10 Suggestions for making Buying/Selling/trading Better

[Bid Doctor]

I have done a lot of selling, buying and trading on HF. Nearly all have been positive experiences. Here are my suggestions for keeping this a great place to Buy/Sell/Trade (without the fees you are charged on eBay):


1) Don't POST a new thread until you have all the information ready to go - it is frustrating to see "Will post pictures tonight" or "More information to follow" or "PM me for details"

2) Be CLEAR in your listing about what is included and what is not - don't "hide the ball" because the biggest deterrent to a sale is a lack of trust

3) If you say "I will take it" then complete the deal. It is not fair to have a seller take their items off the market and have the buyer change his/her mind

4) Always pay through Pay Pal so both sides are protected, and please, DO NOT ask for the payment to be a "gift." It is NOT a gift, it is a TRANSACTION, and Pay Pal deserves to be paid for providing that service, plus it is very hard to trace a "gift" because there is no shipping address in the Pay Pal record. If you don't want to pay the fee, then add them to your selling price.

5) If you say you are going to ship on a certain day (or pay on a certain day) then DO IT ON THAT DAY! It speaks to your credibility, and you will find that just one or two days "late" on that promise will cost you part of your reputation.

6) Under promise and over deliver. What ever it is that you are selling, don't over sell it because you set yourself up for criticism, and your buyer up for disappointment, if when the box is opened it contains less than what you promised, or is in a condition worse than what you listed.

7) Be prompt in the shipping. Don't let the sale go stale by making the buyer wait. Ship the next business day whenever possible. You will get great positive feedback when the item arrives much sooner than was expected.

8) As a buyer, be reasonable about what you expect for your money. If you are paying $500 for something don't expect to get $700 worth of stuff. Transactions are supposed to be "Mutually Beneficial" which means BOTH SIDES got a good deal, not just one side.

9) As a buyer, don't try to "low ball' the offer. You look stupid or not knowledgeable, and you create a negative atmosphere right away, which hurts the negotiation later.

10) Follow up after the sale/trade/purchase to make sure the other party received the payment or item, and then be sure to USE THE FEEDBACK SYSTEM so others will know how the transaction went.

If you do the above you will get great ratings and have happy buyers and sellers, and all on HF will benefit!

[Holmquist]

+100

[loknar28]

Are there any best practices for handling logistics and safety durring a trade?

[TheMark]

Good stuff!

I have a few more

1. When the seller ships. Send the buyer a PM, it's better to over-communicate here.

2. When the buyer receives the item, send the seller a PM letting them know it's arrived.

3. As a buyer, test the item out and if you feel there is a problem... Report it immediately to the seller, don't just sit on it or post around the forum for answers. There is nothing worse than being a seller, and having the buyer coming back to you a few weeks later saying. "it's broken, I want my money back"... Test immediately!

[Skiddz]

All very good advice. I've been buying/selling on the 'net since the early 90s and have never had an issue because I run my deals pretty much as described above. I do add a couple things though.

Shipping policy - I make it CLEAR how I'm going to ship the items; USPS, UPS, FedEx etc. and WHEN I'm going to ship. My personal policy is to wait to ship until the funds have cleared to my bank and I mention that CLEARLY in the ad description AND in follow-up e-mails/phone calls.

Shipping - When I do ship, I take pictures of the items immediately prior to going in to the box, pictures of the items as they're packed and a picture of the sealed box when it's all packed up. (This is pure "cover my ass" material) Additionally, I take pictures of the shipping labels/delivery confirmation forms and e-mail those to the purchaser.

As was mentioned above, when you say you're going to do something and when, DO IT. Credibility goes a LONG way and nothing will destroy it faster than not doing what you said you were going to do WHEN you said you were going to do it. If something comes up, CONTACT THE OTHER PARTY.

Lastly; treat others how YOU would like to be treated.

[backburner1955]

Originally Posted by Skiddz

All very good advice. I've been buying/selling on the 'net since the early 90s and have never had an issue because I run my deals pretty much as described above. I do add a couple things though.

Shipping policy - I make it CLEAR how I'm going to ship the items; USPS, UPS, FedEx etc. and WHEN I'm going to ship. My personal policy is to wait to ship until the funds have cleared to my bank and I mention that CLEARLY in the ad description AND in follow-up e-mails/phone calls.

Shipping - When I do ship, I take pictures of the items immediately prior to going in to the box, pictures of the items as they're packed and a picture of the sealed box when it's all packed up. (This is pure "cover my ass" material) Additionally, I take pictures of the shipping labels/delivery confirmation forms and e-mail those to the purchaser.

As was mentioned above, when you say you're going to do something and when, DO IT. Credibility goes a LONG way and nothing will destroy it faster than not doing what you said you were going to do WHEN you said you were going to do it. If something comes up, CONTACT THE OTHER PARTY.

Lastly; treat others how YOU would like to be treated.

This is EXACTLY what I do when shipping anything that is high dollar. Small parts I don't.

[Bid Doctor]

I am glad we have started a dialog on this topic. I have made over 100 buys/sells/trades on Helifreak, and have over 80 feedbacks. The number of bad experiences over all these transactions has been less than 5, and none that was not able to be corrected eventually.

I want to add one very important tip that I learned when conducting a TRADE:

Since PayPal is not involved with a trade, there is little you can do if you don't get what you expect. So, when someone wants to do a trade, I INSIST that the communication between us be by their personal email, AND that we swap cell phone numbers. I always call the other person on that phone before completing a trade.

That way, instead of PM's on Helifreak, where someone can just ignore you or drop out of sight, I have a direct way to contact them on their personal email and cell phone. This has allowed me to "fix" a few situations quickly, and the back and forth communication this way prior to the trade lets both sides feel more comfortable with the person they are making a deal with.

Thanks Helifreak for providing this excellent platform for buying, selling and trading!

[HeliHoverAP]

My last transaction was a trade and began to get a little nervous as I sent a 500 dollar heli in the mail to someone I have never met before. This was my second trade on HF and all went perfect. We were both really happy with the outcome. This trade happened because of a, thread, I posted in about the same kind of trade, but to a different person. This user seen what I had to offer and pm'ed me. All went good untill I tried to leave feedback. I was asked for the URL and tried to use the original thread with no luck. I didnt want to make a false thread just for feedback. How do I submit feedback without any thread/URL to pair it with?

[Keith C.]

Just because someone has 100% good rating over like 20 transactions or so does not mean you don't need to be cautious. I used to assume that 100% pretty much meant no worries with this guy.

Then I had a trade posted. I had an mcpx 3 in one board brand new from factory that it turned out I didn't need.

I did need a board for an msr. So I advertised for a trade. Your used but working msr board plus $20 for my brand new mcpx 3 in one.

I got a reply from someone on this board that offered me a complete msr, even trade for my board. He stressed the fact that I could use the msr for spare parts if I ever needed them. It seemed to make sense.

When I got the msr there wasn't one spare part that was usable. Everything was cracked or broken. This thing was beat up. I sent him a pm and he said 'if you're not happy, tell me what you want me to do. How do you think I keep my 100% rating, I'll take care of it.'

I ended up asking for $10 back which he sent. My own dumb fault 'cause I was in shock. In hind sight I should have asked him for $70 or whatever my new board was worth because I found out later, when the msr board quit that it was messed with. There were components obviously soldered on the wrong side of the board. He had worked on it and it didn't last very long.

So...if you're still with me thanks for reading all this and my whole point is don't assume a flawless deal just because someone has a high, even a perfect trade/buy/sell rating.

[TheMark]

Originally Posted by Keith C.

Just because someone has 100% good rating over like 20 transactions or so does not mean you don't need to be cautious. I used to assume that 100% pretty much meant no worries with this guy.

Then I had a trade posted. I had an mcpx 3 in one board brand new from factory that it turned out I didn't need.

I did need a board for an msr. So I advertised for a trade. Your used but working msr board plus $20 for my brand new mcpx 3 in one.

I got a reply from someone on this board that offered me a complete msr, even trade for my board. He stressed the fact that I could use the msr for spare parts if I ever needed them. It seemed to make sense.

When I got the msr there wasn't one spare part that was usable. Everything was cracked or broken. This thing was beat up. I sent him a pm and he said 'if you're not happy, tell me what you want me to do. How do you think I keep my 100% rating, I'll take care of it.'

I ended up asking for $10 back which he sent. My own dumb fault 'cause I was in shock. In hind sight I should have asked him for $70 or whatever my new board was worth because I found out later, when the msr board quit that it was messed with. There were components obviously soldered on the wrong side of the board. He had worked on it and it didn't last very long.

So...if you're still with me thanks for reading all this and my whole point is don't assume a flawless deal just because someone has a high, even a perfect trade/buy/sell rating.

Man that sucks. I've never done a trade, because I just assume ill get screwed like this.

[Breezyjr]

I feel I need to add one more thing to this list, because I see it happening more and more lately.

*It is against Paypal policies to specifically ask the buyer to pay the transaction fee. ie. heli for sale, asking $500. Buyer to pay paypal fee and shipping.

You do still have options... A. except the 3% fee, and be happy there is a service like paypal to assist us with online transactions. B. add 3% to your asking price, or C. Read the policy at paypal and find out how you can collect the 3% without fear of losing your paypal account..

As a side note, I have never, nor will I ever turn in someone asking for the paypal fee. I just choose not to buy from them...

Joe_Breezy

[Bid Doctor]

I totally agree, and thanks for taking the time to add this post with an excellent observation. I have never understood why someone would sell using a great service like PayPal, and not be willing to have that service properly compensated.

If you think about it, $3.00 out of $100 to be able to protect yourself from a bad transaction is cheap insurance. You don't expect the waitress at Denny's to bring your breakfast without giving her a tip, why should you expect PayPal to handle your finances without a fee? Makes no sense.

[Battle]

What is considered to be a lowball offer? 15% off the asking price? 20%?

Is a $550 offer on a $650 asking price a lowball offer? That's 15%, but it's also $100.

Also, what if someone else is asking $900 for the same model?

[whippo]

Originally Posted by Battle

What is considered to be a lowball offer? 15% off the asking price? 20%?

Is a $550 offer on a $650 asking price a lowball offer? That's 15%, but it's also $100.

Also, what if someone else is asking $900 for the same model?

I don't think you can use a percentage, some people over value what they have. When someone gets upset for an offer they feel is unreasonable that person should seek help. If you can not navigate online negotiations I would hate to see live ones which happen in life all the time... A simple no thank you or my best price right now is...

[Bid Doctor]

Originally Posted by whippo

I don't think you can use a percentage, some people over value what they have. When someone gets upset for an offer they feel is unreasonable that person should seek help. If you can not navigate online negotiations I would hate to see live ones which happen in life all the time... A simple no thank you or my best price right now is...

Totally agree. Each heli is a unique assembly with no two combinations of equipment and assembly technique the same. The level of skill of the person who built it, the number of flights and repairs, and the age of the heli are all considerations. Also, what is "hot" this week could be not so hot next week.

When making an offer just be respectful, and when accepting or denying that offer be equally respectful.

Remember, no sale is made unless the seller accepts the offer, and at that point it is good for both sides, so a "low ball" offer is determined by the seller, who can accept it or reject it. If accepted, it is no longer a low ball!

[WillJames]

+1 Whippo and Bid Dr.

[Rchelixyz]

I'd ask for the facebook name and phone # of the party to verify true identity before the transaction takes place. Walk away if either refuses to provide that

[dwoof]

I would never do FB nor would I ever give out my phone number.

😕