How do Trades/Exchanges work on forums like this?

[stateofmind]

Im not at the 100 post mark yet so I cant ask there, and was wondering. How does one get say a iMac from another safely through this site? Im sure the site has takes no responsibility in lost or unpayed goods. I understand when the two people live close to each other but I im sure interest for some items come from the other side of the country.

 

[Neutral Gamer]

As far as I know, MacRumors tries to stay out of it as much as they can and any trades made really are at your own risk. If something goes wrong there's nothing they can do apart from talk to the parties concerned to try and get a resolution and possibly ban a user who broke the rules.

If you look through the Marketplace forum you'll see examples of trades that have gone wrong and which, many weeks later, are still trying to be resolved. The best advice I can give would be to:

• Check out the past posts of the person you're gonna be trading with. That'll give you an idea of the kind of person they are and whether they joined up simply to scam someone or are a proper contributor to the forums.
• Make sure you see photos of the product and get yourself a serial number.
• If the person hasn't traded before on MacRumors or you can't get positive feedback from other members then the safest thing is to meet up in person and trade in cash. If you don't live close see if a friend or relative can check the item for you. Of course make sure it's a public place and you have other people with you in case someone tries to mug you.
• If you're gonna be using a payment service such as PayPal then make sure you use a credit card (not debit) so that you're protected in case anything goes wrong. Credit card companies can act quickly but services such as PayPal take ages to sort anything out.
• Make sure items are sent through insured delivery and keep that tracking number safe so you have evidence it was sent / received.

All in all, the same strategies can be applied generally to buying or selling with private individuals for any site such as craigslist for example.

Good luck. You've only got 8 posts to go before you enter the freedom (danger) of the Marketplace ...

 

[Markleshark]

Yeah, it's all based on trust, so don't go rushing into anything.