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How does one sell stuff on Craig's List? Especially how do you deliver an item and get paid safely?

I'm looking to sell some stuff on Craig's List, but have heard that sometimes people get ripped off (the meeting happens, and then one party pulls out a gun and takes both the money and the merchandise). How do you sell stuff safely?

Public Comments

1. there is a service called paypal..not everyone has it..its online payment to an account..but if you have to meet someone..meet them where there are a lot of people around..like a subway station..gosh..are you selling diamonds or something ? )
2. I mostly sell large items that I don't want to ship on Craigslist. Make sure you have someone else with you when someone comes to your house to pick up an item. If you're too nervous, try selling online instead, like ebay or half.com or amazon, etc. good luck!
3. The best way to safely, personally, deliver an item and be paid is in a public place, show the item, get the money and hand over the item. If you are afraid that you will be the victim or are vulnerable to being the victim of an armed robbery, then you need to avoid face to face contact and further more might want to go through a mail-box either at a service like the UPS store or at the Post Office. For any mail/internet order, the very best system seems to be payment via USPS money order. Once any portion of the transaction involves the US Postal Service, you have the weight of the Federal government in pursuing a fraud case. This applies to BOTH sellers and buyers. One does run into problems shipping large items and this requires research PRIOR to offering the item for sale so that the actual cost of shipping can be given to the buyer up front. Be certain that the money instrument (cash, check, or MO) is good before you hand over the goods. Selling 101 but you might be surprised how many don't adhere to this basic rule. No legitimate buyer will be surprised or offended either.