Selling a mando

If I sell my mando (Morgan Monroe MMS2 in mint condition) via the cafe classifieds how do I know the buyer will pay? How can the buyer trust me to ship? #What is the procedure for this?

Thanx
Ray

"What is the procedure for this?"

It's called honesty.......& you will find 99 9/10 of the folks here are.......

[JD Cowles]

yep, dale nailed it. #i've bought/sold a few things on the cafe and never had a problem. #just agree to send mando and money on the same day. #if i'm sellin i offer to hold the check/money order until i know the buyer is satisfied. #it's hard not to be suspicious in the world these days, but it's mighty satisfying making a transaction on the cafe with honest people without any procedures. #good luck ray-
jd http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Ken Waltham]

I've sold a ton of them, some for very big dollars, and never had a single problem.
Don't know if that would be true with electric guitars, or amps......
Ken

[jjboone101]

I too have sold some stuff on the Cafe and NEVER had a problem. Couple things to think about. Are you giving a 48 or 72 hour trial period? Do you want a money order, PayPal, cashier's check or personal check? I usually ship a mando the same day I get payment, and then hold the payment until I hear the buyer is totally pleased with the instrument. Then, you go ahead and cash/deposit the payment. Seems to work fine.

[jim simpson]

I too have bought and sold on the Cafe. I did not expect the seller to ship untill they received my money. My first big purchase about 12 or so years ago was buying a lesser known builder F-5 from an add placed in Bluegrass Unlimited. At the time I had accumulated about $1500 but could not find anything affordable. I called the seller and had a long conversation. When the mandolin arrived it was as described and I had to option to return it if not satisfied. I did keep it close to 10 years before trading up. I was nervous until it arrived. Up to that point it was the most I had ever spent on an instrument.

[jim simpson]

I too have bought and sold on the Cafe. I did not expect the seller to ship untill they received my money. My first big purchase about 12 or so years ago was buying a lesser known builder F-5 from an add placed in Bluegrass Unlimited. At the time I had accumulated about $1500 but could not find anything affordable. I called the seller and had a long conversation. When the mandolin arrived it was as described and I had to option to return it if not satisfied. I did keep it close to 10 years before trading up. I was nervous until it arrived. Up to that point it was the most I had ever spent on an instrument.

[Coy Wylie]

A while back I tried a mando I found in the classified from a small builder who has posted here recently. When I received the instrument I was a bit disappointed in its appearance and tone. I contacted the seller and told him my feelings and he told me to send it back. I did and he refunded my money. It only cost me the extra shipping. I felt bad that I had to waste his time but I was very glad for the 48 hour return priviledge.

Thanks to all who replied. I'm gonna try the local paper first, but if anybody's interested in a mint Morgan Monroe MMS2 I won't turn you away.

Best
Ray

[Coy Wylie]

Another good idea is to check your area for a bluegrass associations and their newsletters. Your mando might be just the ticket for someone who wants to get started on a quality instrument.

[danman]

I would not hesitate to put your Morgan in the classified section of the cafe.I have bought and sold instruments through this page and have never, ever had a problem. Unless you personally hand over your mando to the buyer for cold hard cash, some risk, from both parties is going to occur.

OK, I'm convinced, the MMS2 is in the classifieds. Who wants to give it a good home?

[Mark Normand]

May I expand on this a bit more?

Its been a while since I registered here, forget whats asked, #so if a new cafe user with 0 posts lists something in the classifieds, how can we know that is not straight up? #I realize most sellers here know each other, but I got real nervous to send a large money order sight/unseen to a seller who had no posts, so we used a credit card transaction with his buddy's machine. That was much better, I ended up returning the test drive, and have confidence everything will be fine. The seller was totally professional.

Comes back to the original question, what keeps an ebay type scam off the cafe? #'Cause I'm still buying/selling...
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Scott Tichenor]

Comes back to the original question, what keeps an ebay type scam off the cafe?

Me.

Take a look at the number of quality instruments appearing on the Cafe classifieds vs. eBay and then compare the number of fraudulent sellers you've seen on both for just mandolins. Seems like someone is out here almost every day pointing a link to a bogus Gibson on eBay. When was the last time you saw that link pointing to these classifieds? I'm not saying folks won't try to do the same on the Cafe classifieds because it's been tested from time to time. It doesn't work here but continues to work on eBay. I can respond a lot faster and more effectively than eBay will ever dream of because this is all I do. eBay's size and diversity is a huge disadvantage in dealing with borderline fraud in areas where they have no expertise.

Think of it like this: I'm a mother rhino and the classifieds is my baby. Don't mess around there is the message.

[mmukav]

Well said, Scott. I love this site and wouldn't hesitate posting an instrument for sale on it. I thank Scott for all his hard work so we 'mandolin crazies' have a good home. It's also great to see that the site has maintained it's dignity and not fallen to the depths of some others as far as quality of posts.

[Mark Normand]

Good answer Scott, just what I was looking for.

I think that my recent experience was not quite the norm here. Maybe you should act as the go-between when needed, you could be the shipping point for money and mando swaps, your fee would be you get to try all these mandolins for free !! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Jus kiddin!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Thx a bunch!