Bartertown.com

Hey guys,

To get to the point, I'm going to sell some AOBR Termies to a guy who has a higher trader rating than I. He asked me to ship them first before sending payment via Paypal. My BT rating is actually a bit behind (currently at 4, but 2-3 people haven't updated it with feedback yet). Should I still send these before receiving payment?

No hard and fast rules related to that here.

The general sentiment here is "lower rating ships/pays" first. I have no idea what level of internet trading you have done, but please review the ratings of people and the comments in the "check references" section. Bartertown is built on our collective reputations for trading, selling, etc. Unlike Feebay there are no built in contractually protections here at BTown.

Be smart, be reasonable and you'll be welcome here and probably find everything you need here at BTown whether they models, buyers or seller.

Welcome to BTown, I'm done babbling

Oh, I'd ask you to send before I paid you.

It is common practice to treat "sales" the same as "trades" in that if you have a considerably lower rating you will be asked quite often to ship/pay first. I personally don't use this policy, but it is common practice to ask this of lower rated traders. I see the point those who stick to this policy "cash is a commodity same as plastic/metal" though.

It is entirely up to you to agree/disagree to those conditions. However, those in the b-town community who have been around for quite some time HAVE built their reputation on sound trades/business deals, and we've seen a few bad seeds build a small reference portfolio to then turn around and rip a few people off with non-existent sale offers.

Again, it's your choice to choose to decline/accept, it's not called Bartertown for nothing, but it IS common practice that no matter what type of deal it is, the person with the lowest rating is going to have to take care of their end of the deal first.

Thanks,

If the buyer is an established trader (100+ rating), and you're a n00b (<10 rating), then yes, common expectation is that the n00b ships before receiving payment.

If the buyer is another n00b who barely edges you, I'd refuse to ship first without payment in full. If that kills the deal, so be it.

If the buyer is somewhere in between, I'd ask for half down, or good-faith money / shipping, balance to be paid immediately upon receipt. I'd require partial payment via PayPal so you can at least get his "verified" address as ship-to address. I wouldn't ship without delivery confirmation, and I'd expect him to pay for it.

Personally, if I were you, I'd prefer to hold deals in favor of people to whom you can get paid first, and bump your rating. But that's just me.

iPAINTminis wrote:It is common practice to treat "sales" the same as "trades" in that if you have a considerably lower rating you will be asked quite often to ship/pay first. I personally don't use this policy, but it is common practice to ask this of lower rated traders. I see the point those who stick to this policy "cash is a commodity same as plastic/metal" though.

It is entirely up to you to agree/disagree to those conditions. However, those in the b-town community who have been around for quite some time HAVE built their reputation on sound trades/business deals, and we've seen a few bad seeds build a small reference portfolio to then turn around and rip a few people off with non-existent sale offers.

Again, it's your choice to choose to decline/accept, it's not called Bartertown for nothing, but it IS common practice that no matter what type of deal it is, the person with the lowest rating is going to have to take care of their end of the deal first.

Thanks,

"Sales" occur when someone (usually a merchant with a business Tax ID Number and a business licence) sells items to a consumer, collects taxes and sends them on to the appropriate government agency. In this case they have to report those sales anually.

When someone (without a TIN or a business license) offers up items for cash, they are merely trading their items for cash.

I will generally require that someone ship first until they have a rating greater than 100. After that I may make exceptions.
I may also make an exception for individuals with whom I have had successful dealings with in the past.

On the flip side, if someone has a higher rating than me, I expect right off the bat that I will be paying/shipping first, no questions asked.

Just my opinion.

Thats the way it was explained to me, new guy sends it first. If the person with your sending to has a good rating im sure youll be okay. Most the people on here seem stand up.

Darkzephyr wrote:Hey guys,

To get to the point, I'm going to sell some AOBR Termies to a guy who has a higher trader rating than I. He asked me to ship them first before sending payment via Paypal. My BT rating is actually a bit behind (currently at 4, but 2-3 people haven't updated it with feedback yet). Should I still send these before receiving payment?

You can ask for payment first- but dont get upset if he refuses. Some one who has been here a couple years and did 50-100+ trades, has "paid their dues". They have proven themselves. They have more to lose, than someone just joining, with only a couple trades. Its not something to take offense about.

Ps- I'd also ask you to send first.

But always make porkuslime send or pay first.
Nobody gets their ratings that high without shenanigans.

LOL

Eric

Darkzephyr wrote:To get to the point, I'm going to sell some AOBR Termies to a guy who has a higher trader rating than I. He asked me to ship them first before sending payment via Paypal. My BT rating is actually a bit behind (currently at 4, but 2-3 people haven't updated it with feedback yet). Should I still send these before receiving payment?

Up to you, of course. FWIW, I almost always pay first as I don't believe that buying is the same as trading, so I can't demand that someone ship first :) [nor do I believe in simultaneous shipping...]

I also prefer to pay (or be paid) via US Post Money Order as it saves the seller PayPal fees and is the most secure option for a seller; business law is also a great deal more balanced than PayPal's user agreements :(

Others mileage may vary.

NB: if it's not worth getting Delivery Confirmation for then it's likely not worth doing!

I'm also in the 'low rated trader ships/pays first' camp.
The way I see it, I and many others have spent a lot of time over the years building up a reputation and rating that we can use to protect ourselves better.
The ship/pay first convention is one way to do that.
It is a two way street though. I expect that I will send/pay first with traders with a higher rating than me.

I just make sure to put may expectations in my trade posts.
I will make note that when I see trade posts stating that I have to pay first, to a lower rated trader, I will move on to another trader.

Thanks everyone,

I just wanted to make sure it wasn't one of those things that's usually ill-advised. I checked the trader's rep and it's not quite 100 yet, but I think it's pretty solid. I'll definitely ship first but perhaps I could ask for 50% payment after I give him a confimation number.

Darkzephyr wrote:Thanks everyone,

I just wanted to make sure it wasn't one of those things that's usually ill-advised. I checked the trader's rep and it's not quite 100 yet, but I think it's pretty solid. I'll definitely ship first but perhaps I could ask for 50% payment after I give him a confimation number.

This is NO comment on you personally.
MYSELF, though... whenever I see someone relatively low ranked who wants partial payment after I receive a DC#, I get a little suspicious.
It's not hard to mail *nothing* to a random address half-way across the country (or, even to your trade partner) with a DC#, then use that # to reference the package in question.
By the time you figure out someone did that to you, they've already emptied their PayPal account and you're SOL.

I recall, once, there was a guy who used the same DC for a number of people's packages.

Eric

Oh wow,

I was actually thinking that might be a possibilty. But the person I'm trading with seems pretty reputable, so I went ahead and sent it and didn't ask for any payment until he receives my stuff.