How to protect myself when selling, then shipping gear?

[lava]

I have bought and sold a ton of gear locally, and also bought a lot of gear from eBay, a little from Reverb, but now for the first time in a LONG time I'm considering selling a piece of gear (a DrumKat) and sending it far away to a guy in NY (I'm in CA). He has suggested we use Reverb, eBay, or Paypal to protect us both in this transaction, and so far has not set off my bad guy detector. I'm leaning towards Paypal as the fees are the lowest, but I'd like to check in with all you fine folks to find out what the pitfalls are and any red flags to look for during this process as it's probably been 15 years since I actually shipped gear to a buyer.

I already know how to pack the item propertly, to insure it, take pics of it and its serial number prior to sending, take pics of it packed, pics of it handed over to the shipper, etc. Anything else I need to know that I wouldn't have 15 years ago? What are the latest scammer tricks, and how can I avoid them?

 

[odibrom]

Ensure your sold gear when shipping, split the value or (preferably) make the buyer pay for it.

Don't use Paypal Friends and Family, only regular one and send him an invoice with all the pics...?

 

[High Plains Drifter]

One thing to keep in mind ( at least as of a few years ago) through Reverb ( and maybe other platforms I dunno) is in order for them to mediate any potential dispute, all correspondence must be done through Reverb. If you and the buyer start communicating outside of Reverb, then you and the buyer are on your own. Anyway... That's how it was with a seller back when I bought a damaged [in transit] amp a few years ago. Seller didn't want to refund my full amount and so Reverb intervened and got me my full refund in the end. Seller kept wanting me to call him and I'm glad that I didn't.

Again, that's been a few years ago. I dunno if anything has changed in that regard as that was the only time that I needed help with a dispute. Best of luck with your sale.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I recommend you wear a condom for the duration of the transaction. Just to be safe.

 

[MFB]

I recommend you wear a condom for the duration of the transaction. Just to be safe.

"Hey man, you doing alright, you dont look so good?"
"Yeah, I just haven't felt my feet in a week or so, just waiting for this package to be delivered"

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I have bought and sold a ton of gear locally, and also bought a lot of gear from eBay, a little from Reverb, but now for the first time in a LONG time I'm considering selling a piece of gear (a DrumKat) and sending it far away to a guy in NY (I'm in CA). He has suggested we use Reverb, eBay, or Paypal to protect us both in this transaction, and so far has not set off my bad guy detector. I'm leaning towards Paypal as the fees are the lowest, but I'd like to check in with all you fine folks to find out what the pitfalls are and any red flags to look for during this process as it's probably been 15 years since I actually shipped gear to a buyer.

I already know how to pack the item propertly, to insure it, take pics of it and its serial number prior to sending, take pics of it packed, pics of it handed over to the shipper, etc. Anything else I need to know that I wouldn't have 15 years ago? What are the latest scammer tricks, and how can I avoid them?

I guess my only real recommendation is that you have the carrier (UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.) pack the item. Yeah, you feel like a jackass paying $25 for like a box and some tape, but if the carrier (or their agent at a franchise retail location) packs the item and it gets damaged they can't claim you packed it poorly/improperly.

I don't do this every time, but it it's something worth considering, especially when you can pass on the cost to the buyer.

 

[MetalDestroyer]

I guess my only real recommendation is that you have the carrier (UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.) pack the item. Yeah, you feel like a jackass paying $25 for like a box and some tape, but if the carrier (or their agent at a franchise retail location) packs the item and it gets damaged they can't claim you packed it poorly/improperly.

I don't do this every time, but it it's something worth considering, especially when you can pass on the cost to the buyer.

I would only do this if you don't know how to properly pack a guitar for shipping. IME the random store employees don't know what the fuck they are doing. You are definitely more protected against damage, but you're also much more likely to have damage in the first place.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I would only do this if you don't know how to properly pack a guitar for shipping. IME the random store employees don't know what the fuck they are doing. You are definitely more protected against damage, but you're also much more likely to have damage in the first place.

That hasn't been entirely my experience, but I will say there are locations I avoid and ones I prefer based on the particular employees.

 

[DoctorStoner]

If you don't feel good, don't do it. Scammers are getting better and better every day, and every selling platform strongly favors the buyer. The best way to protect yourself is to sell locally for cash. I don't even know if Paypal friends and family is safe anymore (as in a fraudulent buyer can't revert the transaction to get you stuff and their money back).

 

[MFB]

I would only do this if you don't know how to properly pack a guitar for shipping. IME the random store employees don't know what the fuck they are doing. You are definitely more protected against damage, but you're also much more likely to have damage in the first place.

Last time I dropped a guitar off with UPS and tried to add insurance for one I packed myself, I was told that in order to add insurance, THEY have to pack as otherwise they can claim that WE the owner didn't pack it properly in the first place, so it could be a scam (ie breaking in shipping for 10x the amount its actually worth, etc). It's not an incorrect logic, but the inverse is, for those who DO know how to pack it - how can we ship something without knowing YOU know where to apply extra packing so it won't be damaged as well?

But hey, in the latter, if it does break, at least we go that insurance, right?!

 

[MetalDestroyer]

Last time I dropped a guitar off with UPS and tried to add insurance for one I packed myself, I was told that in order to add insurance, THEY have to pack as otherwise they can claim that WE the owner didn't pack it properly in the first place, so it could be a scam (ie breaking in shipping for 10x the amount its actually worth, etc). It's not an incorrect logic, but the inverse is, for those who DO know how to pack it - how can we ship something without knowing YOU know where to apply extra packing so it won't be damaged as well?

But hey, in the latter, if it does break, at least we go that insurance, right?!

I've only purchased labels through Reverb and Ebay since very early on in my guitar shipping career so I guess I don't really know about all that. The only guitars I've had come packed by UPS/Fedex employees in the last couple years were guitars that I left with my mom during my move and had her ship me later. These guitars were saved by their hard cases because they were absolutely not sufficiently packed by the store employees.

I do know that purchasing labels in-store is absurdly expensive and I won't do it. I think people who don't buy Reverb/Ebay shipping labels use places like PirateShip. I only shipped 10ish guitars per year the last 3 years so I don't get any sort of discounts on volume without buying labels through third parties. Last time I tried to buy shipping in-store it was $120+materials. With Reverb labels I average 70-85 bucks even after the Safe Shipping charge and I reuse boxes that guitars ship to me in to keep costs down.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Interesting. I wanted to make a thread just like this but reversed, meaning I'm the buyer. I just bought my first used guitar ever and it went really well!
But I wasn't protected at all, in the sense that I just sent the guy a bank transaction and got the guitar sent to me. It felt risky but I did it like this because the person was a forum poster with many positive comments from other users who bought and sold stuff from them.
But yeah I was thinking if someone wanted to scam me like this they'd just block me after I sent them the money and there would be nothing I could do aside from posting it on the forum. I guess I wouldn't do it if the person didn't have such a positive reputation.
Another thing is if it's a user with no posts or reputation then I'd only buy the thing from them in person, do an inspection, etc.
But I don't know the options for protection aside from some intuition or common sense. PayPal and all that, don't really know how it works.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

Not sure how applicable this is in this particular thread but I feel like mentioning it fwiw. Here on SSO I've sold at least five guitars ( maybe a couple more) in the past few years ( PRS S2, LTD Viper7, Kiesel UltraV 7, Schecter A7, and an Ibanez Prestige). With the exception of maybe one dude, all were active members that I established call/ text/ email correspondence with prior to each sale. I realize that considering yourself a good judge or character is a risky thing but every one of these dudes gave me great vibes and subsequently every transaction from start to finish went flawlessly... for myself as well as each buyer. With consistent communication and complete transparency, everything was documented, photographed, etc and I never deposited funds until each guitar was accounted for and buyer communicated their satisfaction. Maybe I got lucky but so far so good. I think that there is a certain level of integrity within the SSO coimmunity and I wouldn't hesitate again to deal direct with any active member here.