Online buying from a private seller

[rj.phila]

Would you do this with an item that, in the OP's words, You cant just buy them in a shop you would have to go to a reputable uilleann pipe maker and jion his waiting list which could be from 1 year to 10 years?

That's different than buying a coffee pot. There is some reason the seller has this difficult-to-buy item for sale.

those are the ONLY things i do this with. i dont bother with "common" items. i mostly buy rare, vintage synths. very esoteric items. there is an entire community based around selling of instruments, studio gear, etc. once acclimated, one can navigate purchases relatively easy.

have you ever bought something direct for a seller? have you had a bad experience, or do you relegate yourself to established marketplaces? that's fine, but if you are naysaying out of lack of experience, that is different from naysaying out of 1st hand experience getting burned.

[photo]

have you ever bought something direct for a seller?

Not from a different continent, sight unseen, and with no legal contract.

Again, if something is so rare that there is a long wait list, why would one person suddenly offer to sell the item if the sale is legitimate? That's what you did not address.

[brassnebony]

Sent a final email stating I would only deal through paypal or an escrow service two days ago and low and behold no reply. Definitely a scam. Screw those b*"£$$ds getting my hopes up like that! ah well ill just have to keep searching.

[MonkeyMama]

Um, I am with photo on this one.

I think there are a number of red flags here.

I personally didn't say I would never buy an object private party from an international buyer. That is why I asked if the item was unique. But, the bank draft thing is a very glaring red flag. Foreign country is a red flag.

Any reputable seller would work with buyer to arrange a more appropriate way to pay for the item. Or maybe people just send this guy bank drafts all the time so he doesn't want to deal with other channels. Fair enough, but he wouldn't get my business.

[rj.phila]

Sent a final email stating I would only deal through paypal or an escrow service two days ago and low and behold no reply. Definitely a scam. Screw those b*"£$$ds getting my hopes up like that! ah well ill just have to keep searching.

yup, that's a good red flag. proper, solid communication is a must. insistence on a bank wire is kinda fishy on its own. taken with other indicators, yes, i'd wait.

photo-like i said, i ONLY deal in esoteric items. the rarity of the item has absolutely nothing to do with a warning sign. in fact, in my field, the uber-high end stuff RARELY changes hands in an established marketplace. it happens within communities of that field.

fyi, just received my brand spanking new rancilio silvia espresso machine yesterday. i paypalled a complete stranger last week 500 bucks. already 5x better transaction than 90% of my ebay purchases. care for detail was unprecedented.

[photo]

in fact, in my field, the uber-high end stuff RARELY changes hands in an established marketplace.

You don't understand. If an item has a long wait list from a legitimate dealer, why would the same item suddenly become available at a competitive price?

[rj.phila]

You don't understand. If an item has a long wait list from a legitimate dealer, why would the same item suddenly become available at a competitive price?

no, i fully understand. OP never said "competitive price". you seem to be saying that the existence of something rare on a secondary market is somehow contributing to its likelihood as a scam. i have not found that to be true. the only correlation ive found between price and scammy-ness is when the price is EGREGIOUSLY low.

rare items "suddenly become available" all the time in my field of interest. occasionally, they are even available AT competitive prices. i bought a 3500 synth last week for 2200. direct from seller. no ebay or paypal. it was in mint condition. the guy basically wanted a QUICK sale at a discounted price, rather than a PROLONGED sale at fair market value. and that's exactly what we both got.

look, we can debate this til our eyes turn blue, and really i dont even know why im still blathering. here's my point:

LOTS of sellers have abandoned ebay because it frankly sucks as a marketplace now for lots of things. its a new era.

[photo]

you seem to be saying that the existence of something rare on a secondary market is somehow contributing to its likelihood as a scam.

Here is a quote from the OP: You cant just buy them in a shop you would have to go to a reputable uilleann pipe maker and jion his waiting list which could be from 1 year to 10 years.

The part you keep ignoring was the waiting list. Something that has a waiting list of 1-10 years that suddenly becomes available (in a foreign country, no less) sounds fishy to me. I could not in good conscience advise anyone to go for such a deal, and you obviously think otherwise.

[rj.phila]

photo-again, ALL i buy is electronic instrument esoterica. i have bought many many many things direct from seller that were either "out of print" or long since out of manufacturing, or things that have a "long lead time". alot of them were only made in italy, or russia, or japan. i'm not saying the OP should have bought the item in question. i AM saying that the criteria you have put forth should not be the top priority deciding factors for the OP in the future, IMO. make sense?