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Safe audiogon transactions; lowering the bar.

It appears to me that a large number of people send bank
checks / money orders to pay for used equipment sight
unseen. Most private sellers insist upon this form of
payment. The culture appears to require buyers to take
significant risk in order to benefit from lower prices.

Although this is not surprising in itself, it seems to me
that Audiogon could preserve the long term health of this
website, and its priviledges with more proactive policies.

e.g. providing guidelines on how to conduct a proper
transaction; a list of important questions to ask,
what the seller / buyer should have in writing before
a transaction should proceed, and perhaps provide a
summary of the most common problems which develop between
sellers and buyers.

There are nagging questions: Who owns the equipment once
it has been shipped? Who should be insured?

Perhaps some experienced sellers and buyers would share
their own approach to transactions on this site and how
they get people to put their best foot forward despite
themselves.
hindemith

Showing 1 response by porschecab

Ag insider logo xs@2x
porschecab
336 posts
 
This is a great topic! I will explain my understanding.

Example:

Buyer sends payment to the seller for a preowned Velodyne HGS-18 subwoofer.

SELLER has both the sub AND money! ACCORDING TO INSURANCE COMPANIES (AllState, Farmers, etc.) if the unit is stolen from the SELLER at this point, the unit 'does not belong to the SELLER' but the BUYER. At this point, the BUYER is not responsible for an action that they had no control over and must rely on the seller to refund the money. Usually, an acceptable deal, UNLESS the insurance company takes awhile to pay the claim the the SELLER has no cash to pay the BUYER back before hand! NOW, with that said, one would believe that the BUYER is now the legal owner, BUT, this is NOT how UPS, FEDEX, etc. views the situation.
To the shipping companies, the product belongs to the seller UNTIL delivered! This is why as a buyer you should INSIST on insurance, and COD payment option! At this point, NO RESPONSIBILITY is on the BUYER until he/she takes delivery!

This is a FACT, anyone that works in the insurance industry, feel free to correct/comment.

Dan

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