I’m not sure as to which forum to put this in, so Admin feel free to move I maybe speaking out of turn, but how to you guys buy and sale items via many online sales from person to person. What would be the most equitable trade between buyers and sellers in the exchange of chainsaws for cash or trade. How do you send those chainsaws. Do you trust the other party to do what they say or not. Or do you only deal with someone that you have built up a Buyer-Seller trust relationship with. Lately it’s come to my attention that the USPS, UPS, and FedEx all have a service called Collect on delivery. That would guarantee a trust between a buyer and seller if a price was agreed upon. Looking for ideas as to how to handle those private sales that are found online.
All but a couple of mine have been from someone on a forum that has a good reputation or I knew them from a forum. As far as person to person goes. Not counting Ebay. I've had two people contact me from other states when I've listed a saw on my local Craigslist. One went to Wisconsin, the other California. I'm in MI. It was basically they paid up front and I shipped it. I pick the cheapest shipper. I box / pack them very well.
Speaking of C.O.D., I figured that was long in the past! Hadn’t heard that term forever, until last week I overheard the boss on the phone and ordering something to be delivered COD. It used to be a fairly common transaction in these parts. I figured debit cards, and the changing of our society had killed it off.
I have purchased a few things off of the classified thread here and I have had no problems. I have sent payment before shipment and all is good. There are good, honest people on this forum I remember C.O.D. being called 'Collect Off Daddy"
That's kinda what I was referring to, how to know if you are dealing with good honest people. I'm looking at COD as a way not to get stuck for sending payment and not receiving what we had agreed on. this is a listing on marketplace and is out of state.
No experience with buying a saw. Have bought from and sold things to members of forums before. Bought one saw off of craigslist some years back that was fairly painless as it was FTF transaction. If nothing else, buying through a forum offers the 'protection' of offending the forum members if you get welched on a deal. It usually doesn't get to happen a second time. It seems 'slow' by modern standards, but paying by check will leave a paper trail. 'Chainsaw Purchase' in the memo line...or even more specific. Honestly...if I'm at all spooked I don't care what kind of deal it is, I'll pass.
Cod was common probably 30 years ago but with the changing world we live in I don’t believe any of the delivery companies want to put there people at risk of carrying money
I’ve bought and sold a few, sent a few for porting. For me it comes down to knowing the reputation of the person you are dealing with. I simply would not trust someone without that credibility. I’ve always used UPS to ship and receive saws. My local FedEx is terrible! I wrap the powerhead only, sometimes with handlebar removed to position in a smaller box, in a scented garbage bag making sure it’s fully drained of gas/oil. Then I find old styrofoam/bubble wrap etc and give it lots of cushion but pack it super tight. Can’t guess how many times but I have yet to have one issue. Another thing I always did was to sandwich a rag or folded up shop paper towel in between the clutch cover and where the oil pump outlet is, to catch any residual that could come out. If shipper sees a leaking box, that could get flagged. You mentioned it being a mp seller. Only way that deal would happen w me is a pay service that had buyer protection. I use PayPal and you can pay “goods and services”, which adds a small % to the fee but if you didn’t get your item, PP would refund you then collect back from the seller.
I’ve purchased many saws from eBay sellers and they’ve all been pretty much as described. I don’t pay more than I would for a parts saw so that way if it doesn’t work as described I won’t be disappointed. I’ve purchased from the local marketplace as well and it’s nice to be able to run the saws before making the actual exchange. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
