Carl Musson (EVENTS) wrote:
>
> TAKE NOTE OF THIS... If you sell something to someone you don't know
> (or at least a reasonably "sure" feeling about) make sure that any C.O.D's
> are paid with a certified check. Money orders can be stolen too.
I have to put up a defense here.
I have dealt over the net for just about everything, literally
dozens if not hundreds of transactions, ranging from a
few dollars to hundreds.
I have NEVER been screwed either way in any net dealing.
In the history of my mail dealings, I have been screwed
twice. Both were by companies, neither were through the
net, both by telephone from catalogs. Presumably, companies
that went out of business but kept the cash anyways.
This is important to me, because most of my purchases come
from the United States. It is impossible to do COD between
the US and Canada, so somebody has to trust somebody to
get the transaction done.
So far, I've had no problems at all. I want to make sure that
people realize that people are, in general, good people. If
everybody tightened up as you would suggest, then that would
really make life difficult for people like me. Since this
list is very international, I suspect a lot of mail dealings
are international, and this means CODs are impossible.
Myself, I generally use simultaneous mailing
for small values, and partial payment for large items (half
before, half after).
I have, in the past, paid fully up front if the person
was adamant and it was an item I really needed. But in
general, I get skeptical when somebody asks me to trust
them completely and send them certified funds before
they have to reciprocate in trust.
To make the buyer send certified funds or cash before
getting the item is, I feel even WORSE than trusting
someone and sending an item.
...why do I feel that way? Well, in order for the transaction
to go bad, one party has to be a scam artist. What is a scam
artist more likely to want, product, or raw cash?
I feel you are less likely to find somebody using mail
fraud to screw you out of a TR6 trunnion than using mail fraud
to screw you out of cash. To ask that the cash be put on
the line rather than a car part, in my opinion, helps
criminals more than enthusiasts.
--
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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