you want.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Postal...8224138&sr=8-1

Just my two pennies.