Experience with trading gear via TB

atticpenny · #1 06-03-2011, 08:52 AM

Hey everyone! I'm curious with your experience with trading gear via talkbass. I have some stuff I might try selling or trading via TB in the next few weeks. What has been your experience with trades? Anyone actually do long-distance trades, or only in-person local trades? How did you go about it all? Just curious about good experiences and bad... Thanks!

Kwesi · #2 06-03-2011, 08:57 AM

All positive. If the person hass good feedback here, 99 out of 100 times the deal will be clean

john grey · #3 06-03-2011, 09:02 AM

TB has a VERY good track record in terms of ethical sales, etc. I think that says something about the general type of people here.

But realistically one man's ceiling is another man's floor. The important thing is that both parties agree on what "condition" an item is in and what value something has and pictures would always bea good idea & sent back and forth. That being said I (personally) would feel very confident trading or buying from most folks here. The issues simply need to be clear from the start. as in anything; an understanding of the "ground rules" needs to be set previously and all should be well. But this IS the internet and frankly I would feel a bit more comfortable if the member was established & was very open about his identity, etc.

purpletornado · #4 06-03-2011, 09:05 AM

I've traded several basses on here and have had all positive experiences. Let me echo the previous poster and say make sure you know the condition of what you're getting and you can't communicate too much over a deal.

ThudThudThud · #5 06-03-2011, 09:07 AM

I made a trade - A SansAmp Tri-AC for a SAPBDDI - between California and New York. We agreed on a day to ship, and sent tracking numbers immediately.
Great deal. No issues at all.

Maybe I'd feel a little different if this was a bass, but who knows?

eyeballkid · #6 06-03-2011, 09:13 AM

what everyone says is the truth, but one thing you may need to consider Attic, is that since you have 0 feedback so far, some traders may expect you to ship first and then they would ship to you when the item arrives. This would be to make sure youre not some unknown internet flake/scammer that just joined TB to rip someone off.

Make sure you get in contact with the person you trade with in person, talk with em, feel em out, get acquainted. Most fellas are the fellas youd share a beer with and talk gear and there alot of good to be had. In person trades can be real cool too if you are local and have time to hang, Ive met some real good fellas that way!

I have done numerous trades on here and all have been top notch, but Ive only done long distance trades with people Im familiar with and have a good record when it comes to higher dollar items. That said, you should be able to do very safe trades with anyone on here who has stayed engaged here. Its a pretty upfront/ no BS community.

SurferJoe46 · #7 06-03-2011, 09:25 AM

I only buy small parts - hardware and bits and pieces and some oddball stuff - but I always send cash through the mail.

I feel that PayPoo should not get a percent of these small deals and I'm willing to take the risk that it will arrive correctly and in a timely manner from my end.

One thing I insist upon is that the other/selling party wait until the money actually gets to them before they ship to me. I feel there's less chance of something going wrong that way.

Don't get fooled - there's lots of mostly friendly BS on the site, but not in the For Sale area. It's all very sincere and upfront for everything I've bought so far.

Just be sure to send a feedback as soon as the other side of the deal is done and you've either got the money or the item.

Oh - and you've gotta be a Supporting Member to sell on the site.

Craigster · #8 06-03-2011, 10:31 AM

Sorry 2 say that not all deals are good

Recently I made a trade for a bass where I traded a 70's (reissue) Jazz in pristine shape along with a Helicon voice pedel (new) for a GT7 that was supposed to come with a case and strap. The bass came in a crappy gigbag, no strap (didn't care about that) one pup didn't work and worst of all the serial #'s were scratched off! When I mentioned all of this to the other party he would ship back my bass but he was gonna keep the voice box!!!...lesson learned...no way I was gonna ship the GT7 back, I'm sure if I did I would have gotten NOTHING back! BE CAREFUL!

Dark Horse · #9 06-03-2011, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwesi

All positive. If the person has good feedback here, 99 out of 100 times the deal will be clean

Ditto

Kwesi · #10 06-03-2011, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigster

Sorry 2 say that not all deals are good

Recently I made a trade for a bass where I traded a 70's (reissue) Jazz in pristine shape along with a Helicon voice pedel (new) for a GT7 that was supposed to come with a case and strap. The bass came in a crappy gigbag, no strap (didn't care about that) one pup didn't work and worst of all the serial #'s were scratched off! When I mentioned all of this to the other party he would ship back my bass but he was gonna keep the voice box!!!...lesson learned...no way I was gonna ship the GT7 back, I'm sure if I did I would have gotten NOTHING back! BE CAREFUL!

What you need to do is firstly PM a mod so this guy can be added to the bad trader/seller/buyer list. Secondly, make sure that post post about the transaction in Off Topic.

Craigster · #11 06-03-2011, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwesi

What you need to do is firstly PM a mod so this guy can be added to the bad trader/seller/buyer list. Secondly, make sure that post post about the transaction in Off Topic.

Plan on doing that but he says he's sending me the case (3 weeks ago!) waiting on the case for another week then the info goes to the mod

dave64o · #12 06-03-2011, 11:06 AM

My experiences here have been overwhelmingly positive. If you deal with someone who's an active member and has some feedback ratings, the odds of a trouble-free transaction seem pretty good.

My one really bad one was with someone who was neither a long-term active member nor someone with a lot of transaction history. Luckily the person who was involved in this guy's previous transaction saw the thread I was involved in and spoke up about his dishonest dealings. I worked with a mod, the previous guy did some additional digging and found this guy had a history of bad transactions on another site, and he was temporarily banned here. The previous guy and I finally did get our deals completed (he had to involve the police, who actually showed up at Mr. Dishonest's house!), and the guy who had the bad history was permanently banned. The aforementioned mod was extremely helpful in getting it resolved. I also wrote up what happened with me, included references to one of the other sites that guy was apparently banned from, and posted it in the Classifieds Usage Discussion and Help Desk forum here on TB.

It ended well for me, but from now on I'm taking my own advice and sticking with active members who have a proven history (pretty much what I had been doing except for that one transaction). And if you do have problems, definitely contact the For Sale Forum moderators. They'll do everything they can to help.

Kwesi · #13 06-03-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigster

Plan on doing that but he says he's sending me the case (3 weeks ago!) waiting on the case for another week then the info goes to the mod

If he still plans on keeping the voice box (not sure exactly what that is, actually) then report it to a mods anyway. He doesn't get to dictate what stuff of yours he gets to keep on a whim.

Aspidites · #14 06-03-2011, 11:15 AM

Everything has been great so far with the extremely minor exception of the guy that PM'd me just to let me know he would never buy or trade with an atheist.

Munjibunga · #15 06-03-2011, 11:20 AM

Also, you're going to need to cough up 20 bucks to post any ads. Your 0 feedback will be a bit of a hindrance. I've had many good experiences dealing with TBers and no bad ones.

Munjibunga · #16 06-03-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aspidites

Everything has been great so far with the extremely minor exception of the guy that PM'd me just to let me know he would never buy or trade with an atheist.

Would he deal with agnostics?

Luckie · #17 06-03-2011, 11:23 AM

Theological Noncognitivists?

trunkshope6 · #18 06-03-2011, 11:23 AM

ouch^

paganjack · #19 06-03-2011, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aspidites

Everything has been great so far with the extremely minor exception of the guy that PM'd me just to let me know he would never buy or trade with an atheist.

What was that line about casting the first stone? Everyone should try to be first? I think that was it, yeah.

Anyway I've had nothing but good transactions/trades. Make sure you communicate a lot, check the feedback for both parties. Take lots of pictures and just be honest about everything. Every once in a while I hear about a bad deal but everything I've been a part of has been fine. Buying and selling is a little easier but trades can work too.

A-Step-Towards · #20 06-03-2011, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aspidites

Everything has been great so far with the extremely minor exception of the guy that PM'd me just to let me know he would never buy or trade with an atheist.

Seriously? IMO thats like saying "i wont trade with you due to you being jewish" , I'm not but thats pretty freaking low.

Anyways , i have dealt with people with zero ratings on here, they gott start some where so i popped the cherry so to speak.

But if i was trading they would have to have a good amount of feedback.