Paying for a guitar before shipping

Hydra19

I found a guitar I really want but it's all the way in the Shetland Islands!!! Both of us are not sure how to go about this transaction.
I have gotten pics of the guitar but I'm worried about paying so much and then not receiving it or receiving a different guitar. I assume some of you have had these experiences? Maybe buying from gumtree? Here on the forum it's easier because memeber can vouch for other members. 
Could I arrange for a courier to pick it up and maybe he can send a pic and I send the money? I can't go all the way to Shetland Islands for a guitar Thank you for any advice

Brize

I would be extremely wary of a seller purporting to be based in the Shetland Islands. There are a lot of scammers on Gumtree that purport to be based in remote Scottish locations.

ICBM

Brize said:

I would be extremely wary of a seller purporting to be based in the Shetland Islands. There are a lot of scammers on Gumtree that purport to be based in remote Scottish locations.

Sadly this is true. The idea is precisely to deter anyone from wanting to go and pick it up in person.

Do you have a link to the sale listing?

UnclePsychosis

I'm not normally one to assume the worst but I have to second the comment from @Brize ---pretending to be somewhere remote is a tactic beloved of scammers.

If buying from the Shetlands I'd want to be 300% certain that the seller was the real deal and even then I'd be wary.

Hydra19

Thank you, that;s the sort of replies I do need as I have heard of scammers. To make this worse, this is a craigslist ad. I'd feel alright if it was one of the major cities in Scotland, but it will need to travel by boat for some time to even reach Scotland, let alone a major city. Realizing now I might need to pass 

I do have his name and email address which I'm going to check out. My first thought was how weird that such a guitar is at such a location. I wouldn't imagine there are many top guitars located there, maybe a few personal ones

MikeS

You've left me with this picture of all Shetland mail being taken over to the mainland in a rowing boat.

It's 2018, there are new fangled things called airyplanes and paythepal

jimmyguitar

99.9% of the ads on UK craigslist are scams, definitely proceed with caution!! 

ICBM

MikeS said:

You've left me with this picture of all Shetland mail being taken over to the mainland in a rowing boat.

It's 2018, there are new fangled things called airyplanes and paythepal

I wondered if it would be shipped by air, but since there are daily ferries it may well come by courier lorry on the boat.

Hydra19 said:

I do have his name and email address which I'm going to check out. My first thought was how weird that such a guitar is at such a location. I wouldn't imagine there are many top guitars located there, maybe a few personal ones

There is a lot of oil money there, and a big folk music scene. If it's a high-end acoustic it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, and even if it's an electric it wouldn't be odd.

guitars4you

I do have a customer I've known for years who lives in the Shetlands area - he regularly buys/sells - so it may well be him - Do you have a name - PM me if you wish

Otherwise my 'stolen' Masterbuilt Fender Strat was recently listed for sale on e-bay - somewhat fictitiously as it happens in what was an obvious scam - I offered a cash collection and at that stage he told me it was in the Shetlands, as others have said above, as a total con

Hydra19

thank you guys, and guitars4you, I have sent a PM

I'm slowly realizing I won't be able to completely relax and trust this transaction, so I will let him know tonight and see if there are any alternatives. If I do ever get the guitar, I'll post it here

Bridgehouse

Hydra19 said:

If I do ever get the guitar, I'll post it here

Don't post it here - we're in Shetland!

Fretwired

Email him and say a stroke of luck means your cousin John McDougall is visiting the Shetlands from his home in Glasgow next week on business and could collect it and pay in cash.

I bet that's the last you'll hear from the seller .. ;-)

Hydra19

Fretwired said:

Email him and say a stroke of luck means your cousin John McDougall is visiting the Shetlands from his home in Glasgow next week on business and could collect it and pay in cash.

I bet that's the last you'll hear from the seller .. ;-)

thank you, that's what I'll do. I googled shetland scams and one person told the seller he will be able to collect it and he never heard from him again.

prowla

There used to be a scam on freecycle where people were offering laptops and suchlike, but they were in a town at the opposite end of the country, so you had to pay postage; I used to say I was going to visit relatives there on the weekend so it'd be easy for me to drop in whilst there.

scalino65

Could you ask for a scan of the seller's driving licence and passport?

Hydra19

I feel that would be too intrusive to ask for proof but it would be the logical thing to do.
I told him I have some family friends in Glasgow that I could ask for a favour, he got back to me that he would propose an escrow transaction where he won't get paid unless I'm satisfied so I'll look into that tonight and still probably pass

mort

Just yesterday someone posted on a biking forum that they have just lost £9000 buying a bike that was supposedly located in the Scottish Highlands (with them being in  the south east)  This was via a dodgy Ebay listing.

It's frightening that people still fall for these scams. 

sev112

Ask him for a photo of him holding the guitar with something showing today’s date

mr-mac

As long as you get to pick escrow company and pick one that's recommended as trustworthy then you'd be good to go... Nothing turns up or junk unlike original advert and no loss.

Hydra19

i had to educate myself with escrow scams and they mentioned they are many fake or non trust worthy escrow sites so yes, if I can pick the one then ok, but I asked him how it would work so let's see if he says he knows a good one.

digtheditch

Post the link, as there isn't a Shetland Craigslist page. Most scam pictures should be fairly recognisable, as they will have been used again and again. Where on Shetland is it meant to be located?