No wonder nothing sells: wire transfer only

When I joined Agon, there was NO PayPal. And the risk had to be laid out one way or another. At the same time, you were allowed to directly contact a seller, and talk to them on the phone. I believe that discussion between the buyer and the seller goes along way in reducing risk. Some of the benefits of USAM.

I often sell my gear using friends and family… Although I give the buyer the option of paying the extra fee fees. I have excellent feedback, and most people have been quite comfortable with it.

I shared office space with another lawyer.  I did several transactions by giving the money required to him and he told the seller that he would hold it and undertook to forward it to the seller when that gear showed up at his office in good shape.  

I expect that anyone who has a lawyer could make the same arrangements and that the escrow holding lawyer would only charge a small fee for their service.

There are far too many scammers online. I recently placed an Ad for selling my amplifier and I got 3 offers from 0 feedback buyers within 1 week. They either joined Audiogon on the day I posted the ad OR after I posted the ad. And among them one id10t was claiming to be from the Bay Area, but was now traveling to Spain.

So I can imagine why high priced items need wire transfers or payments like Zelle/Venmo.

“When I joined Agon, there was NO PayPal. And the risk had to be laid out one way or another. At the same time, you were allowed to directly contact a seller, and talk to them on the phone. I believe that discussion between the buyer and the seller goes along way in reducing risk.”

@peter_s - Yeah, I remember those days. Not all progress is for the better.

Yes, sending personal check and receiving one was a norm. Everything went fine, always good conversations before transaction. I never felt the need to call, emails were enough. Fair prices too.