Anyone buy a saddle from a facebook site? horror stories, good stories, warnings…?
Yes! I bought mine from a Facebook group and it worked out great. My only complaint was the seller asked me to pay through PayPal friends and family, so they didn’t lose 3% of the sale to PayPal fees, but then as a buyer you get zero protection from PayPal if something goes wrong. It’s a pretty common scam too. I didn’t get any shady vibes from my seller, so I just asked if I could pay extra to cover the fees, which I did and worked out fine. I wish more sellers would just price the item accordingly, knowing PayPal is going to take the 3%, because at best, it’s a little awkward to be like, “Uhh, I guess can I just pay extra in case you’re a scammer?” and at worse, it’s an actual scam. Lol. I’ve sold a couple through eBay for myself and a friend as well and everything went just fine. Also a trial may or may not be offered, so keep in mind you may be out the $$ to ship it back if you have to return it, or you may be stuck with a saddle that doesn’t work and it will be on you to resell it.
1 Like
Yes, I’ve bought and sold several through Facebook groups. Never use the family and friends option through PayPal or you will have no recourse if the seller is a scammer or it arrives misrepresented.
I’ve declined to do business with several that wanted to do the family and friends.
Shipping has definitely gone up but I would do it again. I’ve done more transactions on Facebook than eBay.
Yes, three. All were exactly as advertised, arrived quickly, zero issues. Always pay by Paypal Goods and services, not family friends, as has already been mentioned.
OH YEAH I just remembered a fourth, and it’s actually my current dressage saddle. :lol:
I ordered it from a girl in Spain, she had a bunch of listings from her tack shop for Zaldi saddles that were super affordable and included shipping to the USA. I’m personally not saddle picky and do not agree with the idea that you have to spend $3k+ or the saddle’s crap, so I was like hey let’s give it a go.
It took SIX. MONTHS. to get the saddle. A million messages back and forth. She had proof of shipping so as far as I could tell, she wasn’t trying to rip me off. She did originally ask me to pay Family and Friends, and I said I would not do so, so she added a fee to the invoice and let me pay by Goods and Services. Anyway, after about 3-4 months of zero saddle, tracking number showing zero movement, literally it was shown as still sitting in Madrid, I filed a claim with PayPal, they sided with me and sent me my money back. She LOST IT. Fa-lipped-out on me in Facebook messenger, threatened to sue, bla bla bla. Obviously I argued back - hi, I ordered something from you MONTHS AGO and haven’t gotten it, you told me it’d be here within 14 days.
We FINALLY figured out that she had put in my address extra wrong. Instead of copying my mailing address exactly how it was shown on the Paypal payment, she decided to rearranged the numbers and words into European format, and did so wildly incorrectly. She had my house number input as my zip code, my city as the state name, actual zip code wasn’t even there, it was absurd. (Mind you, she kept insisting she’d sent dozens of other packages to the USA while mine was in limbo and they all got there fine. Then HOW did you mess up my address so bad???)
So, I told her that if I ever received the saddle, I would send her payment again, and she needed to leave me alone otherwise. About 1.5-2 months later, a big package suddenly showed up! It was my saddle, it was beautiful and it’s sooooooo comfortable. I re-paid her the money. It was over.
Then she insisted that I had to pay her extra for the fees she had to pay to change the address on the label and whatever else.
:lol::lol: It was not my mistake so, no. I blocked her.
Yes, three. All were exactly as advertised, arrived quickly, zero issues. Always pay by Paypal Goods and services, not family friends, as has already been mentioned.
OH YEAH I just remembered a fourth, and it’s actually my current dressage saddle. :lol:
I ordered it from a girl in Spain, she had a bunch of listings from her tack shop for Zaldi saddles that were super affordable and included shipping to the USA. I’m personally not saddle picky and do not agree with the idea that you have to spend $3k+ or the saddle’s crap, so I was like hey let’s give it a go.
It took SIX. MONTHS. to get the saddle. A million messages back and forth. She had proof of shipping so as far as I could tell, she wasn’t trying to rip me off. She did originally ask me to pay Family and Friends, and I said I would not do so, so she added a fee to the invoice and let me pay by Goods and Services. Anyway, after about 3-4 months of zero saddle, tracking number showing zero movement, literally it was shown as still sitting in Madrid, I filed a claim with PayPal, they sided with me and sent me my money back. She LOST IT. Fa-lipped-out on me in Facebook messenger, threatened to sue, bla bla bla. Obviously I argued back - hi, I ordered something from you MONTHS AGO and haven’t gotten it, you told me it’d be here within 14 days.
We FINALLY figured out that she had put in my address extra wrong. Instead of copying my mailing address exactly how it was shown on the Paypal payment, she decided to rearranged the numbers and words into European format, and did so wildly incorrectly. She had my house number input as my zip code, my city as the state name, actual zip code wasn’t even there, it was absurd. (Mind you, she kept insisting she’d sent dozens of other packages to the USA while mine was in limbo and they all got there fine. Then HOW did you mess up my address so bad???)
So, I told her that if I ever received the saddle, I would send her payment again, and she needed to leave me alone otherwise. About 1.5-2 months later, a big package suddenly showed up! It was my saddle, it was beautiful and it’s sooooooo comfortable. I re-paid her the money. It was over.
Then she insisted that I had to pay her extra for the fees she had to pay to change the address on the label and whatever else.
:lol::lol: It was not my mistake so, no. I blocked her.
Ahh the COTH edit=spam filter…
Yes, three. All were exactly as advertised, arrived quickly, zero issues. Always pay by Paypal Goods and services, not family friends, as has already been mentioned.
OH YEAH I just remembered a fourth, and it’s actually my current dressage saddle. :lol:
I ordered it from a girl in Spain, she had a bunch of listings from her tack shop for Zaldi saddles that were super affordable and included shipping to the USA. I’m personally not saddle picky and do not agree with the idea that you have to spend $3k+ or the saddle’s crap, so I was like hey let’s give it a go.
It took SIX. MONTHS. to get the saddle. A million messages back and forth. She had proof of shipping so as far as I could tell, she wasn’t trying to rip me off. She did originally ask me to pay Family and Friends, and I said I would not do so, so she added a fee to the invoice and let me pay by Goods and Services. Anyway, after about 3-4 months of zero saddle, tracking number showing zero movement, literally it was shown as still sitting in Madrid, I filed a claim with PayPal, they sided with me and sent me my money back. She LOST IT. Fa-lipped-out on me in Facebook messenger, threatened to sue, bla bla bla. Obviously I argued back - hi, I ordered something from you MONTHS AGO and haven’t gotten it, you told me it’d be here within 14 days.
We FINALLY figured out that she had put in my address extra wrong. Instead of copying my mailing address exactly how it was shown on the Paypal payment, she decided to rearranged the numbers and words into European format, and did so wildly incorrectly. She had my house number input as my zip code, my city as the state name, actual zip code wasn’t even there, it was absurd. (Mind you, she kept insisting she’d sent dozens of other packages to the USA while mine was in limbo and they all got there fine. Then HOW did you mess up my address so bad???)
So, I told her that if I ever received the saddle, I would send her payment again, and she needed to leave me alone otherwise. About 1.5-2 months later, a big package suddenly showed up! It was my saddle, it was beautiful and it’s sooooooo comfortable. I re-paid her the money. It was over.
Then she insisted that I had to pay her extra for the fees she had to pay to change the address on the label and whatever else.
:lol::lol: It was not my mistake so, no. I blocked her.
Only purchased one, an $800 Kent & Masters. No problems, saddle is in such great shape I kinda feel like I stole it. Paid through PayPal and agree with the advice not to use the FAF payment so youre protected. FB is a PITA way to sell though.
Never a saddle, but I did buy one rather snazzy bridle and one unused cupreon bit from the High End English Tack Trader group. Both items were perfect, and yeah - I kind of felt like I was stealing them.
While not facebook , I did buy a saddle on Ebay. I did a lot of measuring/ remeasuring of my horse and researched the saddle I was looking at extensively and it worked out very well for both my horse and I.
Yes, purchased my current saddle on FB. I had worked with an independent fitter and knew exactly what I was looking for. Again, never use friends and family or pay through FB! No protection at all for you as the buyer.
Just did this morning! I knew the exact model I wanted, definitely use PayPal goods and services (fee was about $30 for a $1000 saddle). I offered to split the fee, but buyer covered it. Got the shipping info already, fingers all crossed it arrives like the photos show.
thanks all! I bought it last evening, she shipped it today - and I can send it back if its not right - that part gave me lots of confidence!
1 Like
