Meeting to Handover Guitar

Erskine

Just looking for some advice and opinions on this.

I have a guitar for sale on eBay at present. Someone has asked to buy the guitar, but instead of paying the postage - which admittedly includes a hefty insurance charge - he has suggested meeting halfway to hand over the guitar after he has paid for it on PayPal.

Is anyone aware of any scams with this sort of deal? It is not a local meet either as we are the best part of 250 miles.

meltedbuzzbox

PayPal protection does mean that the buyer could potentially claim that they never received the guitar and claw back their cash. 

Barney

I would get the cash when you meet up...

benecol

Yep - unless I know the person (in an "internet friends" way counts, obv.) or they've paid Paypal Gift, I'd want cash.

Legionreturns

Absolutely cash or confirmed bank transfer when you meet up. Its actually in the eBay / PayPal terms of use that you shouldn't accept PayPal for collected items as there is no proof they have got the goods. You can use those t&cs to say cash only and if the buyer is genuine they'll be fine. 

Brize

As others have said, don't go ahead with this under any circumstances. The guy may be genuine but it's not worth the risk.

ToneControl

cash only

Sassafras

Cash only.
And take a shooter in case the deal goes bad.

John_P

I’d have a look at his Ebay history to get a feel for the type of person - typical buying and selling of guitars and similar.    
Tgen id be fine with accepting cash or ppg - done exactly that plenty of times. 

Dont be afraid of saying no if anything feels wrong but otherwise it’s quite sensible way to avoid risk of damage during postage.   

JerkMoans

I've done it without incident many times: been to sellers' gaffs, delivered personally to buyers, met halfway, had them over here.  Maybe I'm a bit gung ho about it but I've trusted my instincts and all has been cool.

further

Last weekend I travelled to Derby to pick up a guitar from a guys house,then on Wednesday met another guy at Bristol Temple meads to hand over a different guitar.No problem,Cash all the way.

JerkMoans

further said:Cash all the way.

This.  Couple of times I haven't had enough on me for stuff I've decided to buy and have successfully done a bank transfer direct to the vendor which is almost instantaneous these days.  But with cash you're good.  Unless it's forged

uncledick

If I'm travelling to handover a guitar I take a deposit of £50-100 by ppg and then the rest is cash.  Then if the deal goes sour at least you've had your fuel paid for.  Never had any issues.

ThorpyFX

Cash and take a forgery marker pen to test the notes. 

midlifecrisis

cash only otherwise you are open to being scammed, ie buyer saying it wasnt recieved, or was damaged etc. TBH i would never take a guitar to anyone, too open to being messed around, bickering over price. I always sell stuff and let them come to me.  I am aware that there are plenty of good experiences on this forum. but i believe it is a bit more of a trustworthy community than anonymous ebay/gumtree 

thermionic

I've sold both a bass and electronic drumkit on ebay with paypal payment and the buyer coming round to pick the item up. This was in the relatively early days of ebay though and I probably wouldn't do it now. I certainly wouldn't travel that far to sell something. Box it up and send it, sell locally, or just keep the thing!

Erskine

Thanks. Lots of decent advice there. I think that I should avoid the risk and simply wait until someone is prepared to pay for the delivery.

I had placed several conditions on the transaction to try to ensue that it was being collected by the buyer, including photo evidence in advance, car details, witnesses, receipts, etc. But it seems too risky.

Garthy

I’v bought loads of stuff like this, the LP, a Strat, a drum kit. It’s what people did before the internet. 

Paul_C

Years ago a friend of mine who worked in a Ford parts warehouse told me about a couple of blokes who came round selling cheap name-brand electrical goods - they had some examples and an order sheet so that anyone could place an order with them - the plan being that they took orders which they would have ready for the buyers at a warehouse of their own on a trading estate in London.

Two of the guys from Ford went down in a van to collect the goods and when they got to the address one of the sellers pulled out a gun, took the cash and then told them to clear off.

I'm sure your deal will be fine though

thermionic

Garthy said:

I’v bought loads of stuff like this, the LP, a Strat, a drum kit. It’s what people did before the internet. 

I don’t remember Paypal existing before the internet. 

Iamnobody

It’s not advised but I’ve done it. One guy paid by PayPal and collected the guitar over a month later! 

The last time I didn’t - and insisted on cash. It turned out to be a middle aged bloke buying the guitar for his son and he travelled up from Manchester on the train. We had a coffee and a chat until his train home was due. His son was delighted with the guitar and they sent me a video of his first gig with it. 

He was clearly uncomfortable carrying the amount of cash and had previously paid by PayPal which I refunded. I felt a bit mean in the end as he was a great guy/dad who had no intention of ripping me off.

Has anyone actually done a deal in person and subsequently been ripped off or is it just internet wisdom that it ‘could’ happen?