If you had an ad on BST, how would you decide to trade with a new member?

Reminds me of the opening of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[Indiana needs his bullwhip to swing across a chasm]
Indiana : Give me the whip.
Satipo : Throw me the idol.
[they both see a stone door closing]
Satipo : No time to argue! Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip!
Indiana : [throws the idol] Give me the whip!
Satipo : [drops the whip] Adiós, señor.

Does the newer person have any references? I've been here on the forum about 6 months now. I have many buys and sells on here so far..
@Herb_T

@Herb_T said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Do it as 2 sake rather than a trade, then you each have charge back options.

2 sake? What is that?

Sales. Sorry. Corrected.

@jmlanzaf said:
Do it as 2 sales rather than a trade, then you each have charge back options.

Personally, I would not do a trade unless it was in person.

Otherwise, I think the quote above is the safest way to do a trade. For a small fee, all your doing is exchanging the same amount of money, and you get the paypal protection.

I believe others have been scammed on trades here in the past. The honest person would send the coin, and the scammer would not. The scammer would then disappear from the boards, possibly to return as an alt to find other victims.

I see both sides. As a new member here (who still cannot add a profile picture or post pictures in threads) I would understand if a well-established member had certain criteria for me buying, selling, or trading with them. Ultimately, it is up to you on what your risk tolerance is.

As a new member as well, I do hope folks give me the chance to BST with them should I find something.

I can't emphasize enough the value of the 3% PayPal fee when dealing with strangers. I bought almost $8000 worth of these "new mint coins in OGP" from people on the forum. I simply asked them to invoice me with the 3+% PayPal fee added so that I could pay them in advance of shipping. That makes them secure in the transaction - just because I have 20,000+ posts doesn't mean I'm trustworthy LOL - and if they shipped me an empty box I could then simply file a charge back with PayPal so I feel secure. Yes, it cost me $80 - I paid with a 2% cashback card - but both parties have peace of mind.

For people you've had a history with, you could send a check or something instead if you want to save the 1% net cost. But there is real convenience to doing it the PayPal way as well.

I bought a relatively expensive ($5k) coin from a fairly new member. I arranged an escrow through an established member here. Gave him a few bucks to do it. It worked out fine.

For a $150 coin though, that isn’t worth it. Like @jmlanzaf said, that 3% PayPal fee is a small price to pay for security.

@Herb_T said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I can't emphasize enough the value of the 3% PayPal fee when dealing with strangers. I bought almost $8000 worth of these "new mint coins in OGP" from people on the forum. I simply asked them to invoice me with the 3+% PayPal fee added so that I could pay them in advance of shipping. That makes them secure in the transaction - just because I have 20,000+ posts doesn't mean I'm trustworthy LOL - and if they shipped me an empty box I could then simply file a charge back with PayPal so I feel secure. Yes, it cost me $80 - I paid with a 2% cashback card - but both parties have peace of mind.

For people you've had a history with, you could send a check or something instead if you want to save the 1% net cost. But there is real convenience to doing it the PayPal way as well.

Agree on $8,000, but on a coin that has a value of $150, it doesn’t make much sense. Would I want to lose the $150, no. But on the other hand $150 won’t hurt me, while $8,000 would sting for a while.

The "insurance" scales. It would only cost you $1.50 to insure.

And the $8000 wasn't one coin. It was a while bunch of $150 coins from different people.

I would look at your profile and see you’ve been here since June so I go into cover my ass mode. You take PayPal GS (which makes me a hypocrite I know because I won’t take it) or you ship to me first. No one has anything (coins) I need that bad.

I have only had positive deals on BST. But I have also read of the horror stories that have happened over the years. Years back it was not uncommon to see other members recommend the scenario that Slowhand described. Both parties would send items to a well respected member and that member would verify all was good and forward on to the recipient. I never needed to go that route but for something expensive it would be worth the piece of mind.