Buying equipment long-distance and wiring money

[MNBobcat]

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!!!!!

You know, they might take credit cards. I will check that out.

Escrow.com says it would be a $175 fee which would be fine. I would have to wire money to the escrow account. I suspect using a credit card would give me the same protection at no cost (to me) though so I will definitely check into that.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Do Not Wire The Money unless you have done business in the past with them! If they are a legitimate they will work with you and should take a credit card. We run into similar issues like this a lot and they should understand. You may have to offer to pay the 4% card fee, then if they still won't take a card RUN! Yes, the card will protect you much more than him! If you don't want the 4% you can guarantee payment on a card and send a check. Maybe done that once.

 

[varmint]

Maybe a TbN member located where the item is could be paid a small amount to check it out for you... just make sure it exists, not its mechanical virtues. And most credit card companies' fees are more like 2.75% or less, depending on volume.

 

[MNBobcat]

Got a personal reference from the manufacturer so everything sounds very legit.

 

[MrWhippy]

If it were me, I'd buy a cheap airline ticket, rent a wreck and go look at it in person, pay in person and get the title in person (possibly notarized). $9000 is a lot of money to me to gamble.

 

[jclaudii]

How did they say they are shipping this piece of equipment to you? Will it cost extra? Is insurance included? You may be able to get on uShip to find someone willing to ship at a lower fee and they are insured. You can also request the shipper take pictures of the item to see if it arrived as it said it would. Perhaps it is legit, but I still would not wire them the money. Ask which bank they use, perhaps you guys use the same bank and that is an easy way to wire money there and have their picture on camera at the bank location.

 

[MNBobcat]

I wired them the money. They are shipping it fedex. It will take 2 days to get from Texas to Minnesota so I should have it Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

I was able to get a ton of information on the family and their business and thoroughly checked them out. They have facebook pages for the business, 2 different business web sites for their business', their son has a whitetail deer ranch business and facebook page, etc. Way too much stuff to set up for a scam. Plus their domain name from their email resolves back to their business, etc. I'm totally comfortable sending them the money. Especially with the sales guy from the company that built the unit personally vouching for them.

 

[teg]

Please follow up with photos when you get it!!!!

 

[varmint]

Okay, assuming your "equipment" arrives, via FedEx (it can't be too big or heavy, whatever it is) lots of us here are curious: just what is it?!

 

[MNBobcat]

Has hydraulic tilt and 16 inches of side shift. Mast hydraulically folds down for storage and will drive a 16 foot tall post.



I may build one over the winter and then sell this one next year. But for now, I have a few hundred posts to do this year and I'll have a few hundred to do next year too.

You can tell by the fact that the paint where the weight slides isn't hardly wore that it wasn't used much. I saved a couple grand over buying new. In addition, the manufacturer couldn't build one fast enough. I'll be pounding posts labor day weekend.