Guys that have trouble with selling/buying items!!!

I see posts on here all of the time about guys either getting ripped off buying or selling things. I find it amazing that there are still a bunch of pretty naive guys out there. Here are some things I have found that doing helps keep from getting took.

1) Never send a prepayment to some one you have never dealt with before. Do this 100% of the time and you will be taken much less. Try to have them ship it COD. It may cost you a few dollars more but you can make sure you at least have the item in your hands before payment.

2) When first dealing with a new business makes sure they have an actual business location. As in a prove able address with a brick and motor building so to speak. I many times will look up a equipment dealer that is close to them. Then call that dealer and ask if they have had any dealings with the person selling the item. I have found most real sellers are know by the local dealers, good or bad.

3) For when you do want to buy from a new person. Try to make the first transaction be in person if possible. I have driven some pretty good distances to do this but I figured it was better than getting took. Plus I can inspect what I am looking at.

4) If they are too far away for you to go to. Maybe try to have some one that you know that travels the country stop and do the deal for you. I have several guys that are long distance truckers. I usually can get anything in the lower 48 states looked at with one of them. If the item is small enough to carry they many times can put in in their truck and bring it back to me. I gladly pay them for doing this. It make a little extra cash for them and makes the deal much easier for both the seller and myself.

5) This is a simple one. If the deal looks too good to be true then it more than likely is not a deal but a SCAM!!! A rare 10K tractor for $1500 is not going to happen very often. So do not let your personal greed take over for your logic. Maybe a better way to say that is do not get blinded by emotion in a deal.

6) If selling to some one far from you make sure you get a good form of payment. Do not take checks of any type. Even cashiers checks any more. I used bank transfers all of the time. You do not need his account numbers and he does not need yours. Just he needs to have his bank call your bank and they can do a bank to bank transfer. There is zero risk to either party.

7) Do NOT hire anyone to move/deliver anything when they require payment before doing the haul. Any real hauler will take payment on delivery. If the guy can't afford fuel money then do you really think he is insured??? Just tell them you will have GREEN cash when they get it here.

8) This will be the last one. There could be volumes wrote on this. This very forum has people from just about every state and area in the US and other countries. Use that community to check these guys out. I know most of the dead beats around me. I also know the guys that are as good as gold too. An example of that is Dean Bartles over at Peosta, Iowa. You can take anything that man says/does to the bank. An old saying applies to him: You can trust him with your wife or your billfold. LOL I hope he reads this. Age is make the wife safer as time goes on. LMAO

Have a good week, got to go back to work!!!!

Very well said, sometimes when problems come along,
so does confusion, and that is when some people,
take advanage of others, in their dealing,

The most basic form of NOT getting scammed is......"IN GOD WE TRUST ALL OTHERS MUST PAY CASH"

I had sold some big items in the past on Ebay before they made you go all paypal. I was always amazed at all those that would sent me full payment when all I needed was a deposit or nothing ahead of time just cash at pick up. These guys didn't know me from the man on the moon !

Your rule #7 kinda works both ways.

What guarantee does the trucker have that he will actually get paid when he reaches the final destination?

Yes, he can refuse to unload the tractor until he has cash in hand, and if he doesn't get paid then the tractor remains in his possesion, or does it?

And what happens when the tractor is not worth what it cost to get it there?

Considering how much it costs to operate a truck today, very few legitimate truckers will even start the engine if their is no guarantee of payment. It is cheaper for the trucker to just let the truck set.

Very good advise..I buy from ebay and craigslist all the time. Ebay I wont buy from ANYONE that has a rating below 99.8 Just wont. And usually will look for someone selling same item with a 100%. Havent been burned yet. Craigs.. when I sale I ask for CASH. I will take a check. IF I get a check I make a copy of it and call the bank before taking it to the bank to cash it. Not to say that someday It might happend but at least do the most to not allow it to happen.

P.T.Barnums maxim applies now days more than ever.

These are some good guide lines to do business by. You are so right about Dean Bartles, he is the gold standard for honesty.
Larry

I agree except that #1 is complicated. As a seller I will ship something unpaid if it is under $20 or if I have dealt with the person before. If it is a $50 part I do not want to take the risk of losing the part and the shipping cost if the buyer is a deadbeat. As a buyer I can see why you might not feel safe sending money but I have taken some comfort from the thought that a postal money order can be tracked to some extent.
Zach

Kinda my thinking too. I just started my own electrical contracting business and sometimes need money up front to help cover material costs. Usually I try to deliver the materials to the job site and bill for them at the same time, however it does not always work that way. They are all good and valid points, but there are shades of grey to everything.

Not all buyers and sellers are dead beats. I sent money to guys for parts because that was the only way I was going to get the part. I've also gotten parts from guys who say look it over when you get it and if it's what you want send me a check. Just lucky so far maybe. I wouldn't let a tractor leave the place without payment in full and don't expect anyone else to do the same. I've found guys who will take checks and I have taken them. i will hold whatever I am selling till the check clears however. Probably as save doing it that way as any other except of course cash.

I have dealt with Dean, he is excellent. He even arranged to meet me halfway, as he had business to do anyway in the city we met in. Your right on about him!

As was said, books could be written on this.
If I am dealing with an alleged 'business',
I check www.bbb.org
the better business bureau.
Alot of times a place can be legitimate, but not listed under the available info as they have a parent company, different online name, etc.
And, not all legitimate businesses are listed.
Sometimes have to try a few different ways to finally get the business to show up through the bbb.
Just thought I'd add that on.

(quoted from post at 10:41:48 01/14/13) Not all buyers and sellers are dead beats.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY.

The reality is that *NEARLY ALL* sellers and buyers are good, honest people. Very few are out there looking to stiff you.

My personal rule: Never put more money on the table than you would set fire to. If you aren't literally willing to burn the money, keep it in your pocket.

JD, as I recall, you have one other rule: when going to look at something out in the boonies, pack a Colt 1911.

I have bigger problems selling. When the guy comes to look at the stuff and starts asking me if he can take it and pay later..Or if he can just take this part or that part, pay some and come back for the rest later. Some have even asked if they can take it, see if it works, and pay me later...Keep in mind they are standing there looking me in the eye when they ask this question..

I'd agree, a lot of this is common sense or thinking things out, not being in any kind of hurry, knowing what you want, the condition it needs to be in and how to handle the transaction safely.

And although the situation I will describe, breaks the rules, sometimes an exception can be made or is ok, just don't believe every scenario will turn out fine if repeated.

On one of the forums, ACMOC I believe, was an old WWII era D7 advertised, low hour surplus tractor, but 1200 miles west of here in Illinois. My interest in it was for many reasons, one was nostalgia, as we had one on the farm growing up, + I used to have a full time job running heavy equipment etc.

Well I had some photos sent, all looked as stated, there were some tell tale signs as well as the seller coming across like a very honest person, I sent 2K to hold it, personal check too. I then checked into trucking and so on, sent the remainder, then arranged trucking literally by a phone call, they went and picked up, then delivered this tractor to my house on a phone call, 1200 miles overwidth. I paid them with a personal check and included a $100 bonus, none of us knew each other, bought sight unseen.

Overall, the tractor was a low hour, very nice undercarriage, all original, no wear on the pedals, hour meter intact, working and original, tracks measured out with the gauge to be almost new, grousers were down a little. All in all I was fine with it, needs a bunch of little things,
service work and so on, however about 15 hours onto the meter later the clutch went out, and that was due to it sitting a long long time, the pilot bearing had not been greased, you could see the age on everything in there. Ok fine, hey I bought it sight unseen but I bought it because of the overall condition and what it could be with some work.

You know the seller emailed me some time back, very nice person I thought, was wondering how the D7 was etc, and I told him what happened and I never heard back from him, I thought maybe he may have been embarrassed or something given what happened, but I certainly placed no blame, its old, that bearing was overlooked for a long time, longer than he owned it, I am the 3rd owner, Army had it til 1970, and it was a '45 model. So if you are reading, LOL, everything is cool !!!

I think the point is that although I broke the rules, everyone was honest, got paid their due and it worked out fine, you just wish everyone was as honest, I mean really, a total stranger calls you and says pick up this 15 ton tractor for me, I'll pay you when it arrives, who in heck is going to do that, no contract, just a verbal, I thought that was just unheard of today, but a true story. I was lucky he was able to do the job, as the commercial outfits were 3x the cost.

Well, I buy regularly from e-pay from guys I've never met, don't know and who live hundreds or thousands of miles from me.
Am I just lucky; I had only one slightly bad experience when I bought what was supposed to be a N.O.S. connecting rod and turned out to be used.
Even then, the guy made it good by paying back everything including the shipping.
I do study the guy's rating and sometimes look at his feedback.
I have also had dealings with (purchases and sales) with guys on some of the discussion sites I frequent. Never got burned or burned anybody.
You can sorta get to know people on those sites and most of the guys want to maintain their reputations.
Having said all that, I will have to admit that the largest purchase I've made is in the $300 range so I guess I'm talking "small potatoes" in your way of thinking.

I agree with JDseller 100% on this one. Just had a situation with my father buying a 4020 that was a heck of a deal. It was too good to be true. It was a pile of junk when you looked past the pretty paint job.

some people have a lot of nerve.