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Advice on trading to a newbie in a foreign country.


edstraker123
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I understand your reservations about this - I've done several deals with BCers living on the continent and had the same concerns. I even sold a Warwick Dolphin to somebody in Oz - scary.

Essentially it boils down to trust - do you trust the buyer/ seller/ trader enough to send the goods across the continent? - if not, don't do the deal. You also need to remember that most Couriers exclude musical instruments from the insurance provision so you may not be able to insure the goods to a level to avert your concerns.

It's going to be hard to do a £1k+ deal with a stranger - not sure if anybody can say something can can put your mind at ease.

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In my last foreign deal on here I agreed to meet a seller from France at St Pancras - he was getting the Eurostar. I booked my train ticket from Liverpool and then he backed out leaving me out of pocket for the cost of the ticket.

Previously I'd sent a £2k guitar to Estonia which got stuck in an airport because of snow - the buyer had paid up front so it must have been quite a scary wait for him.

I'm extremely wary having had a bad experience with a local BC'er this week.

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+1

Given the sheer volume of trading I've indulged in over the last 10 years, it's actually quite gratifying how good the overall experience has been. But that doesn't alter the high risk factor in dealing with a complete stranger in another country.

Sending £1000 to that complete stranger at least leaves a clear audit trail that may come in handy if you need to involve the local police. Doing a swop deal is potentially far trickier, even if you both agree to use high-end couriers with proper recording systems in place. And that's before we get into each of your relative estimates of the worth of each bass.

Not many of us can afford to lose a high-end bass and simply 'write it off to experience'.

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[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1505062110' post='3369236']
I've been buying and selling here for 15 years and 99% of the time folks are 100% reliable, but I would not do a trade deal overseas, far easier for one of you to sell their respective instrument and buy the other's
[/quote]

Agree 100%.

In fact, the last deals I've done have all been in person. It's brilliant meeting Basschatters in person.

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We've decided to go for it and my Elwood Absolution fretless is winging its way over from the Netherlands as we speak ! Reinier suggested sending his bass first as I had feedback on here with me then sending mine back when I've confirmed everything is o.k. This was a great leap of faith on his part and I completely applaud him for it. Hopefully our respective couriers don't let us down.

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Good to hear that the bass family are getting deals done. Ive sold instruments on Basschat to folk in various European counties, and have sent quite a few to the USA too. I've made many great contacts in the process too. Only time ive had problems, have been with the odd UK based buyer/seller.

Let us see pics of your new bass when it arrives matey!

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[quote name='edstraker123' timestamp='1505242713' post='3370503'] Reinier suggested sending his bass first as I had feedback on here with me then sending mine back when I've confirmed everything is o.k. This was a great leap of faith on his part and I completely applaud him for it.
[/quote]

Agreed - definitely fair play on his part.

However you've earned that trust through the quality of your BC dealing over a number of years.

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