…Why not let people do a trial first? To me it seems like virtually no risk on the seller’s end if they collect money up front for purchase price and shipping, which is what almost every saddle consignment store does. Is it just the inconvenience of shipping back and forth? Wouldn’t it sell faster if you offered the trial option?
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Nope. I’ve sold several saddles on Facebook and none with trials. I only offer trials to local people. In a trial you have to wait for the saddle to ship, be tried, and sent back. No trial, the saddle sells within days and you’re good to go.
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Giant pain and takes up a lot of time and money, especially with shipping back and forth. There can also be issues like if they damage it and send it back without saying so, or they claim it arrived to them damaged from the shipping and you have no way of knowing when/how it truly happened. Do you keep all of their money and now they try to cause trouble? Some of it? How much? Return it all and deal with your now damaged saddle? Nope nope nope. I have allowed it for local people I know, and had them allow it for me, but otherwise no way.
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This all makes sense, but to me the issues you name are equally risky for the buyer, except even more so because they’re the one making a huge financial investment for something that may not work for their horse at best, or worst case may be completely f*cked up and they can’t even re-sell it. I just feel like it’s way more of a risk for the buyer to just buy a saddle sight unseen! But I get where you’re coming from on a seller point of view
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The buyer has the option to not have these risks by buying a saddle from a retailer, that does allow trials.
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Those risks are exactly why saddles on Facebook and eBay are cheaper than buying from a retail store.
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There is always risk when sending saddles out on trial. Even for saddle fitters. There are way too many ways for it to go wrong for the individual seller.
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In my experience, eBay does have pretty good protection for buyers against receiving items not as described or damaged, even from sellers who state “no returns.” Basically, eBay will compel the seller to issue a refund, including paying return postage. I think buyers are protected more than sellers in general, e.g. buyers can post negative feedback against sellers but not vice versa.
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I have bought and sold saddles on Facebook Marketplace. I have also listed saddles on eBay, where I do not allow a trial because of the fee structure.
As a seller I addressed this risk in a few ways.
- My price was always higher if a trial was included. I took $500 (20%) off the price of one saddle when the buyer said she didn’t need a trial.
- The buyer paid shipping both ways, fully insured for the full amount of the saddle. The buyer was also responsible for the 3% PayPal fee if the saddle was returned. This added about $275 to the price of the saddle and deterred potential buyers who weren’t serious.
- I documented the condition of the saddle prior to shipment: I took a video of the saddle’s condition prior to packing and took pictures of how I packed it. I provided these to the potential buyer so that there was shared documentation of condition prior to shipment and no question about in whose care any damage might have occurred. I made sure that the video showed existing blemishes or wear and contained audio narration describing the wear. It also showed me flexing the tree.
- I accepted payment only through PayPal Goods and Services and provided a detailed description of the saddle and its wear in the invoice.
All this is a pain in the backside, which is why my price was lower if no trial was required. However, one of the two saddles that I was selling was a particular fit that was suited to a horse and rider pair who were probably having a hard time finding the right tack, and were unlikely to have the confidence that my saddle was It because they wouldn’t have had the chance to have ridden in one like mine before. In that way, adding a trial improved my odds of being able to sell it at all whereas offering a discounted price with no trial allowed me to sell the other one- a pretty standard fit- quickly.
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i’m curious to hear if anyone as an individual has allowed someone online (not local) to try their saddle before buying it, and what their experience was… like if it gets sent back damaged, you have the merchandise AND the money in your hands, so to me it’s really still objectively not as risky for the seller as it is for the buyer. not trying to be confrontational! just curious
I’ve done both with and without trial as a buyer and a seller - usually if it’s a lower price saddle, shipping costs end up being too large a % of the sales price for it to be super attractive for a buyer to potentially have to ship it back should it not work for them.
There’s no way to completely eliminate risk, but what I do as a seller (and what I expect as a buyer) is:
- Trials are paid in full. Buyer is responsible for shipping costs, including insurance for the full purchase price.
- PayPal only - I send an invoice with a detailed description of the saddle, including any blemishes at time of purchase (obviously already disclosed to seller). I include that buyer must immediately notify me (within 24 hrs of package being marked delivered) if the condition of the saddle upon receipt is different than described / documented
- I take pictures of the saddle prior to packing it to document condition
- If it’s shipped back, I never ever ever release funds until the saddle is in my hands
It’s not bulletproof, but I try to chat with people a fair bit before going through with this kind of thing and go with my guy. I could get burned, but I hold myself to a pretty high standard of honesty/integrity, and I do my best to give other people the benefit of the doubt that they do, too.
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good point about the lower price saddle!
I’m obviously coming from a perspective of someone who is going through the eternally horrible and punishing process of saddle shopping, so I’m in a place of pain and frustration with the entire industry rn 
but I still don’t ever see myself buying a saddle without trying it first, because I could be throwing money directly into the trash… even if those lower prices on Facebook and Ebay are tempting.
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Yes, my one poor saddle got sent to 3 homes before it finally found the right one! And that included a period of time where it was lost in the USPS system somewhere between the east coast and the west coast, which was nerve-wracking both for the buyer and me. I think that that risk is mitigated for both parties by paying extra for shipping insurance covering the entire purchase value. I’ve never had a saddle get damaged in the mail, knock on wood, but I have had packages destroyed in transit and knock on wood the damage claim process through USPS has always been pretty painless.
If you know exactly what you are looking for, OR you have a steal of a deal in front of you and you are prepared to re-panel it or something to make it work if it isn’t perfect (I just bought one like this because it was a unicorn) this can be a less expensive way to get what you want. If you purchase through PayPal G&S, their buyer protection will cover you if you do not receive what was advertised.
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So long as a buyer you use any of the protected methods for paying for something online, you have virtually no risk. go through PP, invoiced, and you will be at worst out the shipping. Especially if you use your credit card through PP, you’ve got both PP protections and your credit card issuer. Not the advertised saddle? Protected. Damaged during shipping? Protected, Never let a seller tell you that you as a buyer chose not to insure it. Insurance is to protect the seller against loss or damage in shipping, buyer is entitled to get the product they paid for in the condition that they paid for - buyers can’t control the packaging, which is 90% the reason something gets damaged in shipping.
Sellers take a huge risk compared to buyers. None of the above protections require proof that the buyer returned the original product in the original condition to get a refund - only that they returned something. There are thousands of horror stories among online sellers where they send outa $3k item and get a ream of paper back. But there is tracking showing the package returned, so the seller is forced to refund. Yes, it’s theft, but nearly impossible to prove and/or prosecute.
You really should know what saddle you want before buying from an individual seller online. I’ve bought saddles that way, but I knew very specifically what I was looking for, so it was a matter of finding the configuration that I wanted at the price I was willing to pay. I would never try something that I had never even sat in the model when it involved shipping.
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I have bought a couple of saddles off eBay with no trial or return. I knew what I wanted and basic fit I needed. I assumed the risk of the saddle perhaps not working out but I was good with it because I got both saddles at a great price. I have not sold anything thru eBay or Facebook as I am too chicken to take that risk selling. I prefer to do consignment and let the tack shops deal with it, even if it costs me a commission.
If you are looking to buy a saddle, try a tack shop that has consignment saddles, they allow short trials and have good deals on saddles without the risks.
I have bought/sold a ton of saddles on eBay and a couple on Facebook. The problem with offering a trial is that sometimes your saddle is returned damaged. With a lower priced saddle, I do usually allow them but it’s a royal pain to be shipping saddles all over the country, make sure they come back in one piece and then refund the $$.
That said, I bought a saddle from someone specifically because she let me ride in it for a week. I’d never ridden in one before and I needed to know it would work for me. She lived about 2 hours away from me and we met halfway. I paid a slight premium but felt it was worth it.
I bought a saddle on eBay that was misrepresented. Getting my money back was an issue because, silly me, I chose as the reason it was returned as “too small”. Apparently you can only use eBay’s buyer protection policy if you say “not as represented”. The saddle was two inches smaller than the seller stated. I did get my money refunded after several discussions with Paypal. The seller flatly refused to take the saddle back until she was forced to do so.
In general, I only buy a saddle I can’t try unless it’s such a screaming good deal I know I can resell it.
As a seller, I’m kind of tired of the whole experience and will next time send my used saddle to a consignment tack store.
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The best thing to do when you can’t have a trial is to have a fitter figure out with you exactly what model/size etc you need. Then you are just shopping for what you know will work.
Everything that’s been posted on this thread is the reason why I took the three saddles I had up for sale to a large, well-known tack store (about an hour and a half drive away) and put them on consignment.
It took a few months but all three saddles sold and with consignment fees I ended up getting about $50 less per saddle than what I would have if I had sold them on my own. I dropped the saddles off and a few months later received a check in the mail. That $50 was definitely worth not having to deal with people!!
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So Ebay and/or PayPal keeps their fee if the item was returned but not for a “not as represented” claim? I guess I haven’t had anything returned and can’t find the fine print about how this works.
I assume that a PayPal invoice (for which the seller gives up 3%) and the buyer gets protection is good enough for FB-based trials? PayPal will return all money if the saddle is returned, right?
Sorry to lean on you guys for a quiz. I have some saddles to sell and, having been a buyer, I can appreciate the desire for a trial.
I suppose my biggest worry is an argument with a buyer who returned a saddle a bit damaged. I’m fussy and especially so with someone else’s saddle. Not everyone is as anal. I never want to have to convince someone that their standards are too low.
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I don’t know offhand what the eBay terms are. On PayPal, if the buyer returns the item, the 3% PayPal fee is still charged by PayPal (so, as a seller, if I send out a saddle on trial, included in my terms are that I will refund the buyer upon return less 3% PayPal fee.)
I also worried about damage upon return, which is why I video the saddle’s condition prior to packing it up and share that with the buyer. I haven’t had a problem, knock on wood.
