Free DO NOT PAY WITH PAYPAL F&F OR ZELLE

Good advice, but TalkBass has flip-flopped on the Friends and Famiily payments over the past couple of years and it has led to confusion and more people getting taken advantage of.

Talkbass, please stop changing your policy on F&F payments in the classifieds.

what is an established member badge

... so , Paypal is ok , just not the "Friends and Family "option , right ??

DaveDeVille said:

... so , Paypal is ok , just not the "Friends and Family "option , right ??

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Correct. The goods and services option has protection for the buyer.

DaveDeVille said:

... so , Paypal is ok , just not the "Friends and Family "option , right ??

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Correct

sears said:

what is an established member badge

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It’s a badge like the supporting member badge that appears next to your username in the classifieds once you have posted I believe 10 times in the forum. It’s definitely not a guarantee that this is a safe member, but the majority of the scams we see are people purchasing a supporting membership immediately upon joining and placing a fake ad.

Strangely, I’m not seeing the established member badges at the moment – Paul is doing some work on the classified currently and they might not be up.

I’m curious what is the risk with handing out phone numbers? Not trying to be cheeky, I just want some education.

I’m someone that grew up in a time where a big book with everyone’s name and number and sometimes address got delivered to your house once a year. Simpler times.

jlo95 said:

Good advice, but TalkBass has flip-flopped on the Friends and Famiily payments over the past couple of years and it has led to confusion and more people getting taken advantage of.

Talkbass, please stop changing your policy on F&F payments in the classifieds.

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There was a period of about a year where we allowed sellers to ask for free free payments. The result of this was far, far more people getting ripped off. Keeping our users as safe as possible was far more important to us so we discontinued this policy, put stickies up in all of the forums telling users about it, and kept them up for a long period. It’s been nearly 2 years since fee free payment requesta were allowed.

AK3000 said:

I’m curious what is the risk with handing out phone numbers? Not trying to be cheeky, I just want some education.

I’m someone that grew up in a time where a big book with everyone’s name and number and sometimes address got delivered to your house once a year. Simpler times.

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In addition to the obvious risk of giving your phone number to a stranger, including the ones that are clearly here to try to rip people off, phone numbers are personal identifiers. They can be used in combination with other information people put out there to access websites, create identity theft, sell your information, etc. if you met someone at a party who told you he makes a living ripping off people on the internet, you wouldn’t want to give that guy your phone number. Think about it the same way when dealing with unknown buyers/sellers online.

@Bryan R. Tyler

Just want to point out that for those of us in Canada wishing to sell to the U.S. or anywhere outside of Canada, a phone number is required on the customs declaration form.

Good advice about the phone numbers - never had an issue and it's sometimes better to discuss sales or even FaceTime but I get it. I suppose the only thing you can't get away from is sharing your mailing address!

Absolutely true the amount of money you save or spend is worth the peace of mind

The buyers need to understand that prices will account for the G&S fee for the seller. My most recent sell for instance, 2400 and PayPal took about $75 and then another 150 shipped with full insurance.
I'm not saying you shouldn't ask for a better deal, I know I will. I have just noticed over the years that some people get upset when you won't go lower and you've already cut your price down significantly and are offering a shipped and insured price.

Your title: DO NOT PAY WITH PAYPAL F&F OR ZELLE is a little misleading. It sounds as if you are advising buyers not to use PayPal at all. I'm getting tired of seeing abbreviations like F&F; is it really too time consuming to write it out so folks actually know it's Friends and Family? Many times it takes longer to decipher it than to write it out. Just my four cents; I know you mean well.

I agree except the phone number thing doesn't make much sense. I have had many successfull dealings with members only after hopping on a phone call and discussing the potential deal on an actual phone call.

This is to get a feel,get to know the other party and gain trust for both parties to feel comfortable with exchanging expensive gear.

The last few deals I have made along with others since around 1999, a phone call was necessary for a successful transaction where everyone is comfortable and happy.

Without a phone call I doubt the last few deals I have completed with have been as successfull.

CrimsonGhost said:

I agree except the phone number thing doesn't make much sense. I have had many successfull dealings with members only after hopping on a phone call and discussing the potential deal on an actual phone call.

This is to get a feel,get to know the other party and gain trust for both parties to feel comfortable with exchanging expensive gear.

The last few deals I have made along with others since around 1999, a phone call was necessary for a successful transaction where everyone is comfortable and happy.

Without a phone call I doubt the last few deals I have completed with have been as successfull.

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If they are a well-established member with a feedback history here then there shouldn’t be any issue with sharing your phone number (although we have seen this go wrong in the past when a deal didn’t go well). But with a brand new member, it’s simply not a smart idea. Remember that having a good experience with something doesn’t mean it doesn’t have potentially negative consequences.

EDIT: as an addendum, there’s still the potential of risk when dealing with what appears to be an established member if they are not securely minded as well. We had a slew of fake sales ads last year and the year before from what appeared to be established members whose accounts elsewhere were hacked and they use the same password from those sites here. Scammers can use scripts to bombard sites with these known passwords until they find an in.

This is why we strongly recommend using two-step verification, as well as keeping your passwords different on different sites and change them often. You wouldn’t believe the number of users that get upset when they have to change their password, or the number of ones that have legacy passwords that are words only four letters long.

Outside of reporting someone if I get ripped off, TalkBass can’t do anything to help whatsoever.
So not sure why people would even expect TB to get involved.
You get ripped off, that’s on you for not being more careful.
TalkBass has zero authority to help in any way. Just report the person and don’t expect any help.

Not sure why Talbass would even get involved in a transaction between two private parties and dictate how they pay each other.
Unless you personally know the other person, or delivering the item by hand, not sure why you would do F&F anyway.

is it unreasonable to suggest allowing it (with explicit notice that you get zero protection in the event of a scam) for members above a certain feedback score?

it seem reasonable that if someone has 50+ positive feedback to allow someone to gamble on trusting them, at their own risk?

groooooove said:

is it unreasonable to suggest allowing it (with explicit notice that you get zero protection in the event of a scam) for members above a certain feedback score?

it seem reasonable that if someone has 50+ positive feedback to allow someone to gamble on trusting them, at their own risk?

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I don’t know why TalkBass would care one way or the next about what two private people do.

TB enforcing rules of PayPal suggests they have some authority in the transaction.
And honestly, if the price was large enough, I’m sure a lawyer out there would love to sue Talkbass along with the guilty party and PayPal if for some reason a deal went sideways.

MikeBass said:

I don’t know why TalkBass would care one way or the next about what two private people do.

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Remarkable. Where is the first place one unhappy party goes to complain when someone?