hi Ian.
I'm from France, i bought and sold items on ebay already. Mobile phones. Probably one of the most risky items to be sold or bought online, don't you think? Most robbed items, very fragile...
The first one was bought, meeting the seller in person. It helps. But it can also be very risky, of course, if the person comes with "accomplices" ok, you're bound to be robbed of your money and not get the item, and you would probably never be able to get help from the cops, the seller (if found back) would say he gave you the item and YOU are the cheater, and so on...
it ended well, partly because i phoned the person a few days before, to set an appointment, and if you can't tell everything from a voice, you can learn a lot... the person was ok on the phone, that's why i met him. Otherwise i probably wouldn't have taken any risk nor appointment.
I then sold a phone, the person phoned me (or i phoned him i don't remember). He seemed ok, once again. but we couldn't meet. So he accepted to pay a tiny bit more, to be able to pay the postman upon reception of the item. I don't know how you call that in the US, i don't even know if it exists, but in France this is some really good way to buy and sell online. You pay the postage company, they take the money, and give it back to you once the transaction is made. Isn't this available for you on Ebay? i'd never buy anything another way.
One of my friends sold his Apple monitor several weeks ago. He found a buyer, the transaction was made your way, the guy sent the cash.
My friend is of the "marijuana" kind. 2 weeks after, the monitor still hadn't reached the local post-office. His girlfriend was going crazy, as the buyer was threatening him of giving his name to the cops, for illegal software... (he only had pirated software!!!) they began to hide all their burnt cds and uninstall 99% of the software on their Macs LOL LOL
He's a honest guy but how could the buyer know it? and even if they both phoned each other and all the stuff, well the guy was going to cause him a lot of trouble.
It ended well, but it could have ended up your way.
Phone your "customers". Phone phone phone. at least you can hear the cheater hesitate, not answer immediately, seem unsure, or even get irritated at your questions about transaction security...
Would you meet a girl you've talked with online, without phoning before? without taking "precautions"? Trust me, always use the phone, or you could end up meeting inappropriate stuff LOL LOL
(and you can't get any cash back)
Ian
I recently wanted to upgrade from my E-10 to a canon D-30. Found
one on E-bay for a great price with 3 lenes. Well It was to good to
be true I bought it and never received it . I wast taken for my
money.I have filed Three different fraud complaints but who knows
if I'll ever get my money back.Seems that this guy does not exist
neither does his Phone # and Address.Just wanted to warn people of
this guy.Name is David Young and his Ebay name was (NPPK) From
Hammond, Indiana.I have seen some new Auctions for other Canon
Digital stuff and It seems to worded the same and with very good
pricing And this member is brand new makes me wonder if this guy is
signing up under bogus names and robbing People.Just wanted to pass
this on so nobody else gets robbed.Oh One more thing DO NOT pay Via
western Union It is not covered by any kind of Fraud protection.
Ian
I would never send anyone a large quantity of money who doesn't
have a trading record of at least a year and at least 10 feed back.
No problem with small stuff, but high dollar items demand some
trading experience as a reference.
--
Dave Lewis
--'I do just about everything in my CCDs...'Forum: 
--Bryan