Suspicious wannabe buyer on Reverb

BintyTwanger77

I had a message on Reverb about my Gretsch.

Looked at his profile, he's only joined Reverb in the past week or so, and has no listings/reviews/feedback.

He contacted me and offered way below the asking price for the Gretsch, and also added that he was staying at London Gateway (yep, the motorway services) this week. Trying to work out why he might be staying in London Gateway Services for a week!!!

I refused the offer. He then gave me his absolute highest price offer (not much above his original offer), and I refused that one. Then, despite that being "the highest he could go", he's now come back again asking what my lowest price is.

Does this look like a scam to anyone?

TTony

Scam or a someone looking to get  a cheapskate deal.

Either way, the advice is always to walk away if you feel uncomfortable or unsure, and   not to accept a price lower than you're happy with no matter how hard luck the wannabee buyer's hard luck story sounds.

You'd need @iain.reverb ; or @markjohnson to look see if there's anything dodgy looking in his Reverb sign-up, activity or account - I'm not sure whether than can (or do) look as closely at this sort of situation as we tend to do here.

skunkwerx

Haha london gateway, as in the port? 
Didnt realise they had hotels. 

Sounds a bit weird though. 
Id probably long it off if it was me. But im paranoid about stuff more than I used to be. 

Maybe message him back stating your price, you could take cash on collection at the port. See what he says to that. 

Sparky

ALWAYS deal with cash on collection- take a counterfeit pen along for the ride too. There are some pretty horrible Paypal scammers out there, so never agree to do it that way.

pmg

He could just work in logistics and be stopping there on business.  And be a low baller.  Or a chancer

mbe

I've stayed there on holiday. It's the Ramada North London M1. I remember there were a lot of people on training courses staying there.

FatPete

skunkwerx said:

Haha london gateway, as in the port? 
Didnt realise they had hotels. 

London Gateway the M1 motorway services - used to be Scratchwood.

The only part of this that doesn't sound scammy is that he's pushing for a low price, but maybe that's what you're meant to think. Definitely cash only if you do decide to do a deal - Paypal, or even a bank transfer are not safe. I'd walk away from it.

BintyTwanger77

FatPete said:

skunkwerx said:

Haha london gateway, as in the port? 
Didnt realise they had hotels. 

London Gateway the M1 motorway services - used to be Scratchwood.

The only part of this that doesn't sound scammy is that he's pushing for a low price, but maybe that's what you're meant to think. Definitely cash only if you do decide to do a deal - Paypal, or even a bank transfer are not safe. I'd walk away from it.

I don't mind, and I'm not suspicious of, low-baller offers, it was more the location and that he suddenly threw away his maximum bid to ask what my lowest price is. I'm not going to bother responding to his last message, in no enormous hurry to sell, and I'd rather a trustworthy FBer took advantage of a lovely instrument.

Teetonetal

Just sounds like hard work to me, so avoid.

BintyTwanger77

Teetonetal said:

Just sounds like hard work to me, so avoid.

...and yes, for this reason as well.

impmann

Just reply back.. "The lowest price I'd accept from you? The asking price"

Moe_Zambeek

To be honest it doesn't seem that odd in negotiating terms. He's asking how low you would go rather than send loads of offers that are then rejected.

BRISTOL86

Is he a Nigerian prince? In my experience that’s always been something of an alarm bell. 

SNAKEBITE

It could be he is staying there on business and saw a guitar he liked in the area, thought he'd take a chance on the price and is just trying to get a good deal.

Of course it could be a scam.

As said before, if you are not desperate to sell then wait until someone else comes along.

BintyTwanger77

Moe_Zambeek said:

To be honest it doesn't seem that odd in negotiating terms. He's asking how low you would go rather than send loads of offers that are then rejected.

Yes, fair point, it was more the suggested meeting location and the lack of time he'd been a member on Reverb that are making me wary, not his offer tactics.

BintyTwanger77

BRISTOL86 said:

Is he a Nigerian prince? In my experience that’s always been something of an alarm bell. 

Yes, and if you send him all your credit card numbers, your postcode, passport number and a sample of your blood, if your name is drawn from the hat, you can win a limited edition Boss MT-2!!! #YOLO #LOLZ

timhulio

Doesn't sound too odd, and I've conducted deals at motorway services before (including M1 Gateway). And a Premier Inn. 

This sort of thing is often riskier for the buyer, as you don't get to test anything and you've only time for a cursory inspection. 

However, you're the seller. If you smell a rat, don't do it.

Funkfingers

BintyTwanger77 said:
Does this look like a scam to anyone?

Difficult to differentiate between a scammer and a determined, lowballing idiot.

Either way, decline politely once more then, feel free to get nasty. 

markjohnson

Thanks for the heads up @TTony ;

Not a huge amount to go on here, but as a rule of thumb I'd never advocate meeting someone in person if you're not 100% comfortable doing so. There will always be another buyer along eventually. 

But @BintyTwanger77 if you want to private message me some more details happy to look into it further.

I wouldn't say it sounds 100% a scam but generally one of the reasons we discourage cash on collection type situations is that as convenient as it can be it also makes it a lot harder for us to then mitigate disputes. If the payment goes through us and we have records from the shipping company about the movements of the goods etc then you're totally protected. 

Jimbro66

Recent joining wouldn't bother me. There are guys who join Reverb and The FB initially because something for sale in the classifieds tempts them. Even being in a motorway services hotel for a week could mean being away from home on business. Just make sure he provides a verified home address.

Lowball offers are common. If it's ridiculously low he's not worth bothering with. Assuming it's the '62 Jet Firebird currently advertised here how much below the £2k asking price is acceptable to you? As @musicman100 said "The realistic used market for gretsch guitars is not great" and he knows a thing or two about buying and selling Gretsches. So, I'd say give him your lowest acceptable price, no haggling, and if it's too high for him then tough titty.

It's a nice guitar but probably not the best time of year to sell for best price. Everyone's skint by Christmas

BintyTwanger77

Jimbro66 said:

Recent joining wouldn't bother me. There are guys who join Reverb and The FB initially because something for sale in the classifieds tempts them. Even being in a motorway services hotel for a week could mean being away from home on business. Just make sure he provides a verified home address.

Lowball offers are common. If it's ridiculously low he's not worth bothering with. Assuming it's the '62 Jet Firebird currently advertised here how much below the £2k asking price is acceptable to you? As @musicman100 said "The realistic used market for gretsch guitars is not great" and he knows a thing or two about buying and selling Gretsches. So, I'd say give him your lowest acceptable price, no haggling, and if it's too high for him then tough titty.

It's a nice guitar but probably not the best time of year to sell for best price. Everyone's skint by Christmas

All very sensible points. I think you're right about the timing. I'm really not in a rush to part with it anyway, was aiming to sell it at some point next year.