Concerns about paypal friend payments

[AtariGuy]

I understand that using paypal friend payments allows the recipient to collect the funds fee free, but when buying from people through the forum, could we still opt to use the purchaser option? I'm slightly (sarcasm) annoyed that i made a payment, didn't get my purchase, and can't get my money back. Thoughts?

[eclark5483]

When you make friendships in online forums and someone offers to sell you something and ask "hey, send it as a friend payment so I don't get fees", I suppose it is a courteous thing to do among co-posters, but always protect yourself if you have never dealt with the person and others have never dealt with them either. Be honest and tell them why. If it makes them mad, that's understandable, but it doesn't matter if they have made 1,000 posts, if nobody can vouch for them, then they need to understand your perspective. Most of the sales/purchases I personally make on forums are on the HONDASPREE.NET forums with people who have traded with others so sending payment as a friend payment is no issue. Every now and then someone comes along and says "hey I have such and such for sale, contact me here or there for payment". If I'm interested, and nobody else has bought from them, they either accept my payment as a business transaction, or I look elsewhere. If after that transaction, I find they are indeed good on their word, any future transactions are done as a friend payment.

[gsx600racer]

Hopefully you will not get the same excuse as another member got when they paid for something and never got their parts. Hope things will work out for ya. Sadly this is not the first time someone has had an issue with this member.

Iv done the "friend" payment option with ryan_ott several times in the past, and NEVER had an issue. 

[aeroxbud]

I have sold a few things on forums before. I have never had a problem with people paying me as a business transaction. The fees are not that much, and if your worried about the money, add a few $ to the price.
Like gsx600racer said it you have brought off this person before, and the experience with good. Then perhaps next time do it as a friend request.

[tsimi]

So you bought something from someone here in the forum but he hasn't send you the stuff yet?
I hope we are not talking about the 5BM engine.
This forum is no online store and sometimes we have to take a leap of faith and hope that the buyer/seller is an honest person and does the right thing.

If someone does repeatedly the same shit maybe it is time to prevent that member from selling/buying ever again.
90GTVert is there a way to add some sort of status to a members name or above/below the avatar so that we can see who is to trust or not?
To brand someone as dishonest person is maybe not humane but it will save others time and troubles.

[ryan_ott]

Maybe a trusted trader thread would be of interest...

Sadly it's not the first time that member didn't deliver. It's a shame they think that behavior is ok.

You don't have to send as "friend" that's an option on the purchaser. But you only get the PayPal guarantee for normal transactions.

[90GTVert]

I agree with aeroxbud. If there's any doubt in your mind about the seller and they only want the friend option for payment, I would try to work out a deal by paying extra to cover fees. Then they get their full amount and you get the benefits of whatever help PayPal can offer if something goes wrong.


I don't want people getting ripped off here, but I don't want to moderate sales and trades. My status has always been to use the classifieds at your own risk. You can find experiences with some members in the dealer/retailer reviews section. Unfortunately the negative ones end up in arguments sometimes, but honest reports that attempt to tell facts rather than opinions need to be posted to help others decide on what transactions they do or do not wish to risk. 1 thread for reliable sellers could be useful. It would take continued effort to make it easy check though, because we know that if it's not on page 1, post 1, then some people will never get any use from it anyway.


I get the idea of a title for users that have not came through with sales or trades, but I don't wish to be accused of public shaming. I used to put "BANNED" on users that were banned long ago, and even that (which I thought may have been helpful so we know who was no longer around) got me flack from some that said I was being a jerk by pointing out that they were banned and trying to make them look bad.

[AtariGuy]

I think that would be helpful. I heard some good and some bad about this seller though, but because of a couple members that vouched for him, i went forward with the transaction. Guess i got the short straw...

[tsimi]

90GTVert

So here is another idea, what about a status/title that says something like "trusted member" or "trusted trader" so that others can see that this member is save to do business with.

The only problem would be how to decide who is a trusted person and whos not.

Maybe anyone who would like to have such title should open a topic with a poll asking "am I a trusted person?" Then add Yes and No and people vote then and only if someone has 100% yes votes gets that title under his name or near the avatar.

Would something like that work?

[AtariGuy]

Or a feedback thread - not really for disputes, but to say "90GTVert - +1, great communication, got what he said i would get, great prices, and got it quick! I recommend buying from him!"

EDIT - disregard the upper half. I see this getting abused... mybad

[denton424]

Feedback thread seem to work on other forums I belong to. If someone does business a thread is made and then if you do more transactions people add to that original thread so not to clutter 15 threads of the same person. Or is this forum layout capable of trader ratings? I know vbulliten is not sure about proboards.

[ryan_ott]

I think a simple thread - trusted trader, or something similar in the review section. If you want to be rated you post your own name and the amount of "likes" you get should be a indication of how others feel about your transactions. If there is an option for "dislike" that would also be helpful.

[AtariGuy]

My final stance on this.

I don't want the removal of buy/sell. Its too valuable of a service for those who use it. I've gotten lots of good parts and such from members to let a bad egg ruin it for me. I guess i'm SOL unless i get some kind of response back in... the... future... sometime... besides the point though. I think if we offer items for sale, we should expect that buyers will be using the business payment option for purchases. I would probably ask for the price plus the whatever percent for that fee. I think that way too if it were lost or damaged during shipping as well, theres some bit of safety towards the buyer too

[AtariGuy]

Aug 18, 2017 10:10:22 GMT -5 ryan_ott said:

I think a simple thread - trusted trader, or something similar in the review section. If you want to be rated you post your own name and the amount of "likes" you get should be a indication of how others feel about your transactions. If there is an option for "dislike" that would also be helpful.

could be done using a poll that doesnt expire?

[ryan_ott]

I think using the poll each person would have to make a separate thread.