Has anyone sold over $35k worth of equipment over the net? How do you protect yourself?

That is why the best policy is to donate it to a neighbor kid who will appreciate it and go on to be an audiophile much like yourself. 

@dman777  I have sold several high end items over the internet.  My rules are as follows:

1. Open communication with buyer and move to phone and video chat, where they can see me and the equipment. 

2. Have the buyer check me out on Audio Mart.  100% satisfaction rating.  There needs to be a level of trust

3.  I only accept payment as a direct bank to bank wire transfer.  By this time the buyer will have seen the item ready for pick-up and will have been provided the shipping quote and details. 

4.  Nothing leaves my hands before full payment is in my account.  Once a transfer has been made and deposited,  it can't be clawed back.  

I have never had an issue being paid and the buyer has never had an issue after purchase.  Naturally I ship fully insured.  Cheers. 

It’s common for audiophiles buy used gear

Audio dealers sell online all the time

We cannot control the behaviors of others including dishonest buyers. It’s the risk we all must bare. The alternative is to do nothing, then nothing will be accomplished.  We accept the risk in order to move forward AND not live in fear.

Maybe sell to a dealer or business like TMR which would lower your risk, but at a cost- nobody works for free.

The OP seems overly fearful of getting burned when selling. The risk will always be there, but the fear is optional.  

I just sold a piece of gear through TMR and found it to be a very satisfactory process. The equipment sold quickly and this is one way to insulate yourself from having to deal with after the sale issues. It comes at a price, of course, because the TMR commission is pretty stiff. TMR provides a good service, however, and for me it’s worth it, for others maybe not. But it is a way to eliminate the buyer issues that OP is concerned about

@bigtwin 
“ ….Nothing leaves my hands before full payment is in my account.  Once a transfer has been made and deposited,  it can’t be clawed back.,,”

+1

in God we trust ,,,,,everybody else pays cash,

100% @bigtwin 

For smaller purchases, PP F/F is fine.  Anything major, wire transfer, or cash on pick up.  It is up to the buyer to vet the seller through conversation, feedback, etc.  Always ship fully insured, after payment received and cleared into your account.  Many will ask you to devalue the shipment to save them on duties or taxes.  Don't do that.  I recently sold high value speakers to Taiwan; the buyer completely trusted me based on USAudiomart feedback.

More like 15K of gear in this market :p 

There’s no way to 100% de-risk anything. That said, I’ve sold a lot of audio components over the years (always at a loss), certainly into 6-figures, and no incidents of note. I’ve only ever sold through dedicated hifi audio marketplaces: e.g. here (audiogon), usam, head-fi. That’s a decent 1st filter. Next, you judge the potential buyer. All-green if their communication is good and feedback is 100%. I’ve sold to members with no feedback before, but I’m very wary of anyone with a NEW account and no feedback. 

If they communicate poorly, request anything weird, or I just simply get annoyed by them - I STOP communicating. It’s really that easy. You get to be as picky as you like up front, BEFORE money changes hands. 

I generally use PayPal, and don’t require friends & family. Probably your bigger risk here is damage or loss in transity, and there UPS and FedEx are pretty good in my experience. I’ve had UPS lose a VPI speed controller - that’s it.  Either use factory packing or do a REALLY good job. 

What @mulveling said. +1

Having just recently gone through selling a fairly expensive car in doing my research really only a couple fail safe ways to do this. One is wire transfer, two is cash but you better have black light for checking forged bills. Anything printed on paper is liable to be forged so no cashiers check, on checks of any king. None of these apps such as Zelle, PP, Venmo are absolutely safe either. I ended up selling car locally using cashiers check, met purchaser at his credit union, they printed out cashiers check in front of me. I deposited immediately into my checking account at my bank, before I could withdraw any cash they had to speak via telephone to credit union cashiers check was drawn on, the teller stated she had seen too many sad tales of forged cashiers checks, thus this policy.

As for audio purchases and sales, I've never had an issue. I look for plenty of feedback and personal contact, paypal ff only when I'm completely sure. I also purchase perhaps half my items from dealers, willing to pay a bit more for the peace of mind and ease of transactions.

I don't have many posts but have followed this forum for years. I think a buyer is taking a huge risk sending funds through PayPal F&F or wire transfer. There is zero recourse if the seller is fraudulent. Wire transfer fraud is rampant. IMHO it's better to pay the additional 3% PayPal fee and have peace of mind. I believe that IRS reporting may be a contributing factor in moving sellers away from PayPal to wire transfer transactions. (also the 3% fee). As the saying goes, "Buyer beware".

Good Question!

Using a reputable dealer like TMR can make things as easy as possible if not looking for absolute top dollar.

Otherwise I’d probably lean towards a local sale with a due diligence process.

What else?

Donate?  Why not?

Yes often  you  can open up a merchant account 

Or wire transfers to you 

You can't protect yourself.

What you can do is ensure that whatever you are doing is done to safeguard yourself as a seller.

Do not let yourself be bullied into a persons buying pitch, there are 100's of long winded get under your skin techniques. 

Do not sell anywhere that a Buyer Protection is a enforced method for the Buyer to make a Payment.

Typically a few Months can lapse before the use of the protection can kick in.

It is very important to have a sale with the residual overhang and menacing that can be brought into the sale.

@jmnextime1 - Indeed; I would never buy anything if my only option was wire transfer; I could be mistaken, but I'd wager the buyer gets ripped off more often, as the unscrupulous seller has the item (or it doesn't exist) and the buyer has nothing until they receive it, and no recourse if they don't. But common sense works on both sides. 

I put stuff on Face Book,local  and cash.I worked for the old PO loading and unloading trucks I've seen in person ,packages being thrown  and mishandled. I worked as a shipping clerk for a,audio and electronics company...seen stuff packed poorly. I Worked for UPS as a tracing clerk and then claims dept...I've seen it all ,all kinds of fraud,and lousy claims,liars and thieves.Ifs not easy selling audio equipment Good  Luck 

Perhaps I am just paranoid. But no way I would ever do something like that. I would sell to a reseller or consign. Ever since I got ripped off as an 18 year old buying a used car, where the battery was charged to cover up it had no alternate, or fly wheel and could only operate for a few hours. The guys were at the bank cashing the check immediately. 

I also know guys that buy and sell $10K audio stuff. They seem really lucky to me. 

I've used lawyers as escrow agents. Not expensive, given the amounts at stake. Escrows are pretty common in all sorts of industries- an intermediary who receives the funds and holds them as a neutral, releases the funds once the other side advises that the goods have been satisfactorily delivered. That still doesn't account for the difficult buyer, but I've rarely had an issue. 

For big dollar purchases, you can do a "closing"- which can now be done virtually. 

The hidden defect, the things that don't show up in a pre-purchase inspection, are what will "get you" as a buyer.  As a seller, I try to be as scrupulous as possible. I've sold high end properties, collectible motorcars, vintage stuff that way. In fact, I'm doing a few deals now with vintage motorsports and will offer the buyer that kind of protection. But, I usually go the distance as a seller, and make sure everything is "right" before I put it up for sale. 

I’ve used escrow.com to good effect. The fees are relatively low, and transparently declared here. For larger amounts, it's convenient for the buyer to be able to wire the money to them, and they will then wire it on to the seller after the escrow is released.

The buyer assumes huge risk for something that expensive. I would do it in person only with the bank process described above about the car, if I was the buyer. At 35,000, traveling for pickup would be a pittance %wise. And I would want to check out the merch. I know you are asking as seller, but even as seller I would want it to be in person. At that price level there is too much risk for me otherwise, especially considering shipping. Otherwise, middleman like TMR is the way to go, bite the bullet for peace of mind.

I recently sold two items with TMR on consignment. I think they take 35% with consignment or you may choose to sell to them outright (for less money). They show the items on several different sites including their own site. It took a few months but well worth it (for me) to avoid the anxiety of selling to an individual. It was a pleasant experience. 

It’s that gut feeling you get after a phone conversation - something I recommend when dealing with high-value items. I once had a $35K transaction, local pickup, cash payment, and we’ve been “audio friends” ever since.

I would never pay with wire transfer. I have sold some pretty expensive speakers. The guy came to my house and paid in cash. It's the best way for both parties. He gets to hear the product and the deal is DONE that day. It does shrink your potential buyer pool. I have sold electronics through the mail. No problems.

Very few platforms like ebay do anything to protect the seller. In most instances the buyer is king. 

To be clear, escrow services like escrow.com exist precisely for this purpose - to protect both buyer and seller in an expensive transaction, and they charge relatively modest fees. Buyer sends money to the escrow service, the service tells seller to send the equipment to buyer, and there’s an agreed-upon inspection period. If the buyer is satisfied, the service releases funds to seller. Otherwise, buyer sends equipment back to seller (at their own expense), and once seller confirms receipt, escrow service returns funds to buyer. There’s professional dispute resolution if things really go south, and it’s certainly still very useful to vet the counterparty before the transaction - but this is mostly a solved problem.