Dear Sifus,

Would like to get any advice on what is the best way to sell home theater gear without getting scammed.

Was reading up on "LYN Trade Zone Dispute Resolution Guidelines" and the cases there can really make your heart drop.

I've never sold HT equipment before and would like to sell some used ones. So the magic questions would be:-

1. 5.1 speakers, definitely I can't be bringing 5+1 speakers to the houses of everyone who calls me up to audition, so how do I manage that? Do I insist on a deposit, let's say RM50-100 (to be bank-ed in) before I allow anyone to audition? Just afraid everyone will be turned off by the deposit. It is a private home, so I'd like only serious buyers to come audition, and not anyone who has nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

2. Let's say I manage to sell everything, speakers, AVR, TV, sofa, blu ray player etc. The buyer says he's serious and would like to buy all the equipment, but it is too much cash to carry. What's the safest way to transact? Is it alright to get the prospective buyer to bank in the full amount first and then come to my home to collect it all? How do you guys normally do it?

Thanks!

1) just tell them to come to your house for audition... or, you charge them for your petrol and your hard work to bring the stuff to buyers home, but i don't think this is a good idea.. if buyer don't want to buy, you end up wasting your energy and your time only..
2), don't do it along.. bring your bodyguard/ahlong/friends when collectiong payment..

Cash upfront i would say. M2U or cheque (wait for it to clear b4 release item).

Regarding the deposit. You can say "to prevent FFK, deposit will be collected", then the amount up to you. Then when the person do show up for audit, return the deposit to them, then perhaps you can avoid ppl wasting your time. Because buyer have no obligation to buy from you, the deposit is just a formality and not for profit.

1. ask for the buyer's identification card, license or other information just for in case and prevent any any robbery case... try to reduce the number of people (buyer's friend or whatever) in the same house to do audition together for in case few people whack u before take away your equipments... otherwise ask ur family member stay along with you and one of member stay outside your house, at least the member outside your house can immediate respond and shout for help to catch the robber...

2. most of house have wired broadband and smart phone with wireless broadband... if they happy the audio quality, tell them do online banking on the spot since they felt insecure to bring big amount of cash (maybe seller will rob buyer)... so u also can check the payment transferred to your bank account before buyer carry away ur equipments... but of cos if possible request to buyer audition for another 1 hour after the bank transfer, bcos maybank2u have the security feature to revert the bank transfer and freeze it, bcos the buyer can call m2u that he didnt request for bank transfer once he received SMS from m2u and m2u may freeze the transaction for further investigation... so the longer time period transferred, the safer you are...

just my common sense...

This post has been edited by gkl83: Mar 24 2011, 01:14 PM

Small stuff easy to sell, can bring out..Actually planning to sell my floorstander speaker -> Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3, it's huge and quite heavy..wanna ask buyer come to my house and audition also takut rob.. sigh...now the speakers sitting at the corner doing nothing...what a waste..

Thanks guys!

Many great ideas there!
Like piscesguy, I guess there are quite a few people out there with HT/Audio gear rusting away in the store room because of the hassles of selling.

* Troublesome/security problem/etc or if sold to AV shop, they give you literally peanuts for your gear - can't blame them though, they still need to mark it up and re-sell it for a profit. So would rather keep it in the corner and not lose the 'purchase value'. But what a waste

1. Good idea on the 'limiting' number of visitors. If they bring a car load of 5 vs 2. Gangbang and bye bye goodies

2. Internet banking, usually only younger people use that, a lot of uncles don't have an online account, so can't le because of the amount $$$ is big, then usually only uncle can afford.

3. I'll try to get a neighbour or a friend to be with me when they audition. Good idea.

4. I would very much prefer cash upfront, but I doubt anyone would bring RM20-30k in cash for a purchase right??

5. A member PM'ed me and suggested a bank draft - sounds like an excellent idea, but then I checked online and found that there are some scammers that can print very good copies of bank drafts. Aiya.. I'm no banking expert, I probably won't know the different between a real one and a fake one Exchanging HT equipment for a piece of valueless paper doesn't sound like such a great idea. Anyone knows how to identify real/fake bank drafts?

6. Ideally, I find the idea of going to the bank right after a successful audition sounds appealing, but usually auditions will be after work on weekdays or weekends when banks are closed. Haihhh.. so scratch that idea.

7. I don't think potential buyers would dare to bank in tens of thousands before receiving the goods unless it's to a retail shop right?

8. Has anyone out there tried requesting for a deposit before doing auditions etc? What's your experience?

dun sell here...
sell to ht shop or 2nd hand shop..
solve ur problem

This post has been edited by maskedchan: Mar 24 2011, 04:25 PM

Go to Cash Converter...

http://www.cashconverters-asia.com/

All you ever wanted and more.....for a secure transaction...

But take note, they dun usually give the best deal...but they are true to their words.
So even another guy offer RM200 bucks more for a RM2000 set that he wanna pay end of the month...I rather take cash converter's offer.

just like someone offered RM5K for my old junk car (30+ years old) i parked in front of my house, but he wanna pay 3 X....another guy offered RM3K cash...of course i take the RM3K..

This post has been edited by azbro: Mar 24 2011, 09:47 PM

Sold a few stuff touchwood no hanky panky happened. The only things I asked for full payment upfront is when some forumers asked me to buy stuff for them in Singapore at cost price. That also because they trust me and have been one of lowyat.net early members plus my it showroom was in lowyat plaza before years back.If my own items, mostly ask them to pick up from my apartment. I have a security guard on standby downstairs so anything wrong can call them.

Of all my transactions, I've encountered a bad experience before when I paid for 5 graphics card to one forumer for a group buy. He even came to my lowyat shop few times as a customer and one of his leg is handicapped. Turned out he cheated a lot of people for close to rm100k and products never came.

My advise to newbies is ask one of the shops u know to sell on your behalf.. Not every shop does it but some do. Another way is sell it to your friends first. Some of my hifi stuff before it was sold my colleague already book it. Only thing bad is sometimes they ask for installment, but for me still ok because I issue the paychecks.. Can still deduct salary lol

This post has been edited by DannyOP: Mar 24 2011, 09:32 PM

1) Deposit upfront to avoid FFK
2) Find a suitable place for audition and testing. Never at your own place unless you know very well who they are.

I sold around 20k of used equipment. So far Okay.

Bro, you still selling your sub?

OT: My sub is still in SG.
Yes, it is still available.

Online sellin..

A dilemma by any other name..

I once took a set of sattelite spkrs for a guy to chek out.. had to wait until almost midnite for both being free to meet .. in d end , he didnt take it .. its still gatherin dust in my store..

Part n parcel of sellin used gear..

Anyone got cheap and nice Subwoofer for sale can PM me?

Cheap to a Taukeh can be different to a common person .. Better put yr budget on good and cheap.. Can range from ten ringgit to 100k.

below 1000 lor