Tuesday, September 6, 2011

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE - 1956 Harmony H44 in Dallas - OUCH!!

Had a bad month in August. Thought I had found a great deal in Dallas TX on a 1956 Harmony H44 Stratotone (yeah one of those) that his "Dad had left him" being sold for "the Best Offer" and the seller bit on $600 + shipping. We went back and forth and he ended up taking a straight $600 when I realized I couldn't swing the extra $50 for shipping that week(and that should have been a major red flag to me).

But of course I was blinded by VGL (Vintage Guitar Lust) and sent him the Cashier's Check for $600 - and I never heard from him again.

I won't be sending any money to Texas again for a long long time.

Please, learn from my mistakes dear ones... a few warning signs I ignored:

1 - Seller acted like he didn't know anything about the guitar and I was the expert.
2 - Seller said he "had an offer at $700" but that was from "a guitar store and I'd rather sell it to a player like you" (and I fell for that one too - sheeesh!).
3- I never actually spoke to the seller on the phone only over email (MAJOR ALERT!!)
4 - I was basically paying about HALF of the retail Vintage Market value for the guitar (this is a real heads up - greed on my part - the trap was set).

So keep those things in mind when dealing over the web. talk to the person on the phone - have an address and telephone number that you can trace - and if it sounds too good to be true - IT USUALLY IS! (though not always - but over the internet you have to defer to the likelihood of a scam).

Good luck out there.

- Jim C
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4 comments:

  1. Ron NeelySeptember 6, 2011 at 6:56 PM

    That's too bad. It's always a gamble on things like that. I try to find a member at one the forums I belong to that lives in the area and is willing to be a "go between" and handle the transaction locally. It's also great for when the seller doesn't want to ship the item.

    ReplyDelete
  2. absinthiumSeptember 6, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    Jim, Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I have been following your blog and wondered why things tapered off in August. I look often on Craigslist and, unfortunately, I have seen a few scams as well. Keep posting, as you have been invaluable to my search as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SirGregolotSeptember 7, 2011 at 10:33 AM

    Sorry to hear about that! Just wanted to say that I love your blog and visit daily! Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2011 at 1:36 AM

    sorry to hear about this man....
    your blog is awesome though. i look at it daily.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments but please no commercial links or non guitar related conversations. Thank you. - JC

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IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL READERS

I am reposting items here that are listed on CRAIGSLIST throughout the USA. I am not selling any of these items and I cannot facilitate the sale of anything here - so please do not comment or post questions like "Is this still available?" or "I am interested in your guitar please call me, etc." You need to contact the seller directly by calling the phone number listed on the post or by going to the CL listing and emailing them. NEW FEATURE: Click on the title of the CL Listing inside my post to LINK thru to the original Post. If the original CL listing is deleted the item most likely is no longer available. Thanks for checking out my blog and GOOD LUCK!



Please don't call, contact, bother or harass these sellers long after their post is expired. Take for granted if the listing is over 30 days old that the guitar or amp is LONG GONE! Thank you.