Lanascountry
11-17-2007, 04:19 PM
Auction Buying Safety and Protection
With everyone beginning the 'rush' to the holidays, perhaps it is time we discuss for a moment buyer safety. Most of these suggestions you all know and follow, but a refresher might be in order for some of us. If anyone has anything to add please feel free to join in!
Let me start out by saying that even if a seller has not built feedback on a site yet, if you recognize the seller's name, ID, 'handle', chances are that seller will give the same great service and dependability in all his/her online sales, regardless of site affiliation.
You may also contact the seller about a product or service to learn more about the person.
But, lets face it,if you are dealing with someone you have never met,you can't see, and know nothing about it can be a little scary! There are some steps you can take to protect yourself from a possibly unscrupulous seller. A lot of the auction sites today provide various protective policies for the patrons.
A little groundwork and common sense on your part will go a long way to protecting yourself. Most auctions today have a 'feedback' system with which you can check on a buyer or seller's track record. Take a look at the buyer or sellers feedback and see how they have performed in the past. Did the buyer send the funds quickly,were they fast to reply to e-mail notices, as a seller,did they ship promptly, was the merchandise as described, how was their packaging?
This will give you a very good indication of the calibar person you are dealing with.
It is commonplace for sellers to request payment prior to shipping. Of the many ways to pay for your items,the credit card is one of the safest choices. Checks,money orders and cashiers checks provide little recourse if you have been swindled. They are a last resort but there are a lot of sellers who are not setup for credit card purchases so there will be times when you must use other forms of payment.
Several on-line pay systems are available that allow you to e-mail your payment thru a secure environment. We are using them with a great deal of success. Buyers do not have to wait for checks to clear and sellers have payment within minutes and are able to ship the same day in most cases. I like the fact that you only give your credit card info out once,at sign up. From then on it is recorded so you simply exchange funds with no additional credit card information exchanged over the net.
Now with that all said lets' all make this a great and SAFE buying and selling seaon online!
With everyone beginning the 'rush' to the holidays, perhaps it is time we discuss for a moment buyer safety. Most of these suggestions you all know and follow, but a refresher might be in order for some of us. If anyone has anything to add please feel free to join in!
Let me start out by saying that even if a seller has not built feedback on a site yet, if you recognize the seller's name, ID, 'handle', chances are that seller will give the same great service and dependability in all his/her online sales, regardless of site affiliation.
You may also contact the seller about a product or service to learn more about the person.
But, lets face it,if you are dealing with someone you have never met,you can't see, and know nothing about it can be a little scary! There are some steps you can take to protect yourself from a possibly unscrupulous seller. A lot of the auction sites today provide various protective policies for the patrons.
A little groundwork and common sense on your part will go a long way to protecting yourself. Most auctions today have a 'feedback' system with which you can check on a buyer or seller's track record. Take a look at the buyer or sellers feedback and see how they have performed in the past. Did the buyer send the funds quickly,were they fast to reply to e-mail notices, as a seller,did they ship promptly, was the merchandise as described, how was their packaging?
This will give you a very good indication of the calibar person you are dealing with.
It is commonplace for sellers to request payment prior to shipping. Of the many ways to pay for your items,the credit card is one of the safest choices. Checks,money orders and cashiers checks provide little recourse if you have been swindled. They are a last resort but there are a lot of sellers who are not setup for credit card purchases so there will be times when you must use other forms of payment.
Several on-line pay systems are available that allow you to e-mail your payment thru a secure environment. We are using them with a great deal of success. Buyers do not have to wait for checks to clear and sellers have payment within minutes and are able to ship the same day in most cases. I like the fact that you only give your credit card info out once,at sign up. From then on it is recorded so you simply exchange funds with no additional credit card information exchanged over the net.
Now with that all said lets' all make this a great and SAFE buying and selling seaon online!