How To Pay with LetGo

LetGo has become a highly popular way for folks to get rid of their old stuff – it’s like having a garage sale on your phone. Letgo is a fantastic way to connect with local people looking to buy and sell used items. Unfortunately, just like a garage sale, there aren’t any built-in payment mechanisms. So if you’re interested in making a purchase through Letgo, you have to come up with some way of handling the transaction. When you find an item you want to purchase, you’ll have to work out payment another way.

Payment Options

You’ll need to discuss payment options with the seller to make sure that you’re both comfortable. We’ve provided a few ideas below.

• Cash
• Credit
• Paypal or similar
• Check

All of these payment options have their own pros and cons. Paypal and checks in particular can be risky. Many sellers won’t accept checks because checks can bounce, leaving them without their property or the money they’re owed. Services like Paypal can be risky for buyers or sellers depending on if the payment is made before or after the exchange.

It’s tempting to want to trust everyone we meet online, especially when they seem nice. But it’s important to think about the potential pitfalls with any payment option.

Recommended by Letgo

Letgo recommends that sellers only accept cash at in person transactions. They’ve determined this to be the best option for guaranteeing payment. They also recommend that buyers and sellers meet in a public place to complete the exchange.

There is, however, a small problem with Letgo’s recommendations. The service makes it possible to exchange anything from jewelry to large pieces of furniture. For the later, it might be difficult to arrange an in person meeting. You may have to go to the seller’s home to pick up the item (or they to yours).

Now imagine that you’re paying $350 for the item. If you’re paying cash, take a moment and think about what you’re doing. You’re telling someone you don’t know where you will be in a private location with $350 cash on you. Sure, you can take a friend with you, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is more than a little risky. Luckily, there might be a better option.

Try a Credit Card Reader

These days, with so few people hanging on to cash, it just makes sense to get a credit card reader for your phone. This is especially true if you plan to sell a lot of items with large payments. Although the buyer could always try to contest the charge, the seller also has recourse. This is the safest option for buyers with large transactions that can’t be handled in public places. Sellers should be cognizant of this and get a reader.

Obviously, if you’re the buyer there’s little you can do to ensure that the seller has a reader. However, if the transaction is large enough, you might send them a link to Quickpro’s Intuit reader. It’s highly rated and free (but for the transaction fees of course). You could even offer to pay a little extra to cover the fees. Consider it a security tax.