Sending a book to a dealer before payment?

kiwi_fruit

I want to sell an antique first edition book, tried ebay- no luck, emailed a few antique book specialists (found email addresses on their websites) and one of them came back with a good offer, thing is- he wants me to send the book to them and says he'll send a cheque after inspection. Does this sound..unusual? I mean, you wouldn't consider sending an ebay item to a buyer before getting payment, would you. The value in question is a few hundred pounds. I've never dealt with anything like this before so any advice would be appreciated.

theonlywayisup

Personally I would not send anything for inspection to a person I didn't know, or a company that wasn't well-known.

Are they close enough for you to attend in person?

kiwi_fruit

Unfortunately not, pretty much another side of the country. The website seems legit from what I can tell, but I don't know how could I protect myself if I do that.. I think the only time I posted something before payment was some old CDs to the musicmagpie company, but that was under £20.

theonlywayisup

If they have a website, are there any details on how they operate this type of system?

mrcol1000

My Grandad sells gold coins this way. He tends to stick to the same dealer though. I guess it is no different to phone recyclers.

GabbaGabbaHey

No dealer is going to pay in advance for goods that they haven't had a chance to examine. What if he sent you money and then found that the books wasn't the same as he had been led to believe?

When you sell through eBay/PayPal, the buyer takes all the risk - they send money to a complete stranger in the expectation that they will receive the goods as described in the listing - which is why the resolution processes are so heavily weighted in favour of the buyer.

With your bookseller, it's a matter of trust - either you think he's legitimate, and you can send him the book first, or you don't, and you decide not to deal with him.

kiwi_fruit

Thanks for all the replies. I decided to go for it after researching some more, his name came up in Wikipedia as a "bibliographer and historian", so I guess it's as legit as it gets)
GabbaGabbaHey, I don't know what risk is there to him to pay by Paypal upfront- buyers get full protection and can open a case and get their money back easily. Or even a credit card claim. Plus seller picks up all the fees. But when I'm sending it without a payment upfront I literary only have his good word to go by.

theonlywayisup

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

When you sell through eBay/PayPal, the buyer takes all the risk - they send money to a complete stranger in the expectation that they will receive the goods as described in the listing - which is why the resolution processes are so heavily weighted in favour of the buyer.

With your bookseller, it's a matter of trust - either you think he's legitimate, and you can send him the book first, or you don't, and you decide not to deal with him.

Buyers paying with Paypal, take little risk, a little inconvenience if they don't get an item on time or it's damaged, but they will get their money back.

Sending an item without payment is far riskier.

The seller sends the book "on trust". The bookseller doesn't pay. What then?

GabbaGabbaHey

theonlywayisup wrote: »

The seller sends the book "on trust". The bookseller doesn't pay. What then?

Every distance selling or mail order transaction depends on either the buyer or the seller taking some risk, depending on which party makes the first move (unless both parties are prepared to pay escrow fees - and can agree on a trusted escrow agent). That's why you try to deal with a legitimate organisation, or a buyer/seller that you trust (based on their feedback, reputation on a forum, or whatever).

eBay/PayPal have tried to reduce this by putting in place processes which are heavily biased in favour of the buyer, but paying by PayPal is still not a risk-free transaction, and there are plenty of buyers out there who have been stung.

If somebody is not prepared to take the risks inherent in transacting remotely, then they should only deal face-to-face.

theonlywayisup

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

Every

eBay/PayPal have tried to reduce this by putting in place processes which are heavily biased in favour of the buyer, but paying by PayPal is still not a risk-free transaction, and there are plenty of buyers out there who have been stung.

Paypal is about the safest method of payment a buyer can use. The buyer does not take ALL the risk as you put it.

The process the OP is describing is not your average online purchase/sale. Therefore he/she needs to establish the risk and comparing it to an ebay/paypal transaction is not at all realistic.

RFW

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Sending an item without payment is far riskier.

The seller sends the book "on trust". The bookseller doesn't pay. What then?

It's risky but it's the way such business was always done. If you send stuff to an auction it's at the seller's risk. Antique dealers used to always deal that way. It's a lot easier to trash a reputation of a longstanding company if they don't pay.
It's an odd by product of so much distance selling that we have largely outsourced our trust.