For a small change in pace: Selling Advice?

[ShadowOfGed]

Alright everyone, here's my predicament. I have a Power Mac G5 Quad that I'm looking to sell. I have been all summer, but I was letting my father use it for some home videos while I've been gone.

As goes without saying, it's one hell of a piece of hardware. Unfortuantely, that means it's really worth over $4500 or more as it is currently configured (7800GT, 4GB of RAM). However, I'll probably be doing good to sell it for $3750-$4000. I've never dealt with transactions this big, and after hearing some horror stories about seller protection on PayPal, I'm seriously looking for alternatives.

So my question is this: when you're selling high-ticket items, how do you go about ensuring that you get paid by the buyer before turning over such a hefty sum in hardware? Would you recommend staying away from eBay and PayPal? What venues would you recommend?

Of course, I'm a few weeks shy of being able to post this for sale in the Bazaar, so unless anyone PMs me from this post, I'm just looking for advice on finding a good venue where both the buyer and I can ensure that everything goes smoothly. That is, I want payment before I ship hardware, while also coming across as trustworthy enough that the buyer doesn't fear I will just "take the money and run."

What would you guys suggest? Thanks!

[Wyatt]

If you're in a larger city, Craigslist is the bee's knees. Don't have them meet you at your home, though. Have them meet you somewhere public, like a Starbucks. Demand cash payment, and learn how to check for counterfeit bills.

I sold my MBP at a Starbucks this week, and one person obviously thought I was selling the guy some drugs, but it went very nicely overall.

[edit]
An e-mail I got today reminded me of the potential evils of Craigslist. Don't even reply when you get an e-mail like this:

hello seller, i saw your advert for the sale of computer==
Apple MacBook Pro 15"== and am so interested in buying for my children use and i will like to have more in stock for a business cafe...
if you are willy and readuy to sell get in touch with me soon with final asking price, your full name, address and phone number with the method of payment you accept........
thanks.....


I thought about letting him know he has no business asking about my willy, but I just decided not to reply.

[nskk]

[edit]
An e-mail I got today reminded me of the potential evils of Craigslist. Don't even reply when you get an e-mail like this:


I thought about letting him know he has no business asking about my willy, but I just decided not to reply.

Yea you have to be carefull about that. A nigerian offered me 800 dollars for my broken 2 year old ibook 8 months ago. :lol: I told him to get a hike.