Help! Looks like a bargain, but...

[ras52]

So there's what looks like a silly bargain on Gumtree. Asking probably less than half of what I'd guess is market value. Some nice pics but not much detail in the description. I've asked a few questions such as scale length, string spacing etc. and not got much back. However I arranged to go around tonight (it't the other side of London) and asked a couple more questions, including whether he had any supporting docs and an amp I could demo the bass through. This was the response:

[quote]
[color=#444444][font=Calibri, sans-serif][size=4]Tomorrow when you will be here I will explain...I am not a guitar player this guitar was a business for me, a part of a deal so if you can pop up you can chek everything you want... I just know it,s a hand made guitar, taken from US, ordered, someone payéd 2200$ for it. Now I had à deal with this guy, hé,s a good friend of mine, I borrow him some money and after 6-7 mounths hé had to give me this guitar because hé can not give me thé money I borrow him back...I don,t have the papers of it ...I didn,t know I will need them, actually this is my first type of this way of selling by internet...that,s why I don,t want with posts and PayPal etc. I want à face to face trade xd, so It,s great if you can come today.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#444444][font=Calibri, sans-serif][size=4][/quote][/size][/font][/color]

Now my mind is screaming "dodgy"! "If it looks good to be true..." etc. Although I have serious GAS and love a bargain, I'm worried that I could end up with a stolen bass on my hands. Talk to me, people...

[Happy Jack]

Can't comment on the stolen aspect, especially with so little to go on, but I'd seriously pause for thought before walking into a stranger's flat on the other side of London with a grand in cash in my pocket.

If you go, be sure to take a friend.

[Wooks79]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1425371469' post='2706532']
Can't comment on the stolen aspect, especially with so little to go on, but I'd seriously pause for thought before walking into a stranger's flat on the other side of London with a grand in cash in my pocket.

If you go, be sure to take a friend.
[/quote]

Yeah, maybe meet up in a cafe or something local to him?

[gary mac]

Like Jack and Wooks, I would be very careful. On the info provided I certainly wouldn't be going to his gaff with a pocket full of cash.

[gary mac]

I've just read your quoted section again, I would definitely walk away, it screams of the classic drawing you in type of scam to me.

[ras52]

Thanks guys, fate had intervened and I now won't be able to get over there today, so time for further consideration. :-)

[lou24d53]

Anyone else find themselves reading that script section in an Eastern European accent?

[gary mac]

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1425387196' post='2706734']
Anyone else find themselves reading that script section in an Eastern European accent?
[/quote]

Yep, hate to admit it but I did.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1425387196' post='2706734']
Anyone else find themselves reading that script section in an Eastern European accent?
[/quote]
[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1425387287' post='2706736']
Yep, hate to admit it but I did.
[/quote]

'fraid to say I went badly Hispanic

Ras52 - time to get the bargepole out of storage!!

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1425387196' post='2706734']
Anyone else find themselves reading that script section in an Eastern European accent?
[/quote]

Whyfor you say zis, huh?

[ras52]

I told the guy that I couldn't come today, and he replied that he was only in London for two days. Bargepole deployed!

[Musky]

All the talk of "papers" makes me think that he's going to end up saying the guitar is in a pawn shop. He just needs the cash to retrieve the instrument and then you can have it. Though he says he doesn't have the papers, so you can only guess what loops he'll throw to relieve you of your cash before you can get your hands on it.

[fiatcoupe432]

Guys please, they are lots of eastern european members here on the forum and they are all honest ..... please don't generalise ! I'm not eastern european but i dealt many times with members here from abroad and never had a problem ! i actually been scammed by 2 times and both times i can assure you they were not from east europe or europe...... so please, some people might get offended .....

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='fiatcoupe432' timestamp='1425647339' post='2709357']
Guys please, they are lots of eastern european members here on the forum and they are all honest ..... please don't generalise ! I'm not eastern european but i dealt many times with members here from abroad and never had a problem ! i actually been scammed by 2 times and both times i can assure you they were not from east europe or europe...... so please, some people might get offended .....
[/quote]
Can't speak for the others, and I know I didn't go the eastern European route, but it was really a reflection on what happens when reading something written by someone in what isn't their first language - the accent just seems to lend itself to the phrasing. I wasn't, and I hope the others were not, casting aspersions on the honesty of any particular nationality. All the same, sorry if it did cause offence but that was far, far from the intention.

[lou24d53]

Same as above, I wasn't meaning my post to come across in the way perhaps it might have done, so if anyone has been offended by comments I apologise profusely.

I merely mentioned it as I simply found myself reading it that way due to the wording as mentioned by Mykesbass above.

[ras52]

Well well well... just got this from Gumtree:

[quote]
It has been flagged/reported that the user who posted that ad may be involved in suspicious activity and/or in breaching the Gumtree Terms of Use. We are investigating this matter, but want you to be safe in the meantime...
[/quote]

Glad I did the right thing (running away)!