Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:3701 comp.sys.mac.misc:5784 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!gvlv2!imagine!chris From: chris@imagine.ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM (Chris Sterritt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Buying from someone on the Net? Message-ID: <339@imagine.ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM> Date: 12 Nov 90 20:18:53 GMT References: <1990Nov8.192749.8001@ccu.umanitoba.ca> Reply-To: chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM (Chris Sterritt) Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc Organization: Unisys/Automated Document Management Systems, Radnor, PA Lines: 66 In article <1990Nov8.192749.8001@ccu.umanitoba.ca> umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Carlson) writes: >That is the question I am curious about. Every now and then I see something >advertised on here for a decent price that I wouldn't mind buying. >order, such as $50 off of a hard disk over mail order, I'd go mail order!> Yes, AS EVERYWHERE, you must watch the real price. I've gotten some (list) 50 dollar games, that (mail order) cost $25, for $10. Seems like a win. :-). I've also sold some programs that were just gathering dust (not just games). >But at times there are some decent deals. I'd be interested in hearing >about any experiences. I haven't seen any public flames warning people >about any certain individual so am I to assume that everything generally >goes OK? Or is everybody just afraid to buy from individuals? Hey, you'll find people out there paranoid of just about anything -- I'm not being terribly facetious (sp?) here. What are you afraid of? >I guess the main thing that makes me shy is wondering why some of the >people sell over the Net? Most of the stuff seems to be general everyday >popular items that there should be no problem selling by putting up a >bulletin on a board at work or at school, or worse yet, a $5.00 ad in >your local paper. Either of those seems less work than trying to mail >something across the country or around the world. WELL, in my case, I work (this week, literally!) at a company where there is exactly ONE other mac user! Furthermore, I don't go to school, and there are no users groups that are near me. Contrast this with the net: your email goes into the eyeballs (and occasionally from there into the brains! :-) of thousands of Mac addicts every day. SURELY there is a *MUCH* higher chance of selling something this way. Case in point: I sold my copy of SmallTalk/V for the Mac; got about three responses, compared to the twenty or so responses for the games I sold at the same time. As with *EVERYTHING* else, be careful: when I sold stuff, I had people send me a check. Then, once I had it (NO, I didn't wait for it to clear!) I sent them the software. EVERYONE was happy: I've even bought SIMM memory this way (interestingly enough, everyone who I've *purchased* from has sent ME the stuff right off, parallel to me sending my check!). I feel pretty good about checks; they have the person's name and address on them, and you've got to send the software SOMEWHERE. So, in summary, chalk me up as a happy NET purchaser/vendor. I *DID* have one person never send me their check... so I never sent them the software. No fuss... I'd deal with them again, same terms :-). Oh yeah, one final anecdote in this too-long reply :-). You *MIGHT* see my name as 'something' of a deadbeat; I had a guy send me an SF book that was available in Canada, and not in the US, and he sent the book before he sent me his address via email. The book arrived just fine, BUT the return address was mangled beyond readability! I hurredly sent him email to get his real one, but he'd left school for the summer already, and never got the mail. Happily, I asked on one of the nets about him when I thought he'd be back at school, and he contacted me, and I sent him a check, AND he cashed it! :-). So, best of luck; I've never heard *ANYTHING* but good stories on net-trading and selling. --chris sterritt