I have a paypal account, but haven't taken payment this way in a long time. Safe to do? Anything to be careful about? Shipping? Or is Paypal safe and routine? I have a rare piece, so it may take shipping to sell it. No local interest.

Thanks for any advice.

If I were doing a transaction with a CL buyer, I'd either want cash money or PayPal. You're protected, they're protected. The only thing with paypal is the fees and they hold your money long enough to ensure your customer is satisfied (i think up to 21 days, someone correct me if I'm wrong). The price we're willing to pay for secure transactions...

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Fender Standard Strat w/ DiMarzio VVHB2 Bridge and Area 67's neck/middle
Gibson 2014 SGJ
Fender DRRI with Weber 12F150 50 watts light dope
Vox AC15C1PL stock
Vox V845, PaulC Timmy (surf green), Fulltone OCD, Dunlop Volume, Strymon TimeLine, T1M Mini A/B

yeah make sure you tell them to send the cash as a 'gift', or that they add enough to pay the fees paypal take - they are both essentially the same thing. you can find out on the site how much the fee is i think, from memory i think its about 4%, i could be wrong though.

also i dont think they hold the money for any period of time, i always seem to be able to withdraw mine straight away, unless my memory has gone a bit foggy

i sold a guitar on ebay using paypal and they held my money 22 days because the nimrod didn't go back and indicate he received the item and didn't leave feedback.

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Fender Standard Strat w/ DiMarzio VVHB2 Bridge and Area 67's neck/middle
Gibson 2014 SGJ
Fender DRRI with Weber 12F150 50 watts light dope
Vox AC15C1PL stock
Vox V845, PaulC Timmy (surf green), Fulltone OCD, Dunlop Volume, Strymon TimeLine, T1M Mini A/B

Yes, but I'd make sure he does the transaction as you watch.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

The main thing to check is that the payment has "CLEARED" before shipping. Don't ship till the payment clears. Make sure buyers know this in advance. It can take days for some payment types to clear, such as on E-Checks.

Also an "unverified" Paypal account has LIMITS. Once your account is verified these limits are lifted. There also are three types of accounts, Personal, Premier and Business with varying service levels to each type.

You can't really sell on eBay without Paypal anymore. Paypal offers both buyer and seller protection. If shipping get full insurance as that protects you both.

If not selling on eBay your buyer could also do a bank wire transfer, which will cost them a few dollars extra. Or you could insist they send a certified check or money order. Most buyers don't feel comfortable doing any of those things as they have no recourse if you fail to deliver. If auctioning an item, Paypal works well.

There are lots of Paypal horror stories about held payments, charge backs, etc. However personally I've never had a problem.