3 Tips on Buying and Selling Online

Ever since 2002, I've been buying and selling online. I've tried and tested several online mediums to sell my items. Before, I've sold vaults, mobile phones, european plates and such.

Buying and selling online requires investigative skills and instincts. Low-life scammers are prowling everywhere and here are 3 tips that I can share with you guys to prevent such from happening:


1. Ask for actual photos.
I even go as far as asking the person to take a photo of the product then beside it, a paper where the current date and time is hand written. This way, I can prove that the actual item exists.

2. Search for the item description posted
Utilize Google! For example, this car caught my fancy. As posted in AyosDito (One of the most used and popular online classifieds I use)



2003 JAGUAR XTYPE
Glacier blue w/ beige leather interior
AUTO-2.0L-V6-Gas
37k kms, Good condition
P985,000. Local unit
TEXT 09223364774 

The text above is the actual description of the owner. What you do is, try copying the entire text below the photo then, paste it in Google then press search.

After searching for the text above, we can conclude several facts:
A) The number one result is from AyosDito. This proves that AyosDito is more searchable compare to other classified ads website.
B) The Jaguar ad above has been posted in another site other than AyosDito and upon investigating, the seller of that car in AyosDito and Sulit is one and the same. This just proves (not 100%) that there is only one seller of the said car and this reduces the risk of it being a scam.


3. Meet up is better over Courier Shipments. Bank Deposits are better than GCash or Smart Money
I've been duped once and learned my lesson from there on. I saw this mobile phone at a good deal and they asked my to deposit a 50% downpayment via Gcash. I did that immediately but good thing, I negotiated that I only give a 1000-peso downpayment to show my utmost interest in the said product and promised that upon receiving the item, I will immediately send the balance. The mobile phone never arrived. Bye bye 1,000 bucks.


It's more difficult to open up a bank account versus Gcash. You can even use a fake name when opening or registering a Gcash account. This is the main reason why after that, I don't accept Gcash transactions.


I will post more tips from time to time coming from my years of online trading experience. 


Another tip and as shown evidently above. AyosDito.ph is a good place to buy and sell online. I sold my pre-loved mobile phone within the day I posted my ad. No kidding. 


Oh yea, my Nokia e63 is getting slower.. I'm eyeing a Blackberry...







I'll just add that to my wishlist. If any of you wants to buy them for me, here's the link. :) :) :)