How much do you trust the seller??

costafonix · 2014-01-23T07:23:16+00:00

Consider this scenario. you've saved up for months and have finally got enough money to go for your ultimate purchase, lets say a guitar around R15K. You see...

How much do you trust the seller??

IceCreamMan

issue highlighted is that very often the seller is unaware of the legitimacy of the item blissfully believing whatever he was sold in the first place.

me, if iwere spending 15k on an item from someone I did not know I would be careful and scrutinise as much as possible and checking the interweb too.... its your cash so take as much time as you need. Most legit sellers would have no problem with that.

costafonix

IceCreamMan wrote:
issue highlighted is that very often the seller is unaware of the legitimacy of the item blissfully believing whatever he was sold in the first place.

me, if iwere spending 15k on an item from someone I did not know I would be careful and scrutinise as much as possible and checking the interweb too.... its your cash so take as much time as you need. Most legit sellers would have no problem with that.

thanks ICM,

domhatch

IceCreamMan wrote:
issue highlighted is that very often the seller is unaware of the legitimacy of the item blissfully believing whatever he was sold in the first place.

me, if iwere spending 15k on an item from someone I did not know I would be careful and scrutinise as much as possible and checking the interweb too.... its your cash so take as much time as you need. Most legit sellers would have no problem with that.

and therein squats the toad. i think the most important factor is to first ensure you're dealing with someone who's legit. that type of person is not going to mind how many checks you do to ensure you're getting the dinkum deal - because it follows they believe they have nothing to hide.

that would be where the trust aspect comes in - trust in no-one but yourself and your chosen deity (or lack thereof). that way, if you get scammed, you have nobody to blame.

my tuppence worth
dh|

Big-G

This actually recently happened to me.... I traded my Gretsch for an USA Strat std (what would have been the first strat I'd ever owned), and on initial inspection, everything looked in order. Only on closer inspection, with the aid of another forumite, did we realise that whilst all the hardware and neck was original USA kit, the body at some point had been replaced by a squier body. The body was narrower than a USA body, and was causing the whammy to foul on the back plate. This was the only way we could identify it was not right. A visit to the Fender Rep confirmed our suspicions, and I was left in the awkward situation of sitting with a guitar that was not at all what it said it was.

Thankfully, the seller was very respectable, albeit somewhat shocked when I contacted him, and agreed to trade back. From that perspective, I was very lucky. I felt bad for the guy giving him back a dodgy guitar, but at the end of the day, the guitar was not what it said it was.

Had the seller not have traded back, then it would have left a very sour taste indeed, and my confidence in buying used gear would have been greatly tainted. As it stands now, I will never again buy/trade for a used strat, at least not without having it thoroughly checked over first. There are far too many dodgy strats out there!

Cheers
G!

studmissile

Damit! now you got me wondering who the SA Celebrity was? ?

Chocklit_Thunda

I buy cheapies, so even if they're fake, they're probably still coming out the same factory ?

costafonix

studmissile wrote: Damit! now you got me wondering who the SA Celebrity was? ?

:roflmao:

sorry man, I am sworn to secrecy,, the reason I mentioned it was a celebrity was not to highlight the person but the fact that scam artists don't really care who they are scamming,,, it can happen to anyone,

studmissile

CostaFonix wrote:
studmissile wrote: Damit! now you got me wondering who the SA Celebrity was? ?
:roflmao:

sorry man, I am sworn to secrecy,, the reason I mentioned it was a celebrity was not to highlight the person but the fact that scam artists don't really care who they are scamming,,, it can happen to anyone,

Shit I knew you were gonna say that! ?

singemonkey

Always worth mentioning here the benefit of buying from long-time forum members. There's a social investment in the forum which means that (a) they're not going to knowingly scam another member and (b) if they mistakenly misrepresent the sale, there's a powerful incentive to make good.

Charlie4

singemonkey wrote: Always worth mentioning here the benefit of buying from long-time forum members. There's a social investment in the forum which means that (a) they're not going to knowingly scam another member and (b) if they mistakenly misrepresent the sale, there's a powerful incentive to make good.

I agree 100%.
I bought a guitar from a well respected forum member, completely anonymous and never felt uncomfortable about doing a +10k EFT into his account. To most of us, I believe, the forum does create a safe space to do business in. It's like swimming with shark-net protection at the beach.
Gumtree, on the other hand, is open water and you're swimming with the sharks.

I don't mind a SERIOUS buyer inspecting the guitar and dismantling it so that he feels absolutely sure he's going to buy it.
However, paying for the guitar to be set up, properly cleaned etc. and then being left with a disassembled guitar and no sale is going to bum me out. Only once have I bought an item and felt a bit disappointed about the quality of the item - luckily it was only R100, but it's the principle that counts.

christh

[/quote]

Makes sense Chris,

when you say you 'check it out fully' what exactly do you mean? Do you take the instrument apart?
[/quote]

Yes, I have taken apart and Fender pups have part numbers. I have also wanted to see the neck/body stampings. And, I am prepared to replace strings if needed and I don't buy, provided the instrument is genuine.

Neil-Nitro

A few years back a mate of mine in high-school had his dad buy him an hss "Fender". His is really rich and all and he payed 18k for it. Probably the worsed scam ever... He brought it over with pride thinking he had a legitimate Fender, not knowing anything about serial numbers or anything. The guitar had EMG-like pickup covers and was an iridescent kind of green but the "Fender" logo seemed to be vinyl. Poor guy was devastated. I showed him the body was even plywood. Good ol' dad wasn't happy either... But can you blame em?