why are sellers to be trusted, but buyers are not?

Whenever I make a purchase, I use VISA, PayPal Goods & Services, etc.   I never use PayPal Friends & Family.

Why?

A. This puts me on EVEN FOOTING with the seller.   

B. Sellers receive income and are responsible to PAY INCOME TAX on the transaction. 

The 'Money First, then Ship' paradigm reflects a profound selfishness of sellers.  These sellers insists that buyers take ALL of the risk, while they take none. 

The 'Money First, then Ship' paradigm also encourages illegal, un-taxed sales (because sales are not tracked by a third party).

I encourage everyone to always buy from ETHICAL SELLERS who accept payment from credit cards, PP Good & Services, etc.

Perhaps we will help with a revival of HiFi Stores, and used-goods like The Music Room (no affiliation).  They could use the sales!

FYI - 

"For the 2026 tax year, there is no minimum dollar amount at which personal, person‑to‑person sales automatically become taxable. All income is taxable regardless of amount — but the reporting rules (Form 1099‑K) depend on the platform and the type of transaction."

FWIW, very few of us “audio hobbyists” owe any tax on audio equipment sales because, even if we occasionally end up on the positive side of selling price vs. purchase price, the aggregate of our purchases cost us more than the amount we receive when we eventually sell the same stuff.  IOW, for most of us, there is no gain.  However, the issue of whether any tax is owed is different than the requirement to report so, keep good records.

@goodlistening64 needs to spend some time on the Reddit subs for USPS, UPS and FedEx. Tracking showing item traversing the USA a few times, disappearing into a black hole of a distribution center and people saying they watched the truck drive by and somehow the item was marked delivered. 

I only use USAM. I will not sell or buy from anyone with no feedback or very little feedback. No Zelle or PayPal for me. I don’t want my financials exposed.

@tuberist - An approach to financials and PayPal that works well for me is to link an entirely separate bank account, at an institution that is different from where you bank for everything else, and then sign up for their PayPal credit card, but only use it for PayPal purchases.You now have the required linked bank account and credit card but you have created your own isolated PayPal ecosystem that is isolated from your other financials.