How to protect myself on sending $$ ?

[yeller]

Need some guidance.

Purchasing a motor, so I'm going to have to send a significant amount of money to someone I don't know. I want to make sure I actually receive what I paid for.

Does anyone have suggestions on how I can protect myself? Any help would be appreciated.

[Ghost]

I don't know what the premium is for selling on eBay, but one thing that is possible is having the seller put it on eBay with you immediately doing a buy, using PayPal. Probably would cost a decent amount though. Not sure what sort of protection comes with Paypal when not used on eBay.

[Carl C]

If I can help, let me know. The seller will have to do the crating but maybe I can help with the $/engine transfer since it is not far from me.

[yeller]

Thanks guys. Carl I appreciate the offer. I was thinking along the lines of an escrow company. Is there such a thing for what I'm buying?

I'm begining to wonder if the motor deal is even going to work out. The deal is starting to drag on and I'm starting to get impatient.

[gcarter]

I've not used it, but I think PayPal offers escrow services.
You can bypass eBay and use PayPal to send money.

[gcarter]

OK, so PayPal doesn't but eBay does:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/escrow.html

After reading this, it seems their services are available independently;;

http://escrow.com