purchasing over internet but not through ebay

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

David Grant wrote:
> I've purchased plenty of items over eBay with some degree of comfort (since
> eBay protects against fraud to some extent). However I'm very interested in
> buying some rather expensive items I found in online used audio gear
> classifieds and I'm wondering what's a safe (if any) way to go about it?
>
> Any tips or tried and true methods?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <ovOdncGrzu8rNlHfRVn-ow@rogers.com> NO_SPAM_PLEASE_jmd_2003@msn.com writes:

> I'm very interested in
> buying some rather expensive items I found in online used audio gear
> classifieds and I'm wondering what's a safe (if any) way to go about it?

"Rather expensive" is relative. If you're talking about a $20,000
console, take a trip and bring your checkbook. Even if it costs you
$1,000 to travel to the seller and look it (and the seller) over, it's
only 5% of the cost and well worth it even if you decide not to make
the purchase. If you're taking about a $20,000 microphone that's far
away from home, your best bet is to try to find a trusted third party,
perhaps an equipment broker or dealer, to handle the deal for you. It
will probalby cost you a commission of 10-15%.

On the other hand, if "rather expensive" is a $300 microphone, get a
phone number, talk on the phone, get all the contact information you
can from the seller, and take a chance if you feel good about it.
There are no real guarantees.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Jul 6, 2005, David Grant <NO_SPAM_PLEASE_jmd_2003@msn.com> commented:

> Any tips or tried and true methods?
>------------------------------snip>------------------------------<

Yeah, the one time I did a purchase over $1000, buying some audio gear from a
guy on the Digidesign User Conference (DUC), I used this company:

http://www.escrow.com

Escrow.com basically charges you about 3% of the total price, then they hold
your money while the dealer sends you the item. Once you have a chance to
open the package and verify that it's good, they send the seller the money.
If the item is bad, you ship it back to the seller, and escrow.com refunds
your money.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them if I had to deal with a total stranger who
didn't have any references I could check out. My experience is that 99% of
the people I've dealt with in Internet buying/selling/trading have been OK.
The few who have been jerks and flakes were generally those who had low
ratings on eBay.

--MFW