pay first, delivery second, who gets benefit

If someone sends payment to another person then they have proof of payment. A cashed check, MO receipt/copy, or credit card transaction report. When someone sends a knife it is very difficult to prove they sent anything other than showing a pic of the knife and a post office receipt. Getting a signature just doesn't happen much these days. Here the USPS and UPS just drop and run, even if a signature upon receipt has been requested. When you pay and get nothing in return there are different agencies the buyer can go to for help. There is no agency that the seller can realistically turn to. Sure the buyer may have trouble getting compensated in some cases, but the seller has a nil chance. Plus that's the way it works 98% of the time.

Or look at it this way...go to the grocery store/market and get all your food to the checkout. Now tell them that you want to take them home, put them in the pantry, taste some of the food, and you will then return and pay them later. Call a mail order catalog and tell them you want a couple of hundred dollars worth of merchendise, and you will send them a check after you get it and see if you like it. Go to a restaurant you have never stepped foot in, and eat a meal, have a drink, and enjoy a dessert. When they hand you the check tell them to put it on your tab.

How far would you get in any of these situations? Not far. That's life.

I have been lucky so far in all my trades/buys/sells. My stipulation on all of my sales have been that I send the knife when I get payment, UNLESS I have had good transactions in the past. This protects me, and it is fair since I treat everyone the same way. If someone doesn't want to deal with me in this way, that's fine, it's their choice. When I have bought something from forum members I send the money and then wait for the item. Bagheera is the only person to do otherwise, and IMO Piet is an gentleman of the highest kind. I'm glad that he has not been burnt more than the few times he has.

I will say that there are some businesses that operate on the send the stuff, and bill em later model. They can do that because their losses are calculated and added into their price. An individual selling something from their collection doesn't have the ability to do that.

Please let me know if this doesn't make sense. It is difficult to explain what seems so obvious to me.

Paul
 
Yeah, what Paul said. I've done about 40 deals on the forums by now, always buyer pays then seller ships, payment generally by USPS MO. The buyer can prove that the USPS MO has been cashed by the seller, so the buyer has the protection of federal law. The seller sends the knife to the address indicated on the USPS MO, with a tracking #. All is well, everyone is protected. I have yet to have a sale or purchase go bad using this method. There is no room for dispute or confusion: the check was recieved and cashed; the PO delivered the package to the specified address, or it didn't & then the package can be tracked. Use insurance for expensive knives. No problem.
 
This is one of those hot subjects I can see! With all the fraud out there, sending payment and waiting for it to land before your knife gets shipped shouldn't be a big problem. The beauty of the forums is that you tend to deal with the same guys time after time. It builds a friendship and trust, so as Nimrod said in his post, the knives and money cross paths in the mail. Personal checks going back and forth is fine also, if you know who you're dealing with. As several of you already know, we have had a couple of bad apples on the forum over the past few months that were ostracized. The forum is pretty well self policing when it comes to idiots - take 'em to task in the "Good, Bad, and Ugly, and let Spark know about 'em.;)
 
One more post here....

My recent experience with a "customer" of mine. The person won one of my knives on BA and even though I have posted the method of payment I accept - he is not willing to send the money order or certified check - just personal check.

Then I got this e-mail from him:
I have thought about it and there is no way I am sending cash to the Czech Republic.
If you can arrange some type of C.O. D. or parcel post I will be happy to talk about covering any additional expense.
I need more of a guarantee than a picture to send you cash on faith, sorry..

Well since he needs more than a picture I already sent the knife hoping that he will send me the money after all.

David
 
<p align="justify">I only know of one guy who'll send out your knife before he receives payment and that's Uncle Bill from <a href="http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html">Himalayan Imports</a>. I asked him why he does this and his reply was "if you trust me to send out your knife after I receive payment, why can't I trust you to send payment after I send your knife." A rare man with the best customer service on the net.</p>
 
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