Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money

   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #1  
M

MNBobcat

Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
801
Hi All,

I found a piece of equipment for sale by a private party listed on the used equipment section of the web site for the manufacturer who built the piece of equipment. The seller lives on the other side of the country in another state. A couple days drive away. I'm at a point now where i would need to wire them $9000 and then they will ship the equipment via fedex.

Once I wire that money I presume its gone. Anyone ever had to do this type of transaction before? What can be done (other than researching the seller) to minimize risk that they will just keep the money? I'm not sure if there is an escrow service I should use or if the seller would be willing to do that.

Looking for suggestions/advice before I move forward.
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #2  
Don't do it. 99 times out of a 100, it is a scam. If it is from a reputable dealer, and only if you verified them, would I say take a chance. If you just feel like giving some money away, you can send it to me. :)
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #3  
Tell them you are bring the money with you and you want to testing it out... ask for the address. OR say you have a friend in the town that they said the equipment is in, and he wants to see it, ask for the address... you might not hear from them again.

Where do they say the equipment is located at??
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #4  
Run Forrest Run!!!!
Never wire money!
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I'm not inclined to believe its a scam. Like I said, the manufacturer who sold them the piece of the equipment had it listed for sale on their web site. Also, the seller dragged their feet for a week on getting me the shipping quote. A scammer would have provided the info right away. The private party is actually a business and when they call me I'm going to get all their information and check them out. Its in Texas. I may be able to find someone to drive over to the business and see the piece of equipment as well.

I may be able to send the money via paypal. I haven't asked the seller about that yet. But if I use paypal then their buyer protection might come into play.
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #6  
Definitely a scam.

I had a person try and sell me a 5 year old Honda Goldwing or $2,900. Claimed it was her late husbands and she could not look at it with out crying.
Said it was in Florida. I asked where and was told it was in a shipping container and she would ship as soon as she got the money.
I told her by luck I would be in that area of Florida in two days and wanted to see it. Never got a reply.
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #7  
MNBobcat said:
I'm not inclined to believe its a scam. Like I said, the manufacturer who sold them the piece of the equipment had it listed for sale on their web site. Also, the seller dragged their feet for a week on getting me the shipping quote. A scammer would have provided the info right away. The private party is actually a business and when they call me I'm going to get all their information and check them out. Its in Texas. I may be able to find someone to drive over to the business and see the piece of equipment as well.

I may be able to send the money via paypal. I haven't asked the seller about that yet. But if I use paypal then their buyer protection might come into play.
Click to expand...

Adding the shipping cost to the price is it still a bargain?
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #8  
escrow.com
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money #9  
IF they are a legitimate business do they take credit card as payments?

Verify address and business name is legit via Texas secretary of state. Ask the seller to send you a W9 form to make sure it matches tax ID and address to what the secretary of state website says it should be. If they won't do that they ain't a business worth doing business with.

If it all checks out send cashiers check via US postal service certified mail only to the address listed on their entity verified via the secretary of state website as their business address. That way as least you have postal police protection to go after via mail fraud.

DO NOT WIRE MONEY!!!!!
 
   / Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Its about $2,500 less than new and the manufacturer can't build one in time for my project.

Paypal says it doesn't offer buyer protection on industrial equipment no o luck there. I'll check escrow.com
 
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