Buying from classifieds

[509TrophyHusband]

I have a question for you guys. I'm fairly new here. I see a lot of guys on classifieds asking for Venmo, pay pal f&f. Is this something you guys trust? I know many of you guys have bought from the classifieds. Just wondering what your thoughts are. I have had nothing but good luck with good people on here. However I know for every 100 people there is always a few sour apples. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[FEENIX]

I have a question for you guys. I'm fairly new here. I see a lot of guys on classifieds asking for Venmo, pay pal f&f. Is this something you guys trust? I know many of you guys have bought from the classifieds. Just wondering what your thoughts are. I have had nothing but good luck with good people on here. However I know for every 100 people there is always a few sour apples. Thanks in advance guys.

I rely heavily on the feedback forum. I have not purchased much, but most of my transactions are with a personal check or USPS MO. Both buyer and seller customarily agree upon payment options. You are correct; we have a lot of good folks here that I trust and with the utmost respect.

Ed

 

[OldDutch]

Venmo is no less secure than a check or money order, just faster. It's a wire transfer, just like using the routing number on a check. If you trust the person enough to send a money order, you can save time by using Venmo. Some guys don't have Venmo or Cashapp or whatever, and I've had them text or email me a picture of the front and back of the check rather than mailing it to me. I then direct deposit it to my account with my phone using the pictures without ever having the original check.

PayPal doesn't cover anything firearm related. So if you get screwed on anything other than binoculars or spotting scopes, they won't help you anyway. As such, there's no reason to give them fees for a non F&F transfer.

Verify the person has the item before paying. That's all you can do. Caveat Emptor.


Edit - I suppose the case could be made that Venmo is less secure because you are sending the money to a user name instead of a physical address. I retract some of what I wrote above. It is easier to get scammed with Venmo than with a mailed check.

 

[Deputy819]

I rely heavily on the feedback forum. I have not purchased much, but most of my transactions are with a personal check or USPS MO. Both buyer and seller customarily agree upon payment options. You are correct; we have a lot of good folks here that I trust and with the utmost respect.

Ed

^^^^THIS^^^^
I do quite a bit of 'business' on here and so far I've not had any 'glitches' with payments for PayPal/Venmo. Had a few transactions where communications weren't great or USPS dropped the ball on a mailed check/money order, but that's all.

 

[509TrophyHusband]

Mainly worried about making a payment and not receiving the product.

 

[Rick Richard]

I am old school so it's USPS Money Order for the most part or a personnel check. If I am the seller, the check must clear the bank before sending the sold item.

 

[milo-2]

Mainly worried about making a payment and not receiving the product.

If this is the case, really doesn't matter what form of payment is sent. You are more concerned if the seller is legit, remove all doubt before paying.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

If we are selling something or trading we always look at the Seller/Buyer history for the person on this forum. If they have been on this forum for quite a while and have good reviews we feel safe making a transaction. We even sent items to the buyer before even receiving payment. Also we have had other sellers send us items before sent the check out.
Most of the transactions we make are done through PayPal and we never ever had any issues with the members on this forum. Always good conversations and making new friends.
Every now and then there will be a scammer so use good judgement especially on high dollar items. This group is really good at noticing a sale if it looks out of the norm.

 

[Darryle]

I closed my eBay, Zelle, Paypal and cash app accounts over privacy concerns within those companies. I have Venmo, but only use the Venmo debit card to pay for our cellular camera subscriptions at our deer lease. It makes it where all the cameras are on one account and every member has access to each camera without having to log out and log in to a different account.

I use personal check or postal money order for payment, I am content with waiting for the payment to clear and I accept either from members who meet the feedback, status/length of being a forum member and their activity on the forum. If you meet the buyer litmus test, I generally ship the same day you provide me an address and tell me you will take the item.

 

[Dosh]

I do USPS money order only for every transaction both buying and selling since joining this forum. I had one purchaser talk me into a personal check which cleared, but wasn't comfortable with it. I have Zelle to use only for receiving payment for components I send to my friend in Ca. So far no one has refused to take or pay with USPS money order.

 

[slas]

I've done USPS MO on everything I've bought and/or sold here so far. Never had any issues, but I understand that it's always going to make someone a tad nervous, especially when the money order you're sending is several thousands of dollars. In those cases I always, again always, have several discussions with the seller before sending, and by that time generally feel pretty comfortable doing so.

 

[xsn10s]

Mainly worried about making a payment and not receiving the product.

For that I generally follow FEENIX's advise. I generally will look at the person's activity on the website and get a feel for them. At least some PM's back and forth, maybe a phone call especially on larger items. I do personal checks or money orders for the most part. And I'll send it to an address.

 

[Darryle]

If you hang out and participate in the forum or any forum, you will learn a lot about what's available in the pipeline within the industry, tips and tricks, new techniques and you'll have a blast and you will soon learn that the community is much smaller than you thought, you will see the same avatar and forum names on multiple forums. That too instills faith in that buyer or seller because you have seen them participate across multiple platforms and realize that they are straight up good people.

The facts are, very few people actually have a check book any more or make payments that way, it's generally us fossils that embrace a personal check, and there are a few on this forum that actually have worse penmanship than me, something I thought impossible.

 

[crystalgayleguy]

regardless of how you pay or receive payment with the USPS mail its might not get there had it happened twice when I mailed a set of dies to Colorado to make it right i sent another set the other was a rem 700 short action magazine box both never left my post office so i next day aired the magazine box to make it right