Would you be concerned?
There is a seller with 50 positive ratings from buyers having anywhere from 1 - 2k plus ratings. One buyer has bought probably 6 of his firearms (all the same manufacturer). He is a "verified" seller. He has decent (not great bargains but good) prices for Buy It Now. He currently has 5 listings and I am very interested in 4 of them at the Buy It Now price.
What makes me a bit nervous to hit them is his listing says "will provide email once I have received payment". His items are not cart eligible and must pay with check, money order or certified check. He does not take credit cards.
What's your thoughts on it?
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I do a couple things in this situation, and in general - I usually do a Google search to see if the seller also runs a local business. The sellers location is usually in the posting, as in "gun shops near ABC Illinois". I'm not on FB, but I am on LinkedIn and once you know the sellers first and last name you can search them on those platforms. If someone has a public on-line presence in my experience it lowers the possibility of them being a scammer. The fact that he only wants paper payment probably means he's not a retailer. Lastly, if you want 4 of his items I would definitely use contact seller and ask about preferred pricing on multiple buys.
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Contact him via GB. Tell him you want to chat in person. If he declines, move on.
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The people selling here are just like anywhere else, they can be hacked and have been in the past. I have reported one here in the last 2 months and it got taken care by GB of after he (the scammer) sold two of the same item to buyers. Just be careful, the clearly vast majority "decent" deals are NOT scams here just a few to keep you on your toes reluctantly.
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Lucky4597 - I did as you suggested and Google found his name in the town that is on his listing. Google info said he was an older gentleman. I did what Kevin L suggested and asked him to contact me through the "ask the seller". He called me and his voice is definitely that of an older gentleman. He is not a dealer but is thinning his collection. It made me a lot more comfortable and I believe that I am going to pull the trigger.
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Well, I guess my hitting the "Buy Now" price on multiple items caused the auction side to lock my account and put it under review. It did that after the third item and would not let me do the fourth item. I know the reasoning is the possibility of suspicious activity and understand. At least I had hit the three that I wanted the most. Maybe it will get cleared before long I called the seller back, explained it to him and he said it was showing the three that I hit on as being sold. So now to wait....lol
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It could simply be that multiple ffl transfers have to be reported directly to the ATF. I am assuming you are shipping to an FFL or are one yourself. This would be a GB thing I would guess, not something either the seller or FFL probably cares about - but GB may cover themselves by making sure the receiver FFL acknowledges that requirement.
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neacpa: 29932237069595/comments/29932258171291
Lucky4597 - I did as you suggested and Google found his name in the town that is on his listing. Google info said he was an older gentleman. I did what Kevin L suggested and asked him to contact me through the "ask the seller". He called me and his voice is definitely that of an older gentleman. He is not a dealer but is thinning his collection. It made me a lot more comfortable and I believe that I am going to pull the trigger.
You bring up a good reminder, @neacpa . Too often we assume that everyone knows exactly how to sell on GB and if they aren't following that process, we get suspicious. A simple request for clarification or more details is often all it takes to build some trust and have a positive buying experience.
Glad it worked out for you.
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That’s entirely how GB used to be.
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