I may be double posting across forums. but
Here's a caution to fellow sellers out there - there is a scammer lurking around the forums!
Although I did suffer any financial loss from this, but I did waste a whole lot of time and possibly lost a couple of buyers as a result of this.
This is what happened:
On Monday, I posted an ad on this forum for the sale of my Lite-Ash Telecaster. I received numerous offers, of which was from a guy who sms-ed me and claimed to be deeply interested in my guitar. So i asked him to make an offer - and he responded with a lowball offer at $600. I told him it was ridiculous and he went "what if i double my offer to 1.2k?"
Not wanting to be overboard (and doubting his sincerity anyway), i told him it was excessive and that a lower bid would be fine. He responded with, "i think you are a nice and honest guy, so i don't mind paying 1.2k for guitar" this preceded the catch, which was an installment scheme of $300 a week, to be spread over 4 weeks.
I didn't reply him immediately as I was busy at work, but he was so keen such that he called me after 30 minutes, telling me that he'd like to get my guitar later that night etc. He claimed that he was a 28 year-old secondary school teacher from a school in the east (i won't name the school yet), and was willing to supply me with photocopies of his civil service card, i/c, and details like his address, and even sign an IOU etc for this deal.
I was very uncomfortable with the arrangement and rejected it outright, but agreed to think it over and respond by noon. I even suggested that he wait till next month before buying the guitar, but he claimed to be playing a gig on Saturday. I received another message before then from him - basically about how interested he was about this guitar and that the deal was a great one for me... win-win situation etc.
At noon, i told him of my decision, which was not to accept his offer. However, he attempted to counter-offer by asking me what was my price if the amount was to be paid in full. As I had an offer at 800, i told him that i wouldn't settle for anything less... and, surprise surprise - he actually agreed. But i told him, i had to wait till the other buyer viewed the guitar before allowing him to take his chance - after all, the other guy offered the price before he did. He subsequently increased his offer to $850, and arranged to meet me at 8 pm that night, at my place. And i confirmed with him that this sum was to be paid in FULL and in CASH, and he reverted that he didn't need to test the guitar because of 'trust'.
Later in the afternoon, he decided to change the time to 10 pm, claiming that he was giving tuition. Even though it was late, it was a situation i could sympathize with and i agreed.
At 10 pm that night (or rather yesterday), he messaged me and told me he would be late, and had to change the time to 11 pm. At 11 pm i called him, he claimed to be around the corner, and would take 5 minutes... Soon, 5 minutes flew by, and it was 11.30 pm. I decided, he probably wouldn't be coming and so i decided to sleep. As I barely fell into sleep, i received a call at 11.45 and he told me that he was at my place already.
So i went down, guitar in hand, and met him. Instead of going straight to the point, he first tried to push his luck with an installment scheme again before examining the guitar and launching into a whole tirade of how he was looking for a guitar like this, and how he once bought a guitar with faulty wiring because he didn't test it - and how he thought this was a 'nocaster' etc etc, and asked why it was made in korea. I clarified his doubts (Fender did make a couple of models in Korea), and he finally 'cut to the chase' after 10 minutes of mindless banter and haggling.
I had half expected he would've pulled some sort of stunt - but what he did offer was beyond what i imagined. He took out his wallet, and said - "i'll offer you $150, and i'll bring the guitar home and test, then i'll transfer the rest to you tomorrow". He said he was concerned as to whether my tele had the twang, and gave some bullshit excuse as to why he is concerned that it may not have that 'twang'. It was nothing short of ridiculous - especially since he had agreed to pay in FULL just hours before.
In any case, i offered him to let him test the guitar with my pocketPOD - if that was his concern. He then gave some feeble excuse about Pod not sounding real, (well - i could've let him test using my amp - but it was late)... and finally giving some bull of an excuse saying that he wanted to take the guitar home so he could let his friend who was more knowledgeable about guitars to take a look. It was simply a risk I could not take - he was never completely honest with me, and attempted to take advantage of me giving him the benefit of my doubt.
While he did offer to pass me his driver's licence or identity card, i declined. He was not trustworthy in the first place, and in the first place holding a person's identification is illegal. Afterall, he could easily just report a loss and my guitar would've been scammed away and i'd be left with no recourse.
He proceeded to play mind-games with me, telling me that if i didn't accept the offer, he would look for an alternative the next day. I said, 'go ahead, i have an alternative offer anyway'. I was pretty pissed, but i held my calm and decided to walk away; with less sleep and my time totally wasted.
This morning, i posted a note on my thread stating my conditions, no trades etc...
But i received a msg from this fella again, saying that this 'nocaster' (a term i never used) look-alike's authenticity cannot be verified and that my asking price is too high. In short, I wasted my time and effort and ended up with less sleep yesterday - if i had let greed overcome my wits, i probably would be left with one guitar less.
If anyone wants his number, PM me. I won't publish it here yet, unless i get harassed. I have removed the number, out of consideration for the forum owners and their legal position. But i'll let you know his number, if you need.
he has previously tried to scam another forummer, check this thread have you met this kind of buyer before?
please make this thread a sticky
Here's a caution to fellow sellers out there - there is a scammer lurking around the forums!
Although I did suffer any financial loss from this, but I did waste a whole lot of time and possibly lost a couple of buyers as a result of this.
This is what happened:
On Monday, I posted an ad on this forum for the sale of my Lite-Ash Telecaster. I received numerous offers, of which was from a guy who sms-ed me and claimed to be deeply interested in my guitar. So i asked him to make an offer - and he responded with a lowball offer at $600. I told him it was ridiculous and he went "what if i double my offer to 1.2k?"
Not wanting to be overboard (and doubting his sincerity anyway), i told him it was excessive and that a lower bid would be fine. He responded with, "i think you are a nice and honest guy, so i don't mind paying 1.2k for guitar" this preceded the catch, which was an installment scheme of $300 a week, to be spread over 4 weeks.
I didn't reply him immediately as I was busy at work, but he was so keen such that he called me after 30 minutes, telling me that he'd like to get my guitar later that night etc. He claimed that he was a 28 year-old secondary school teacher from a school in the east (i won't name the school yet), and was willing to supply me with photocopies of his civil service card, i/c, and details like his address, and even sign an IOU etc for this deal.
I was very uncomfortable with the arrangement and rejected it outright, but agreed to think it over and respond by noon. I even suggested that he wait till next month before buying the guitar, but he claimed to be playing a gig on Saturday. I received another message before then from him - basically about how interested he was about this guitar and that the deal was a great one for me... win-win situation etc.
At noon, i told him of my decision, which was not to accept his offer. However, he attempted to counter-offer by asking me what was my price if the amount was to be paid in full. As I had an offer at 800, i told him that i wouldn't settle for anything less... and, surprise surprise - he actually agreed. But i told him, i had to wait till the other buyer viewed the guitar before allowing him to take his chance - after all, the other guy offered the price before he did. He subsequently increased his offer to $850, and arranged to meet me at 8 pm that night, at my place. And i confirmed with him that this sum was to be paid in FULL and in CASH, and he reverted that he didn't need to test the guitar because of 'trust'.
Later in the afternoon, he decided to change the time to 10 pm, claiming that he was giving tuition. Even though it was late, it was a situation i could sympathize with and i agreed.
At 10 pm that night (or rather yesterday), he messaged me and told me he would be late, and had to change the time to 11 pm. At 11 pm i called him, he claimed to be around the corner, and would take 5 minutes... Soon, 5 minutes flew by, and it was 11.30 pm. I decided, he probably wouldn't be coming and so i decided to sleep. As I barely fell into sleep, i received a call at 11.45 and he told me that he was at my place already.
So i went down, guitar in hand, and met him. Instead of going straight to the point, he first tried to push his luck with an installment scheme again before examining the guitar and launching into a whole tirade of how he was looking for a guitar like this, and how he once bought a guitar with faulty wiring because he didn't test it - and how he thought this was a 'nocaster' etc etc, and asked why it was made in korea. I clarified his doubts (Fender did make a couple of models in Korea), and he finally 'cut to the chase' after 10 minutes of mindless banter and haggling.
I had half expected he would've pulled some sort of stunt - but what he did offer was beyond what i imagined. He took out his wallet, and said - "i'll offer you $150, and i'll bring the guitar home and test, then i'll transfer the rest to you tomorrow". He said he was concerned as to whether my tele had the twang, and gave some bullshit excuse as to why he is concerned that it may not have that 'twang'. It was nothing short of ridiculous - especially since he had agreed to pay in FULL just hours before.
In any case, i offered him to let him test the guitar with my pocketPOD - if that was his concern. He then gave some feeble excuse about Pod not sounding real, (well - i could've let him test using my amp - but it was late)... and finally giving some bull of an excuse saying that he wanted to take the guitar home so he could let his friend who was more knowledgeable about guitars to take a look. It was simply a risk I could not take - he was never completely honest with me, and attempted to take advantage of me giving him the benefit of my doubt.
While he did offer to pass me his driver's licence or identity card, i declined. He was not trustworthy in the first place, and in the first place holding a person's identification is illegal. Afterall, he could easily just report a loss and my guitar would've been scammed away and i'd be left with no recourse.
He proceeded to play mind-games with me, telling me that if i didn't accept the offer, he would look for an alternative the next day. I said, 'go ahead, i have an alternative offer anyway'. I was pretty pissed, but i held my calm and decided to walk away; with less sleep and my time totally wasted.
This morning, i posted a note on my thread stating my conditions, no trades etc...
But i received a msg from this fella again, saying that this 'nocaster' (a term i never used) look-alike's authenticity cannot be verified and that my asking price is too high. In short, I wasted my time and effort and ended up with less sleep yesterday - if i had let greed overcome my wits, i probably would be left with one guitar less.
If anyone wants his number, PM me. I won't publish it here yet, unless i get harassed. I have removed the number, out of consideration for the forum owners and their legal position. But i'll let you know his number, if you need.
he has previously tried to scam another forummer, check this thread have you met this kind of buyer before?
please make this thread a sticky
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