Buying and Selling; shipping items and Escrow.com
Good Morning Audiogonners-
I'm considering attempting to purchase some large/heavy speakers from an individual seller on this site, and am concerned about shipping damage, and wonder of anyone could share experience with escrow.com as a means of payment.
From my personal interactions with UPS and FedEx over the last couple of years, I've learned that (I can't remember which) unless you have a personal or business account, you can't insure (a) over a relatively low figure for "damage"; or (b) for anything other than a lost item, such that the buyer and seller might end up with some very nice speakers damaged in shipping and a shipper that has limited willingness to "do" anything about it.
In addition to that, I've never had the personal pleasure of filing an insurance claim with either of FedEx or UPS, but have read many a horror story about the process.
To the extent that a buyer and seller agree that shipping damage is the responsibility of the Seller, and that (for instance) Buyer can document said shipping damage, and after returning the damaged speakers to the seller, receive a refund of 100% of the purchase price, I wonder if "Escrow.com" is a service that anyone has used and could comment upon?
I’ve used escrow.com a half dozen times and it has worked flawlessly. I did encounter some resistance from prospective buyers, but in the end they all signed up and used it. As the buyer you could dictate that escrow.com is the only service you will use. If they want to make the sale and are willing to properly package the speakers they would probably not object. |
(+1 @ elliottbnewcombjr)
The answer is simple - Include the cost of VISA, PP or other secure transactions (usually 3%) when negotiating the final cost (including shipping) of the offered item(s).
All buyers - NEVER use PP F&F, cash, or direct payments. All sellers - please know that requiring F&F, cash, etc. nearly eliminates the opportunity for a sale of your equipment. I/we will never buy from you... Case closed. |
I can only speak from personal experience, but I only accept personal check or money order for my sales. Commonly folks ask to pay me via PayPal and I only accept F&F in that instance. It has not hurt my sales at all, in fact, I only have one piece for sale at the moment. Then again, I do not ever ship large speakers as the OP is correct, these have an increased probability of damage, so I sell these on Craigslist, and would never purchase large speakers that had to be shipped. If I did, I would ship via a moving company, rather than a common carrier. As a buyer, I am sympathetic to sellers that ask for F&F, and purchased a Naim Supercap for several thousand dollars last month F&F. It’s certainly not for everyone, but to believe that there are not a ton of transactions happening this way is simply uninformed thinking. There are also some great dealers of used gear for the risk averse, TMR and ECHO are both excellent. |
