I have $.02 on this, having gone through something similar recently. I had a G5 PowerPC unit I sold on eBay. I took the bare unit in excellent working condition to my local UPS Store and had them wrap it (the guy behind the desk was Mac-knowledgeable and knew what a G5 was by sight) in about a ton of bubble wrap then an oversized box filled with tons of peanuts. Shipping and insurance with the super packaging from Philly to California was about $70 but I thought that it'd be worth it to have an impartial/uninterested party do the wrapping.
The receiver later stated "this looks like it has been dropped from a building" and "metal is bent and twisted and is in terrible shape" and etc. The receiver demanded an immediate refund. Because the $ transaction was done through PayPal, he lodged a case against me stating I used his credit card in an unauthorized manner. PayPal then placed a hold against my account for the value of the item*. I apologized for any problem and told him he could open a case with UPS and they will pick it up and when they see the damage they will pay up and we'll get our money back. Receiver said he wanted an immediate refund. Receiver never produced any pictures of the damage. Receiver refused to open a UPS recovery ticket, he just wanted the money back and then he would ship the computer. I opened a case and asked receiver for the best time for them to come. He never responded so I let UPS go with "immediate retrieval". UPS made 3 attempts to retrieve the item/packaging for inspection, each time receiver was not in. Gary Winters never responded to me or UPS or PayPal about the item, only allusions about him sending me the computer back *after* he got money from me. I made multiple email, telephone, and PayPal arbitration web site statements showing I was trying to be legitimate (along with UPS tracking web site screen shots). I did this for about a month. Just recently PayPal found in my favor, removed the hold from my account, and now I am on my way again. I have still received no communication from the receiver about the item. Sooo... 1. Let UPS pack and ship it. If it is wrapped wrong, they pay. If it is damaged in shipping, they pay. 2. Even though PayPal's communication is poor, they are a line of defense against getting ripped-off as a seller/sender. * Item was $350. That meant that using PayPal to buy something for $1 would result in them taking $351 from my account. Needless to say I did not use PayPal for that time to buy anything. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Fraser Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 1:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: how to ship a compact Mac? Hello, --- On Sun, 12/27/09, Wolf <[email protected]> wrote: > i am thinking of selling my Macintosh Classic pretty soon, either at eBay > or here (lem-swap??) Something else you may want to consider: Craigslist. The beauty of Cragislist is that you don't have to deal with the hassle of shipping, as well as getting cash-in-hand before parting with your gear. I don't know if you've sold on eBay before, (you didn't say where you've sold laptops) but PayPal (which you are required to accept) seems to be very pro-buyer just now. PayPal's modus operandi seems to be to simply suck money out of the seller's PayPal account if the buyer whines that their auction item wasn't shipped during the new phase of the moon, but during a half-moon instead (or whatever). The flipside, of course, is that going through Craigslist means you have to deal with people in person. Only you know whether or not this is something you're willing to put up with. :) [snip] -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
