Need help making a purchase

I'm looking to purchase some bills online that were posted to ebay but I convinced the guy to sell them to me directly because he will lose money on his bills after ebay fees. What is the safest way to go about making sure I get my bills. It's $1836 fave value so I'm sure you can all understand my concerns

 

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I wouldn't go outside the ebay realm......what if this guy sends you fakes?

 

Yes, I understand your concerns, because you are willingly abandoning legal protection for this transaction. Of course the seller prefers it. Nothing you do from here will be as safe for you as doing the transaction via Ebay; use Paypal with a credit card so you can dispute later if you need to, and pray.

 

Or doesn't send you anything?

 

Wait, you convinced him to go outside eBay?

Doing a transaction of this size without Buyer or Seller Protection is a terrible idea. You might get the bills for a bit less, but you stand a very real risk of getting much less than you paid for, with no recourse.

 

I don't like the idea, myself.

How to 'make sure' is to go pick them up and inspect before buying. No other way.

 

A) I wouldn't do this deal outside eBay
B) Sounds like your buying "stuff", not collecting currency

 

I agree 110% with the class. And the seller agreeing to sell outside eBay is truly a "problem"; I just wouldn't do it. After all it is YOUR money at risk

 

Thanks for the feed back guys, doesn't paypal have any buyer protection if I'm sent a detailed invoice with each bill and serial number? It's hard to turn down $5 over face for red seal hundreds

 

Often times when it sounds too good to be true...it is.

 

Well if this guy sells his bills on ebay he will lose money after ebay and paypal fees. He would be better off spending them at the store so why not sell them to me and make some money

 

Don't worry so much about the seller and more for your own safety regarding this purchase. Do you know this fellow? Have you done business with him before? Ebay protects the buyer. If something goes wrong with the transaction you'll get your money back. Working outside of the ebay system you might have a more difficult time getting your funds back if this deal heads south in a hurry........

[edit to add] And I do commend you on your desire to save this fellow some money, but business is business.

 

If you want to do the deal, by all means, go for it. If I were in your position, I'd be very wary, especially if HE wants to do the deal outside normal channels.

Let us know how it turns out.

BTW, Welcome to Coin Talk.

 

You have a choice. Go through eBay or pass. eBay has buyer protection. Dealing with the seller directly has no recourse, that's why I said pass. Just how bad do you want this item? Are you willing to take the risk of losing $1836.00? I have bought bills a lot more expensive than this but I'm not willing to take the risk. I'd rather pass on the item. At least I still have my hard earned money in my pocket.

 

Why not just meet him face-to-face in some dark alley?

 

If he's going to just spend them if you don't buy, and your price would be $5 over face, I'm seeing a little wiggle room here. If enough to cover fees and/or still make it worth his while, I don't know (you'd have to play with the numbers to see), but it seems to me that if both parties are reasonable, perhaps with you going up some and him down (from face plus $5), it should be fairly easy and painless to meet at a point where everybody wins.

 

If you use a credit card or paypal you are protected.

 

Paypal does have some kind of protection. They claim reimbursement for "eligible purchases" but never state what makes a purchase "eligible".

 

Wait, so at $5 over face on $100 notes, after pp fee of 3% is only $2 net over for the seller. This stinks of smelly fish. Why would he even respond to an email about only $5 over face let alone a net of only $2. He's obviously not hard up for $ because he's flush with hundreds so I suspect something nefarious is going on here. But Coinzip and Conder are correct, you should be protected unless he wants you to "friends&family" the $. If that's the case definitely walk away.

 

I didn't buy them guys but it was 6 red seal 100s, 8 1934 100s, 1929 national 100, 1969 star hundred, 3 1934 50s, 1 1929 50, 8 $5 red seals and 3 $2 red seals all for $1950. He was willing to sell for this because he would profit 100 on sale after shipping and it would all go to one seller instead of individual sales and shipping. Plus after ebay takes their 183.60$ take and paypal takes another $50+ dollars he would have taken a loss on the face value of the bills.