Buying & Selling to Each Other?

SeaBass

Funny I've sold and purchased items from several Rebreather World members and haven't gotten one single green for it.

.... then again I haven't given out any either.

Thanks for the tip Tim... guess I have some catching up to do.

Thom

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Scuttle

I have had a dishonorable Rebreather World member not cough up the dough when the part I supplied was free & all he had to do was pay for the O/S freight !
several emails went un-answered so I gave up.

I have noticed him trawling & inquiring for other bits from others.
Which brings me to ask, what would you do?
1.Discredit him here in public
2.Warn the seller.
3.
4.

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sold CK182 now its CK243

Andy Del

Mate, name and shame, name and shame. I have been in that situation once, strangely enough, another trumpet... and the dipsh*t accepted payment from three people and chose to ship to the closest to save on his postal costs. A week later he returned the money via Paypal, but minus fees and stuff, cost $100. As it was through a web forum where he conducted a lot of business, I named and shamed. He squawked and squawked and ducked and weaved.

It was quite funny.

Guess I'm a sh*t stirrer sometimes if bored at work. Not that I don't do a good 10 hour day every day, and am... (pathetic rant on working too much deleted out of interest in the common good)

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Yellow - the colour of greatness!

sadave

Option 3... Hopefully said user will see this post / thread, and come good before he gets named and shamed. Maybe give him one more chance Jeff, then go your hardest...

As usual, its a case of one rotten egg spoiling it for the rest of us...

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Ben Field

I've had no problem using Paypal or ebay (1 rebreather and 2 cars!) but am aware it has gone very wrong for some others.

As a totally alternative method some of us have used a debt/exchange/buy system... I don't relly know what you'd call it but it worked nicely.

When I wanted a new torch a trusted friend based abroad was able to supply it, he did so on the understanding anything he needed from the UK upto that value I would pay for and ship to him, so bit by bit he got his money back over the next few months, we did a similar deal another time for a camera housing, rather than buy direct from an unknown seller I acted as agent, checked it out, bought it and shipped it while he transfered me the costs.

Of course you need a trust worthy mate who knows there dive stuff but it does work.

I'd be happy to meet the seller and confirm an online description of a for sale item for anyone here for sellers based in the SouthEast Uk as an unbiased witness, I think it would be a good use of the forum, avoids ebay which seems to attract fraudsters (which is a great shame as its a brilliant system)

BEN

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www.hugsac.org.uk

firemandiver

Just wanted to add my two cents to the thread... I have bought, sold, and traded several items with other Rebreather World members and have had no trouble at all. I think that being a active member is a good indication of a safe and fair deal. As the other poster said, most everyone on here is known by another member. It would be fairly simple to track someone down if the need arose. I may be a bit optomistic, but I don't think that there are too many crooks on RBW. I think that if you're the type of person who would invest the $$$ for a rebreather, you're not likely to rip off a fellow Rebreather diver.

Fleabay, on the other hand, is rife with cheats, frauds, and scammers. I Ebay quite often, and luckily have had only been burned once. I got taken for about $400 for a part for my truck. Paypal recovered $175 of the nearly $600 I paid for an item I didn't recieve. Seller was bogus, sent misleading emails, etc. Any time I am spending more than a little $ I try to contact the seller by phone for a question or two. Most sellers who are legit will be happy to help. FD

w ripley

Thanks for all of the good advice.

It appears that if you are buying or selling anything of substantial value (a Rebreather qualifies for that) whether within your own country or internationally -- and don't know who you are working with -- that Escrow.com is a good option.

I went on their website and they support international sales in all but a handful of countries, the list of which probably wouldn't surprise anyone here. Their process appears somewhat lengthy, but there are lots of "I"s to dot and "T"s to cross to verify the funds are real, etc. Assuming that both sides of the transaction have a reasonable understanding as to what/the condition/etc. they are buying or selling, then the process should move along in an acceptable time period.

I say that because there is a buyer inspection period during which the buyer can refuse the shipment for specified reasons and get his money back from the service. As you can guess, it has to take some time to escrow the buyer's money and to get the seller's merchandise physically to him for inspection, for example.

You can structure the sale/purchase any way you want: Buyer pays for shipping to him and seller for the return if the sale doesn't go thru; The buyer pays the fee to the company or the buyer and seller split it. The options are infinite, but neither side loses their shirt if the deal goes bad.

They also look like they know their way around expedient ways to transfer funds, and have a good checklist of items that need to be considered (e.g., customs, taxes, currency, etc.). Naturally, they charge a fee for their service which floats on a number of variables that you, as buyer or seller, add to the equation.

The advice about judging someone by their Rebreather world posts also makes a lot of sense. It doesn't provide the guaranty that Escrow.com can, but it has great value just the same.

Thanks again, it was very helpful.

Bill

onetime

Just a note about Paypal's "guarantee". My wife bought, from an overseas seller on ebay, a rare CD from the group Evanescence. It was described as original and in excellent condition. This guy had a 98.5% or something ebay reputation. She paid via Paypal as I told her it should be an ok transaction given his reputation (a couple of hundred sales/purchases) and the fact that Paypal has the guarantee.

Well, the guy never sends us anything. We contact him through ebay and he claims it was shipped x weeks ago and to give it a little more time. We do and nothing comes. He doesn't respond to any further contact. So we lodge a complaint with ebay, I track down another of his emails via the web and still no response. Finally we make a claim against him via Paypal (he's a preferred and verified member) stating that we did not receive the item. Paypal contacts him and he immediately ships us a crappy home made CD of the songs. More than half the songs don't even play. We try to make a claim against him via Paypal and they claim there's only one complaint allowed per transaction. Since our original complaint was that we didn't receive the item and he shipped us something that we signed for that complaint was resolved in their opinion and the second complaint of not receiving an item as described wouldn't be accepted.

So be careful of anything you expect Paypal to "guarantee". Not that this was a big deal since it was only like $50 but let it be known that there are people that know how to work the system even when you try to do everything "right".

Skipbreather

Folks, remember: PayPal IS ebay. Ebay IS paypal. Ebay bought paypal a number of years ago. Ebay is paid by the SELLER. Partially up front. Whether item sells or not and whether ad is fraudulent or not. Do the math on who will be favored in a dispute.

There is only one way, short of escrow, to safely buy on ebay these days. Pay via a credit card (not debit card) thru paypal. Be absolutely certain it is not paypal’s credit card. Dispute the charge via your credit card’s process if you are cheated. I’ve only had to do this once , but got an earful from them when I did.

My card company maintains several FULL TIME employees who deal EXCLUSIVELY with paypal. I was told by them what a joke ebay/ paypal’s dispute system appears to be to them and how seldom (almost never) disputes are settled for the buyer.

Giant red flag: Seller limits paypal transactions to non-credit card transactions. Care to hazard a guess why?

Caveat emptor!

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"Entropy RULES! Enjoy the interim."

windymiller

Ok, what do i do?

I purchased a torch off here from a member in another EU country..

We concluded the deal nearly a month ago and i payed him via paypal.

As yet the torch hasnt turned up and I havent been able to contact him via email or PM (He hasnt been online since mid february)

I know it doesnt take this long for things to arrive and I really dont doubt his integrity but getting hold of him would be nice!