Precautions to take while buying stuff over olx etc

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avi

avi

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My friend has got a good deal on iPhone 5S which he found on OLX. Tomorrow he is going to buy it. I gave him few suggestions :
-to meet at a public place, preferably with some friend
-not to carry cash
-exchange photocopies of some ID [passport etc]
-and check the product carefully etc.

you guys have anything to add ?
 
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Take 1 or 2 guys with him. Always be in a public place. Make sure it isn't near either parties vehicle/auto stand/taxi stand or any mode of transportation or parking. Working hours ONLY. And instead of standalone ATM, go to ones IN the bank itself.
Anything at all makes him feel uncomfortable walk away. No deal is worth it. Anyways a deal is only 5~20% prevailing price difference from the next source. Life is not worth taking risk over that. If the difference is more and not a verified and legitimate source, its a scam.

I know I am being paranoid, but hey you asked me to deal in OLX.
 
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I have not bought anything but sold lot of stuff on olx/quikr in last few months.

1. Be in public place, not secluded area. I call the person to a crowded road or somewhere the public is there.
2. Cash is not an issue since i am usually a seller.
3. I ride my bike, but when actually i get down from bike and all because may be the buyer can snatch the product and go away, there is always a possibility.
4. Don't go to anyone's home or call anyone home. I do this ONLY if the person is from my company and had responded to my AD on company's internal forum only.
5. Ask everything beforehand, may be exchange more pics etc on whatsapp beforehand.
6. Ask all the details, read the ad properly. People may have included fine print. I put my ad with BOLD and UNDERLINE when something is having problems or has defect. Still there are morons who call me without reading the full ad. I insist them to read it again and then call back. So read the ad beforehand.
 
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I would only suggest to check the product carefully and to your satisfaction. Meet at a coffee shop or something so that you can do it in peace rather than meeting in an open public space where you might not be comfortable to check all aspects. Remember most of the guys selling stuff on olx/quikr are regular folks like you an me and you don't need to take 2 or 3 guys. I have bought and sold multiple things through OLX / Quikr, from cars to furniture to electronics to regular household stuff, stuff for which people had to come to my home or I had to go to their homes and till now I have never met anyone who was out to the ordinary.
 
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If going alone
1::Meet at place like restaurant or Bank or even mall food court area but where cctv is available.If something goes wrong one can always take help from cctv.
2::Avoid place like meeting at railway station,foot over bridge,on road,parking area of malls ,car of the seller etc.
3::Also if possible try to verify the item and check all details and once totally sure than only hand cash only when product is in your hand.Once cash exchanged dont try to give the product into sellers hand again.
4::Also if seller come with couple of person(atmost one allowed and that too should just be like his bodyguard who shouldnt touch or keep the product in his hand or bag) i would say avoid the payment route and say ,I just came to verify on my friends behalf its the one who will buy and than just take to the above mention area and say friend present there and once you come under surveillance area you can pay.Its not wrong to say such small lie.
5::Also make sure seller and his partner(if he comes) doesnt have more bags in hand for the deal.Most probably they can always screw that way.
6::And since its a phone i would say once deal done place your sim in the mobile and start using from the same moment as if its your product from the second you pay.Also make sure you and the seller doesnt travel together once the deal done.Try always other way even if thats a long cut or just roam around the area for half an hour and take the route.
 
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I don't have any tips for you, just an incident which happened with a colleague of mine. It wasn't from olx rather a "walk-in" deal :p :
My colleague was walking down a street when he was approached by two guys on an old scooter. They had a brand new iphone 5 (this happened last year) with them. They said they got it from abroad and showed him a printed slip from Indira Gandhi International airport for the price and customs paid for the phone (Strike 1 for doubting the deal). They insisted they dint need money and showed him 2 bundles of 100s - saying we are workers from Dubai, we have enough money. It was just that they wanted to get rid of the phone and werent sure what to do with it other than selling it (Strike 2). They were ready to give 20% off the price mentioned the printed slip (Strike 3). Seeing that my colleague was being fidgety, they gave him the phone. It worked flawlessly. It was a real iphone. Here was a chance to get an iphone for 20% off. So my colleague tried his luck, he said I dont have that much money. They asked him, how much do you have in the bank? He quoted 50% off the iphone price. After some bargaining they agreed to the price (strike 4). They walked him to a nearby atm. He withdrew the money and gave it to one of the guys. Once that guy recieved the money, he gave the iphone to my colleague. While my colleague was being happy with his awesome purchase, the guy says - ah actually I forgot to give your charger, my friend has it in his scooter tool box. My colleague was distracted while looking at the scooter guy who takes out a polybag containing the charger and passes it on to the first guy. In the meantime, "the first guy" had taken the phone from my colleague (who was very happy with the deal). Now to put up a show, they showed him the phone being dropped in the polybag along with the charger. Once all this was done, they took off.
Result: The polybag had showroom plastic model in it instead of the iphone.

tl;dr - if it is too good to be true, just skip it.
 
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avi said:
My friend has got a good deal on iPhone 5S which he found on OLX. Tomorrow he is going to buy it. I gave him few suggestions :
-to meet at a public place, preferably with some friend
-not to carry cash
-exchange photocopies of some ID [passport etc]
-and check the product carefully etc.

you guys have anything to add ?
Click to expand...
You've had all the advice you're going to get.

Now how did the deal go ?
 
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