PRIVATE VENDORS HELP!

okay, anyone can answer this question for me, but i figured some of you private vendors would know best! anways heres my deal: ive having a clean out of like all of my old oem stuff off my truck, and i have been having alot of interest from people who want me to ship it. so my question is: whats the best way to safely ship it? like they will want the product before i get their money and vice versa. also, everyone wants shipping quotes to their certain zip codes... if im planning on going US mail.. whats the best way to get quoted?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

 

Always get money first before you ship it, I usually wait until I see a change in my bank account not just a paypal change; Just m 2 cents. I have never shipped anything "big" I just use the postal service. Also insure and track.

 

1.Never ship before payment is received.
2.use the USPS Parcel Post for shipping it is the easiest andf you can calculate shipping online based on weight & size.
3.Use PayPal or USPS Money Order ONLY for accepting payments for items.

Do all of the above and you will be fine.

 

Thats what i dont understand tho! Do i have to use paypal? How does it work?

 

Yeah its easiest of all the options imo unless you had a killer deal if you didn't rake paypal id probably not buy from you.

 

It links with a bank acct.

 

Paypal is easy to set up if you don't already have it. And check out youtube videos if you don't understand how to use it. I am sure they have tutorials on there. But it is a very easy way to pay and get paid as noted above.

You can always say "local only" and deal with cash

 

I'll take ALL your stuff and pay you later (if I like your stuff) This way you only ship to one zip.

 

Whatever you want. Paypal is easy and secure but it does cost you money unless the buyer specifies gift option. It's not something I'd do because the buyer looses the ability to dispute a transaction through Paypal. With a check or money order, there is the time between sending the check/mo and it clearing and then shipping. Be upfront about how big it is and what it weighs and how you intend to ship it. Small items can easily be shipped through USPS without a problem. With bigger items though Fedex/UPS might be cheaper.

 

Im trying to sell my trd cat back exhaust and in all one piece usps estimated shipping to like ohio or alabama is like 150... Does that sound right?

 

Yes... Paypal takes a fee on any transaction (including refunds IIRC)
They take an additional 3% if payment is from a credit card, or at least they used to, though I've heard that it is against policy for the CC companies.

I'll often kick in an extra 5% or so to cover the PP fees if I'm buying from a private party and I'm getting a really good deal... sometimes people don't take that into account, or they don't realize what shipping will actually run, so if I'm buying something that seems a little cheap, I'll kick in to help out the seller.

 

Easy to transfer money if you bank at Chase, takes about one minute, and an email address, best part it's free! I imagine other banks are just as easy

 

And be VERY careful of the "form letter" emails that refer to the item as "The Item", broken English, "representative" or "courier" or "shipping company"... these are scams. Ignore them.

 

Yeah I believe the fee is 3%. I usually try to gift the money to a seller if I trust the guy, as that eliminates any fee.

I don't ever leave money in my paypal acct but I don't do a lot of transfers so it's no problem for me, as they do cap how many times you can transfer money OUT of paypal in a month. Then when I want to buy something it automatically withdraws from my wells fargo checking acct. All I do is sign in and send the money to the seller, no transferring money between accts.

I don't particularly like paypal but they do make it easy to buy/sell on the net and honestly if I had to send a money order -- unless it was too good of a deal to pass -- I'd probably pass on buying.

-Max

 

Meh... PayPal works for me... The Merchant account is a bit different though.