To ship or not to ship?

CrimsonGlory

Active Member
A couple of days ago, I took some pictures of an item and posted it on Craigslist. The item in question, a Nakamichi System-One stereo rack, is apparently tough to find without being sold along with all of the components. I'd hoped to get at least a bite from someone around here, but instead I received a phone call from a gentleman near Portland, Oregon inquiring about purchasing this item. At first I tried to discourage him because my gut feeling told me it might be a scam, but we proceeded to chat about other non-audio related things for nearly a half an hour before we finally concluded our talk. He claims to have moved here from Germany in the early Seventies and that he's actually in his seventies now. Apparently he has the components but no rack to put them in, and mine was the only one he encountered.

I just got done looking at some of the default prices to ship this particular item via UPS and USPS, and I'm not particularly impressed with the pricing. I have yet to get back ahold of him with this information, so I thought I would make this inquiry: based on the information I've been given (and have thus posted here), should I give this man the benefit of the doubt and proceed with the transaction?
 
That is indeed a rare rack and I can see why he wants you to ship it. Gonna be costly no matter how you do it.
 
Did he tell you how he intended to pay?

Hi, thanks for the reply. We actually didn't get far enough into the transaction to talk about those details, but I will say that he seemed willing to pay up front. I've got his daughter's e-mail address, and I was going to send him a message after I did a bit more research on shipping.

That is indeed a rare rack and I can see why he wants you to ship it. Gonna be costly no matter how you do it.

Believe it or not, UPS was my cheapest option. The only snag I'm running into is finding a box with the appropriate dimensions to place the two long pieces. I've got the whole rack apart and I was intent on shipping it with all the pieces individually wrapped, then placed into a box with some manner of padding. UPS will make a custom box but that adds a good chunk of money onto the shipping costs; if I could find a box that will suit my needs I'd use that.
 
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Have him pay with a USPS money order, cash it at any post office. Securely pack and YOU (only because it is your responsibility - sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine) pay for insurance. Ship with a reputable company. Use a secure address on your end if possible instead of your residence.

Don't know of any scam that can affect you with this method.
 
Have him pay you with either a check, money order, Western Union, or wire transfer to your bank. Give it a week or two to clear. He can pay for shipping and packing materials.
 
Since both of you don't know each other, I would send a detailed Paypal invoice that includes a description of the condition in the note section. If he pays it, ship it. Follow the seller protection rules to the letter and you both should have little to worry about.

Good luck,

Rob
 
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