question about buying on this forum

hi, i'm new to this forum and had a general question about buying stuff on this forum. i'm interested in buying a set of rims that someone else has posted for sale. of course, he wants to receive payment before shipping them to me. i'm sure this is the typical way of doing business here, but, as a buyer, do i have any assurances that he'll follow through with his part of the deal? do i have any recourse if he doesn't?

Originally Posted by cal-boy

hi, i'm new to this forum and had a general question about buying stuff on this forum. i'm interested in buying a set of rims that someone else has posted for sale. of course, he wants to receive payment before shipping them to me. i'm sure this is the typical way of doing business here, but, as a buyer, do i have any assurances that he'll follow through with his part of the deal? do i have any recourse if he doesn't?

This forum does not issue any buyer/seller protection at all. I would recommend using a paypal account, which you can sign up for free, and most people on here have one. That provides you at least a minimum of coverage.
You can check the good/bad trader for this person, and if he has quite a few posts, it tends to be on the safe side that they won't want to sully their reputation. Just be smart about it. Sellers want as much protection as buyers do too.

Just post who it is you're talking about and people will speak up pretty quick. I'm new too and I've found that people pretty much speak their minds here, which is a good thing. Don't worry about the seller perceiving an insult if you check up on him. If he's a good guy, it'll all be cool. If he's a chump, then root him out and off with his head.

Yeah, what RacerX said!

Also, I feel the most important thing to have is good communication. The sales that go on here are not internet or major warehouse sales where companies have people being paid to mind to orders being placed. On here its people selling their stuff so there will be times when hitches come up and delays will happen. However, so long as you establish a good level of communication before any payments, after the payments and then right up to when you get the products, you should feel confident.

Like RacerX said, the amount of posts someone has is a good indicator, also, you can always ask around, see what they've sold in the past and perhaps ask them for their Ebay acount if they have one this way you can check feedback there. And definitely do things by PayPal! It at least provides a record and a minimal level of recourse if something goes wrong. I think they also have some sort of buyer-protection program too.

Anyway, Chris (RacerX), check your PM/VM, I was just leaving an update on the wheels and all!

J