Written by SonyPortableizer with editing by Triton
Section 1: Buying
Buying things on the benheck trading post is easy to do, and most people are great to deal with! Just follow these simple steps to have a good experience buying.
1. find the item you want to buy.
*If you cant find what your looking for start a WTB thread. WTB stands for Want To Buy
*Keep the WTB for thread short, sweet, and to the point. If the person who has what
you want looses interest in your topic in the third paragraph he'll probably not offer to sell the item to you!
2. PM the person, if you dont know how, its simple! Just hit the PM button on the post of the person you want to PM>
*Then in their thread simply say PM sent, so as not to clutter their thread
3. FOLLOW THROUGH, dont say OK, tell them your ready, then crap out at the last second! falling back on a deal is bad manners!
* the other person may be depending on the money your sending, and bought that Ferrari before getting the money from you, then their screwed! follow through on your dealings! Its like a contract.
4. Use paypal! Paypal has protection for both buyers and sellers
*paypal can protect you from getting ripped off if the person you buy from scams you!
*paypal can protect you from the people you sell to as well!
5. Fast payments mean better reviews. The faster you pay the faster you will probably get what you buy!
6. Look up their credibility in the Traders thread. the info in that thread is mostly accurate and hopefully with PHPBB3 we can better organize that info!
7. Write a review on how business went with them, and they will (probably) do the same
Tritons common sense tips!
*Read the traders thread! Most of the people on benheck are good honest people but some people arent. a good indicator is the post count and join date, people who have been here years and have hundreds or thousands of posts can USUALLY be trusted! use common sense when dealing with people
*use paypal, its the only real way to protect yourself when a deal goes bad, weather buying or selling!
*if buying something for hundreds of dollars (like a computer or a comissioned portable) work out a payment plan with the seller, like half up front and half on delivery, that way if the deal goes bad and paypal doesnt save you you only loose half instead of everything!
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Section 2: Selling/Trading(They all apply for the same things)
1. If you dont offer it up for sale you wont sell it! Dig that old "junk" out of your closet and out from under your bed!
*In this case we'll be using an NES Test Manual as our example item for sale
2. Research how much what you are selling is worth
*The average price of our example is 100$
**if yours is damaged, say its missing the front page, it is worth less
**Or on the other hand if its new in box never been opend that can increase your value!
** Or better yet it has the Test Station to go along with it! then its a complete set which means more money
3. Now that you have appraised your item fairly now what?
*dont just say "I have this NES test manual, its worth 100$" that wont sell the item!
*Take PICTURES! Good pictures will sell an item faster than anything else, they dont say a pictures worth a thousand words for nothing!
*More importantly take GOOD PICTURES! If all we see is a blurry blob that looks kinda like an NES test manual we arent going to buy it, if we see a nice in focus sharp and clear picture then we probably will!
*By not posting pics you show that you arent willing to put some effort in to selling and your MUCH less likely to actually sell the item!
4. now that you know HOW to sell its time to actually Open your For Sale thread! lets look at some examples of thread titles.
*WTS: NES Test Station Manual $100
Seems good right? its short sweet and to the point and clearly states what you want to do
*Want to sel Maunel for NES Test station
Now this one is not quite as good. it still says whats for sale but for how much? and the bad spelling doesnt say much for the seller!
5. Describe your item accurately and to the best of your ability but KEEP IT SHORT!
*Having a description that is super detailed but long is actually WORSE than one that is short! just make sure to be accurate in describing the condition of the item!
*Having a short sentence saying what the pictures you have are showing is a good way to get the message across about the condition of what you are selling
*selling AS-IS is only OK if you have NO way to test the thing you are selling, selling broken stuff AS-IS is scamming and is not cool! if at all possible test the things your gonna sell and describe the working/non working condition
*Try to keep your for sale ad interesting, a little humor can go a long way but dont overdo it! or cool and interesting facts about what your selling to keep their attention but again, keep it short!
7. If offer is complete now what?
*Accept money, paypal is the safest way!
*Make sure the buyer knows exactly what their getting! your more likely to have a good experience if the person knows exactly what they are getting before they get it, because then they know what to expect when they open the box!
8. Pack and ship the item in a timely manner!
*use bubblewrap if you can, if you cant get bubblewrap or packing peanuts newspaper is OK if you use it correctly! the idea is to give the item cushioning so crumple up that paper and stuff it all around and pack it in there! a newspaper giftwrapping in an otherwise empty box isnt going to protect it!
*its best to have the item boxed up and ready to go as soon as you get payment!
*shipping is EASY with paypal. if you have the size of the box and what it weighs you can print your shipping label online and be out the door to the post office in minutes!
*delivery confirmation is protection for both the buyer and seller and is a good idea!
*Shipping insurance is optional but for those big ticket items its a GOOD IDEA.
Tritons common sense tips!
*Shipping items out before you get paid is a good way to get ripped off! most people are honest and will pay but some arent! use common sense.
*ship quickly! people dont like to wait 2 weeks after they paid for you to ship that thing they bought.
*If you think you packed it well then pack it better! its always better safe than sorry
*accurate descriptions and good pictures sell products but bad pictures and a GIANT WALL OF TEXT will scare people off!
JARGON! aka common abbreviations
Code: Select all
WTB - Want To Buy
WTS - Want To Sell
/T - usually added to the above means "or trade" eg WTB/T is want to buy or trade for
OBO - Or Best Offer, means that if they are asking 100 Or Best Offer they will take the higest offer that is close to 100 (say 95$ or so)
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
YMMV - Your Milage May Vary, usually used on stuff that is sold as is EG "it worked for me but not always, YMMV"