Advice For New Traders

[neo1973]

Two Thumbs Up!

[Haywire]

Online trading can be difficult at the best of times, trust and gut feelings are just part of it. If you are serious about selling or trading large ticketed items, take the time to post proper full detailed posts. Realize that when you first join and want to sell there are a few points against the deals you want to make right from the start. Scammers, trolls, and scum are amongst our forums hiding, waiting to rush in for the kill. If you are not a scammer , troll, or scum trader I strongly suggest the following:

1- Be prepared, if you want to sell, trade, or even buy high ticketed items make your posts complete.

2- Give all needed info to the reader so there is no guessing,
configure your profile so that you have Location, Email, heatware, or other references in addition mention forms of payment, include info on shipping preferences (shipping extra, shipping included, whether a meeting can take place)

3- Post full details of your items, Usage, Condition, Links to the items for full specs/info.

4-Try to post actual pictures of your items not just pictures from the internet or online retailers.

5- If Selling, post a reasonable price remembering an extremely low price for an item just to get rid of it is a bad sign for a buyer to read from a new trader.

6- If Trading, try to list items of interest and approximate value that you are willing to trade for.

7-If your a new trader with little to no references DO NOT become offended that an established trader asks you ship first. ( If you feel uncomfortable about this, search the trader's posts, deals and check their references, ask others)

I realize that not all of these things can always be done but for a new trader the better your posts the better results you will have.

Good Luck and Trade Safe....

excellent and i agree, it should be a sticky

[Table21]

I agree with most of what is said, however just to add my 2 cents.

The most important thing you can do is get a guys home phone number and match it up with his name (use 411). That way you can be almost 100% sure who it is you are dealing with, also if something goes bad you can find the guy.

2nd, I know most of the guys here with 1000+ post here are going to disagree with me, but never ship first. The credit card you pay with, paypal, and the way the law in canada is setup, protects you when money comes first, item comes second. If you send your item first there is very little recourse except telling other people on the forum not to make the same mistake you did.

anyways great post!

[Composter]

[NODES]

I agree with most of what is said, however just to add my 2 cents.

The most important thing you can do is get a guys home phone number and match it up with his name (use 411). That way you can be almost 100% sure who it is you are dealing with, also if something goes bad you can find the guy.

2nd, I know most of the guys here with 1000+ post here are going to disagree with me, but never ship first. The credit card you pay with, paypal, and the way the law in canada is setup, protects you when money comes first, item comes second. If you send your item first there is very little recourse except telling other people on the forum not to make the same mistake you did.

anyways great post!

alot of people nowadays use cells and give out cell # rather then home numbers...

[Composter]

[TenzoR]

As good as these advices are move this to the main BST forum so everyone can see it. Reported

[Composter]

[sixsixii]

I don't know if this has been said before, but when someone gives you their Heatware info, it's a good idea to contact them through the email address listed under their Heatware account.

[CHINAdeals]

nice post..sticky it mods

just wanted to add .

8 - When meeting up locally, always safer to meet in a public place (mall / bank). TRY and bring a friend, he/she can serve as a witness / also copy down license plates/description if necessary. If you are handling a large cash transaction, I'd totally recommend doing it during the day at a bank.

9 - When shipping, its worth it to get a tracking number (esp. for parcels $100+).

[baouong]

very good post with very good guidelines. i propose this be a candidate for sticky

[bubble.tea]

roger that, always message the heatware account to confirm its his heatware if the guys a newbie.

copied this from another thread. Was going to start a thread myself., but looks like the *poster beat me to it .

I suggest a different title though?

/safe trading practices to keep in mind/ or something to that effect...as even experienced traders tend to get caught in the whirlwind when a GREAT deal comes by (case in point., last few times on hofo experienced users got caught up in the latest Nokia releases and paid upwards of 5-800 UPFRONT..and got burned).

[3weddings]

Just found this in the OP's siggy...great info!! Invaluable actually!

May I add that getting a Venture1 discount at Canada Post gets you tracking included in all shipments. It's free to sign up, and I wouldn't ship anything without it for both the sellers and buyer's peace of mind.