Buyer Beware

I got scammed by one of these here on Audiogon. Right after I made the purchase and paid they RE-LISTED the same item and BLOCKED me. I immediately called up my Credit Card Company and they took care of it. Not sure how the OP paid but thats all you need to do. Forget about contacting Paypal cause that will take forever. Even after I made the claim with my CC company the "seller" went into Paypal and put a Tracking # from FEDEX. Little did he know but I have a FEDEX account that notifies me about all incoming packages days ahead of time. So I got an Email from PAYPAL saying the package was delivered to my house. Called up FEDEX and they said a package was sent EXPRESS MAIL to another address in my town with THAT tracking number the scammer supplied to Paypal. So they arent entirely stupid scammers cause they found a way to work the system. Just pay with your Credit Card and NEVER file a claim with Paypal unless you want to wait forever and your money will be locked up.

I have tracked down a couple of scammers on other audio sites.  One I tracked all the way to her facebook account in kenya.  

One way to identify a fake is to use google lens to search the photos.  Often you can find where the scammer found the photos.  Since they don't own the item, they have to get photos off the web.

Jerry

Before returning to Audio, I was buying and selling watches. That hobby is even worse than audio.

Though wire transfer is considered safe, crooks know how to evade the system and screw you even when you use that.

The best advice is to use common sense and if you are suspicious, to ask the seller to send a photo of the item with something identifying-like your name, date or the front page of a national newspaper.

Pay with a credit card or paypal (not Friends and Family). References are good, too.-But, someone starting out won't have ref's, and that doesn't necessarily mean that they are scammers. Face it, we all had to start somewhere.

If the seller has no feedback, ask to call them. A short conversation should give you a sense of who they are. In my many buys/sells, I have found 99% of the people to be honest.

And, buying here on Audiogon offers some very good protection against getting ripped off, as Tammy usually sorts things out.

Bob

Audiogon is aware of this, and is working on a solution.