Am I being paranoid with 2nd hand sales?

Tiercel

Tiercel

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Im sure selling RIFs used to be relatively easy, I know times are hard with the cost of living etc, and I think the prices Im asking are reasonable plus open to negotiation.

But it seems the only messages I ever get any more are from accounts that are only a few days/weeks old and have 0 posts and 0 feedback. And/or the messages sound a bit AI generated-ish. Which puts me on edge, I just cant help the feeling that a totally blank account with no profile pic, no info, no post history at all is going to be a scammer with either a stolen paypal or put a claim in saying its broken/not as described/not arrived and then paypal go "oops thats a gun, not allowed by T&Cs say goodbye to your money lol"

Has anyone else noticed this or had similar experiences? Are there legit buyers who just lurk here waiting to browse the classifieds with absolutely no interest in engaging with the forum community in any other way?
 
Tiercel said:
Has anyone else noticed this or had similar experiences? Are there legit buyers who just lurk here waiting to browse the classifieds with absolutely no interest in engaging with the forum community in any other way?
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Sadly, yes. A lot of people seem to only use the forum for buying and selling. I've had people with brand new accounts message me before for stuff because they've seen the advert somehow and made an account purely to buy the item.

I've personally had no issues with buyers like that. Just cover yourself if the sale does go ahead.

Take videos of the replica being fired, take photos of it in the box, take photos of it packed up, take photos of it ready to be posted, take photos of your proof of postage, always send it tracked, add tracking to your PayPal transaction, only use Goods and Services etc.

PayPal do allow the sale of airsoft replicas, so that wouldn't be an issue
 
Ah for some reason I thought paypal still didnt allow airsoft guns, maybe that was just a thing from ye olde days, Im sure there used to be tales of people scamming sellers by deliberately mentioning its a "gun" so paypal refuse to cover the seller.
 
I wouldn't say you're being paranoid, just cautious. If someone contacted me about a sales post with an account that's only a few days old, has no engagement or feedback and their message looks like English isn't their first language I'd probably think twice about selling to them.

Yes there are quite a few people who only use the forum for sales and have no interest on engaging with the rest of it but they've usually been around a while and have some feedback.

Imo it's better to have missed out on a potential sale than to loose your money and/or gun to a scamming cunt
 
As always... be cautious, I've bought 'one or two' rif's from the classifieds without any unfixable issues, a few of them had minor issues but rarely anything I couldn't fix (even with my limited tech nonskills) and no scammers.
If it doesn't seem legit then hold onto your money & anyone asking for F&F on paypal or bank transfer walk away.
Since the forum moved house it's been a bit difficult to check someone's feedback so I often judge a sellers/buyers interactions in the forum.
PayPal does have protections if it goes bad.
 
Being paranoid implies you are being irrational and that there is no merit to being so cautious. There are bad actors out there so being vigilant around newly made accounts is the right thing. If the buyer takes your caution on a new account or a lack of forum interaction personally, that may be a warning they may not be worth selling to as that's a headache you've saved yourself from.

As Cannonfodder said, it's better to lose a sale when you're uncertain than lose money to a scammer.

I'm not suggesting you play mind games but as long as you only show yourself to be keen but not desperate to sell, you hold the leverage as they are less likely to try and push your buttons, trying to manipulate you.
 
Schools have just broken up, so it's only gonna get worse 🤣
& those little toe rags will do everything to swerve the vcra.
& yep, loads on here, new & ancient accounts, that are just here for the classifieds, in fact I've literally lost count of the warnings I've issued & ads I've deleted from what i thought were new members who've not read the rules. Especially rule 5, only to see that many of them have been here years, some for a decade, but only ever post when THEY need something 😏.
As has been said, video/document every stage, do your due diligence, & if anything at all makes your spider senses tingle, be prepared to walk away.
 
I responded to a guy looking for a Tanaka M700 with the one I'd been building. Was honest about the condition, noted points he might want to work on, these old girls need a lot of TLC y'know. Provided pictures of internals and a firing video.

Put a price that was a little above what other ones have sold for, based on a couple extra mags and some steel internals.

Get told, "yeah mate nice try, I can buy one new for that in the UK."

I ask where. He says two shops that only have the Takedown model. On a separate forum I frequent he pops up asking about a reasonable price with the same username, and the questions make it so obvious he hasn't read anything into what is an awkward and fiddly platform to work with. So, I cancelled the offer on my end.

Very frustrating trying to sell anything lately.
 
Lyndication said:
I responded to a guy looking for a Tanaka M700 with the one I'd been building. Was honest about the condition, noted points he might want to work on, these old girls need a lot of TLC y'know. Provided pictures of internals and a firing video.

Put a price that was a little above what other ones have sold for, based on a couple extra mags and some steel internals.

Get told, "yeah mate nice try, I can buy one new for that in the UK."

I ask where. He says two shops that only have the Takedown model. On a separate forum I frequent he pops up asking about a reasonable price with the same username, and the questions make it so obvious he hasn't read anything into what is an awkward and fiddly platform to work with. So, I cancelled the offer on my end.

Very frustrating trying to sell anything lately.
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This is why I don’t sell online, only at boot fairs.
 
Colin Allen said:
This is why I don’t sell online, only at boot fairs.
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Unfortunately, like this on all platforms, I have to document the items I sell on eBay so much that I have over 50GB of images lol even have a folder full of proof of postage receipts.

The number of times someone has tried swapping thier broken items for my not-broken one and tried to get a return is staggering. The best ones are the ones who do Buy it now, don't pay, then send you an image of a fake PayPal paying you lol.

I do find it odd that our niche hobby has such a large scammer population. Doesnt help with the complete lack of moderation at UsedAirsoft created a feeding ground for them.
 
Austeyr said:
will give u £30 4 ur bullpup m8 but i dont got no ukara but u can trust me innit bruv am well legit
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Back when they allowed gun sales faceache was especially bad for this. I had some bell end tell me his brother's ukara number was ok to use as it was going to be a rental at the site they worked at. The gun in question was a boneyard maruzen P99
 
Lyndication said:
I responded to a guy looking for a Tanaka M700 with the one I'd been building. Was honest about the condition, noted points he might want to work on, these old girls need a lot of TLC y'know. Provided pictures of internals and a firing video.

Put a price that was a little above what other ones have sold for, based on a couple extra mags and some steel internals.

Get told, "yeah mate nice try, I can buy one new for that in the UK."

I ask where. He says two shops that only have the Takedown model. On a separate forum I frequent he pops up asking about a reasonable price with the same username, and the questions make it so obvious he hasn't read anything into what is an awkward and fiddly platform to work with. So, I cancelled the offer on my end.

Very frustrating trying to sell anything lately.
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Wow.

I hesitated with your price, having exactly one forum post to go on to judge it by. Where else am I meant to go to ask for pricing? Deciding to "cancel" an offer once you saw me asking around for price information strikes me as a little odd. Given how worn those mags looked were I don't think this was an unreasonable step.

Fair enough, I did not know how hard it is to find steel parts for these, nor at the time did I know about the additional shortcomings of the takedown version. A simple "ah, there's XYZ difference between these versions, hence my asking price" would've been all that was needed. Guess I know for next time at least.

A price was offered and I declined. What more is there to say? In all of my communication with you I've tried my hardest to be courteous and respectful. Is it really necessary to visit two separate places to complain about this after the fact? I hate to have to drag this out into a public forum.
 
untrust said:
Is it really necessary to visit two separate places to complain about this after the fact? I hate to have to drag this out into a public forum.
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You were done the courtesy of being kept anonymous. Other than you and Lyndication, everybody was none the wiser until you decided to identify yourself.

What stopped you from thinking to send a direct message to maintain that anonymity?
 
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