Purchasing overseas

[jaco]

I'm in the process of buying a Gibson 1924 F-2 from England on E-bay. Buyer requests Western Union. Anyone purchased from overseas before? Any issues other than it being destroyed in transit? Thanks

[Doug Hoople]

Fraud.

I'd be taking extraordinary steps to ensure that the seller was on the up and up.

For domestic transactions, Western Union is a total red flag. Don't know about overseas, though.

[mandroid]

you in the EU? just the U$D 0.45 :1 GBP would make buying a US made instrument from a UK seller a weak 'bargain'

Test the Ebay seller and see if they would ship C.O.D.? [ a trust/ honesty tug of war?]

[Jim]

every ebay seller requesting western union i've ever heard of has been fraud. ebay warns about it too.

[jaco]

The seller advertised a U.S. price not Euro. The add was yanked immediately after I offered the buy it now price. E-bay sent a confirmation saying the buyer was trustworthy and the transaction would have a 14 day approval period. Also that the buyer had E5000.00 (euro) in an account for claims against him. 98.9% approval from previous transactions. The price appears too good to be true ($1,300) buy it now.

[Martin Jonas]

Gibson prices here in the UK are normally way higher than in the US, so it seems very strange that an Ebay UK auction should end at what seems like a bargain price for a US buyer. I've never heard of a legitimate UK Ebay seller that insisted on Western Union. Paypal is standard, except for some brick-and-mortar music shops who sell online and prefer to process credit cards directly through their tills.

Martin

[jaco]

I'm checking the sellers e-mail and e-bay is saying no such member. The seller's English is bad and abbreviated. After three requests for detailed information on the instrument I finally get "perfect condition" as an answer. The seller wanted my name and address before even taking an offer. I'm getting real uncomfortable with this.

[Doug Hoople]

Excellent! Sorry you're not getting your F-2 just yet. Glad, though, that you'll have your money around to buy the real thing when it crosses your path.

I have a friend who lost $1600 to scammers who "sold" him a digital recorder.

And I watched a scamming pest who had peppered me with requests for several days just disappear completely when I told him that I'd like to personally pick up a vintage Gibson mandola he was trying to sell me. The guy vanished without a trace.

[allenhopkins]

Jaco --
[1] If the price is "too good to be true," then it isn't true.
[2] At least you didn't lose any $$$. #Hope you didn't give the "seller" any info he can use to scam you further.

I hate to sound like a xenophobe, but when I encounter weird English and tortured grammar, I start thinking about the internet cafes in Nigeria where apparently clever people sit around all day devising eBay scams and phishing e-mails. #I know, I know, there are many many legitimate sellers in foreign countries with limited English, who are perfectly honest and so forth, but after years surfing auction sites and reading e-mails telling me I've won a lottery I never entered, or that I have a chance to help a deserving and generous person gain a million-dollar inheritance if I'll only put up a couple thousand myself, I can almost "smell" a swindle when I read the first sentence.

The lure of a $1300 F-2 could cloud anyone's judgment, but still...

[TomTyrrell]

The seller advertised a U.S. price not Euro. The add was yanked immediately after I offered the buy it now price. E-bay sent a confirmation saying the buyer was trustworthy and the transaction would have a 14 day approval period. Also that the buyer had E5000.00 (euro) in an account for claims against him. 98.9% approval from previous transactions. The price appears too good to be true ($1,300) buy it now.
RUN, RUN, RUN! Don't send money of any kind in any way!

That was one of those "Don't bid on this or I will cancel the bid. Contact me directly at some.email.address. The buy it now price is $1,300" There have been quite a few nice mandolins in those scams lately.

That is one of the most common scams hitting ebay now. The seller's account was HACKED and you are communicating with a scam artist, NOT the real owner of that account.

The listing wasn't pulled after you contacted the buyer. It was pulled as soon as ebay found it.

RUN, RUN, RUN! Don't send money of any kind in any way!


BTW, Ebay NEVER sends confimations guaranteeing ANYTHING about the seller or the terms. That is all part of the scam.

[steve V. johnson]

You've been shown almost -every- sign of an eBay scam, as the good folks here have well noted. Remember them.

I hope you didn't send any money. Trust your intuition on this one.

best,

stv

[Rick Cadger]

If only more people had the sense to seek opinions and advice.

Wise move there, jaco.

As has been noted, it is unlikely that someone in America would get a bargain Gibson from the UK. Prices here are high for the relatively few Gibson mandolins we have.

I am not aware of a single new Gibson mandolin dealer or importer in the UK (although Trevor often has a decent range of previously-owned Gibsons at TAMCO). Rarity drives up prices.

[BlueMountain]

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