Buying online

[SMaxxin]

I buy 99.9% of my rc products online and mostly on forums, I have done more deals than I can remember and have been burned twice. I normally know the people I deal with now so I normally feel confident that I will get what I pay for or at least get something. Why do I bring this up????? I was about to buy something on another forum from someone with great feedback and then he did something that made me think twice...He asked me to send the payment as a gift, I know how paypal works so that won't happen but why would he all of a sudden do this? To be honest I really want what he has but even if he decides to take it as payment for goods I think I'm going to back out of the deal. I have seen good people do the wrong thing and this has me wondering.

Am I being paranoid or do you agree?

 

[savon]

Good job thinking twice, i dont know how i can help you out here, but i do know that some sellers have people send the payment as a gift so that paypal doesn't take the fee's.

 

[slowngreen]

Its against the rules here now to pay as a gift but on the other forum, if you know the guy and its not an item that you can easily be screwed on, then I wouldnt worry. He asks for it as a gift so he doesn't get raped out of money on the fees from paypal. doesn't make him shady, he just is trying to save him self some coin. Its against paypal rules as well as rcnt rules but I have done it. I wont any more because of past transactions but if the guy has ALOT of perfect feedback, then I wouldnt worry.

 

[WoodiE]

Am I being paranoid or do you agree?

Buyer beware.

The purpose of him asking for a gift is so that Paypal doesn't take their cut out of your payment, but what it really does to you is make it so there is no way to dispute the payment if for some reason the seller doesn't ship you anything or ships you something in some other condition that you're not aware of.

If you really really want it, I'd suggest paying via Paypal using the normal goods but willing to pay an extra $2-3 to cover the paypal fee's on his end. By paypal terms of service, he can't request this nor can he charge extra for his items to make up the paypal fee's - thus the reason why he wants it sent via gift. If he agrees to do this then he gets his payment and fee's covered and you get your item plus the insurance of knowing that if something goes bad you can dispute it.

Long story short - do as the RCNT For Sale Rules state:

NEVER is it acceptable for a seller to request payment through PayPal as a "gift". This is against PayPal rules, our rules, and leaves the buyer zero recourse to try and reclaim their money if the deal goes south. This is a fundamental step to protecting your purchase.

-Michael

 

[bergoff]

i wouldn't do it unless he lets you cover the fees. that way if you dont get it you can file a complaint. good luck!!

 

[2revo1maxx]

Sounds like a cheap s.o.b. to me!

 

[flm_savage]

depends on your perspective. There is no telling how many hundreds of dollars if not more, that i have paid in paypal and ebay fee's. Think about it, you sell on ebay, you get dang near a 10 percent final value fee, then you get paid with paypal and another 3% is taken. By the time its all said and done, you have to jack the price up 15% just to get what its worth. If its cool with the other guy i will pay and buy as a gift. If their feedback is legit, i have no problems using the gift method. All they are offering is a convenient way to pay.
I have enough people dipping their hands into my paycheck as it is so wherever i can save money, i will. Heck, i'll start mailing checks if i need to.

 

[slowngreen]

If their feedback is legit, i have no problems using the gift method. All they are offering is a convenient way to pay.

x2. I see why it is against the rules here and I as well as a couple others were involved in deals where the "gift" payment was a bad idea and thats why its not allowed here, wich I totally back Woodie's decision, but like on rcc, where I buy alot of stuff, if its someone who has nothing but good feedback and lots of it, or the item isnt something that I'm worried about being fried or something, like wheels/tires/ect, then I wont hesitate to pay that way, if they ask. I can't see many people going into a sale wanting to ask for a gift payment because they plan on screwing you outta money so you can't have paypal help you out, but then again, I bet it does happen, theres gotta be tons of CTM's on the net

 

[SMaxxin]

or the item isnt something that I'm worried about being fried or something

I was buying an esc, although it was a cheap one I don't want to give money away. It all worked out in the end, a guy I had dealt with several times on rcc had just what I wanted