The Joy Of Selling!

[wiredgeorge]

OK... that bike part has been sitting in your storage area for the last 3 years and the bike it fit on is gone.... sell it on eBay and lose 10 of the sales price? Nah... sell it on Craigs List. I recently sold a passenger backrest from my Triumph. $150 or something like that. Get an email from a guy who was taking a mission trip for six months up into the mountains and could not pick it up. He wanted to pay with PayPal and have his agent pick it up. Would NOT give me an address and refused to accept it shipped. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get a PayPal charge reversed AFTER someone comes buy and picks up the used bike part? Same for selling a bike (or trike). quote... My agent will be by and pick up the bike and give you a cashiers check for the asking amount (never any haggling) and get the title at the same time.... I can't pick up the bike myself as I am offshore working on an oil platform for six months... unquote.

In fact, last time I sold a bike on CL, I had at least 5 of those scammers with essentially the same song and dance. Beware! They are out there.

If anyone ever wants to buy a bike or trike in the San Antonio/South Texas area and is from out of the area let me know as I would be happy to visit the seller and look over the vehicle for you. We need to watch each other's back these days.

[robtdonna]

Same thing here in North Georgia, variations on a theme, gift for son, I am in military cannot come see it, do you have Paypal account , blah blah blah,. IGNORE !

[FRR]

I posted a Mustang seat for sale and a gentleman bought it and said that Ebay told him he had to use Paypal. I told him I won't set up a Paypal account and didn't want to do business that way. We are working out the arrangements now but I won't use Paypal and don't think I will list with Ebay any longer.

[bayoudave]

I have bought many items from folks on this and another bike forum. Made contact got photos and address and mailed a check. Never been hit. However, on CL I do cash only in person, I don't do ebay. I have found that if you email and/or call it doesn't take long to know if they are legit. Of course I am only talking about a couple hundred dollars at most. If I were buying/selling a bike or something of significant value, cash in person only.

[Casper]

When selling anything, if you hear the words agent, western union, etc....RUN!

Scams....I use Paypal all the time, never an issue, also EBay owns PayPal or the other way around...

[slick rick]

,,,,,Never ,,,I've sold a lot on Craigslist , all the way up to big trucks and trailers . Nothing but cash for me , not even a cashiers check cash only ,,,,BEWARE OF SCAMS !!!!!

[wiredgeorge]

When selling anything, if you hear the words agent, western union, etc....RUN!

Scams....I use Paypal all the time, never an issue, also EBay owns PayPal or the other way around...

PayPal is owned by eBay. If you are a small volume eBay seller, like myself, you HAVE TO USE PAYPAL to collect a payment. I sell vintage Japanese motorcycle carburetors and probably sell
about 5-6 a year on eBay (99.5 percent of my business is through my website). Last set I sold
was a set of VM29 smoothbores. Got $750 BUT eBay took about $70 and PayPal took about $35. Really not worth using eBay except that is the only way to get your product in front of a huge audience.

[0pini0nated]

PayPal is owned by eBay. If you are a small volume eBay seller, like myself, you HAVE TO USE PAYPAL to collect a payment. I sell vintage Japanese motorcycle carburetors and probably sell
about 5-6 a year on eBay (99.5 percent of my business is through my website). Last set I sold
was a set of VM29 smoothbores. Got $750 BUT eBay took about $70 and PayPal took about $35. Really not worth using eBay except that is the only way to get your product in front of a huge audience.

I too, have been successfully selling take-off motorcycle parts for years. Also, three cars and an ultralight aircraft.

Craigslist.org is geo-local, and works well for local sales. For a wider audience, eBay makes it easy to sell something country-wide, but small volume eBay seller fees costs me 15% (eBay auction + PayPal fees combined).

Cash is king in the kingdom of Craigslist.org. Also, official bank checks work for me. Everything else is suspect.

On eBay / PayPal, they have guarantees, but trying to get $ back from them is a PITA. After spending a few hours on the phone with eBay & PayPal, it's tempting to just say "forget it" and write it off as a bad experience.

Also agree with 'KentuckyBlue' ~ "agent," "western union," "price in USD?" "shipper" ~ and I just delete the e-mail.

[wiredgeorge]

I too, have been successfully selling take-off motorcycle parts for years. Also, three cars and an ultralight aircraft.

Craigslist.org is geo-local, and works well for local sales. For a wider audience, eBay makes it easy to sell something country-wide, but small volume eBay seller fees costs me 15% (eBay auction + PayPal fees combined).

Cash is king in the kingdom of Craigslist.org. Also, official bank checks work for me. Everything else is suspect.

On eBay / PayPal, they have guarantees, but trying to get $ back from them is a PITA. After spending a few hours on the phone with eBay & PayPal, it's tempting to just say "forget it" and write it off as a bad experience.

Also agree with 'KentuckyBlue' ~ "agent," "western union," "price in USD?" "shipper" ~ and I just delete the e-mail.

Be very careful of bank checks. With the advent of high quality printers and good publishing software, you can print bank checks and even money orders
that are authentic looking if they are smart enough to use the right print stock.
My daughter is a manager at a national credit union and she tells me that fake cashiers, bank and money orders are becoming all too frequent.

[Ol' Man Jeb]

Be very careful of bank checks. With the advent of high quality printers and good publishing software, you can print bank checks and even money orders
that are authentic looking if they are smart enough to use the right print stock.
My daughter is a manager at a national credit union and she tells me that fake cashiers, bank and money orders are becoming all too frequent.

Years ago I had purchased a book for about $20 thru a magazine subscription I had at the time. The book was from a company that advertised thru the mag. I sent the check, received the book and thought all was well. Some time passed and the book company dunned me for payment. I photocopied the canceled check and sent it to them as proof I'd already paid it. Somehow or other, the book company cashed the photocopy and my bank at the time honored it and paid the book co. again. I couldn't believe it. Happy ending tho, I got reimbursed.