Sell/buy without being ripped off?

[k490]

Watch out with cashier checks those can be counterfeit it may take up to 10 days for your bank to discover the cashier check was fake. This was a common scam when selling on craigslist. Buyer would call, or text tell you they are sending you a cashier's check to cover the cost of someone to pick the item up. They would ask you to send them the difference by some other type of legitimate payment. Later you find out the check they sent you was fake, but you sent them real money back. Usually, the difference was $300-500. They send you a fake check for $10-20k. You feel safe about sending them under $1000 in real money.

When I buy, or sell from a private party, I require the buyer to meet me at their bank where I can watch the check being made out by the bank, I know it is legitimate. I do the same when buying a vehicle. I used to get cash, but due to law enforcement using asset forfeiture on the side of the highway I no longer do that. I recommend not transporting large amounts of cash on the highways. There are videos on YT of highway patrol officers robbing people of their cash as little as $5000. I just watched this news Linked here> story about the DEA, and local police doing the same thing at the Alanta international airport.

 

[bobcom1]

it's not just buyers that can get ripped off . People can scam you when you're selling. Parts swappers or people new to solar and off grid that don't have a clue. They hook up something completely wrong then blame you . This is why i prefer face to face, cash in hand.

THat's True. I just found this platform entirely today XD. So as a dealer i may not be able to provide suggestions but can check my side on discounts that others may not get just cause i'm a registered dealers. I've noticed that all of the places i've been to add a 10-15% markup on panels. Now i noticed the real cost of system really cost under 18k including roof mounts just with 15 Kilowatt system

 

[robby]

it's not just buyers that can get ripped off . People can scam you when you're selling. Parts swappers or people new to solar and off grid that don't have a clue. They hook up something completely wrong then blame you . This is why i prefer face to face, cash in hand.

This is so true in the Electronics Sales Business on eBay.
I know of Ham Radio Operators and Test equipment sellers that have shipped out stuff and then gotten a complaint that it does not work. The item is shipped back and refunded and then the seller opens it up he finds a good circuit board has been replaced with a burnt out one. Some thief just bought the Radio to get the parts that he needed out of it.

It also works in reverse, especially when dealing with Big warehouse surplus electronics goods companies on eBay.
I cannot stress enough that you should stay clear of these sellers. Nothing is ever a bargain, they are always making an ungodly amount of profit on every sale. Their MO is something like this, they will buy xx amount of used items of the same model for various prices and in varying conditions and then scrap them to make as many really good ones as possible, which they will sell for a high price. They may be able to get a few more units with cosmetic damage which the will sell for a lower price. The burned out parts that are left are put back together into whole units and sold as "Not Working".
When you see a big seller with 5000+ sales selling something for a reasonable price and marked as "Not Working" just Run!

I got scammed once buying a Yaesu FT-1000MP Ham Radio for $600. It was marked as "not working, will not come on" so I assumed it had just regular power supply damage.
When I opened it the thing was suspiciously, missing screws on every circuit board, wiring was connected but not properly run. I thought it was the work of a novice owner trying to repair it but in reality it had been scrapped for replacement parts by one of this big companies technicians.
Just about every single board had been replaced with a burnt out one and none of the damage had a root cause like a power surge etc.
I did not know this at first so I started repairs to the display board. I got the display up and running with some replacement parts. Then I realized the main receiver board was dead so I got that up and running after a few days of troubleshooting and a few weeks waiting on parts. then the second receiver was dead, so I started to just check everything and realized that just about every board was burned out.

Ended up chucking the pieces in a box and throwing it in the Garage.