How to buy from private ad in Europe?*

First off I've never bought from ebay,audiogone, or anywhere else,except amazon .I found a tube amp for a great price in Belgium on a hifi site. It seems a lot of people are buying and selling sight unseen just via email and ups,etc So my question is how to go about securing the transaction for both of us , how not to put my 3k at risk of loss? I'M A NEWBY AND NEED ADVICE, TY, FITZ

 

I would never do such a transaction, if I were in your shoes.

First off, your inexperience is automatically putting you at risk in more ways than one.

Secondly, the fact that this delicate piece would need to travel halfway across the world to end at your door increases its chances of arriving in less than perfect condition unless the seller is extremely experienced at packing such things.

Thirdly, your post insinuates there isn't a feedback system in place on the website you visited to verify the seller's integrity.

Fourthly, tube amps are *quite* heavy and the shipping fees will be quite high. Don't forget there will be some major duty fees as well once it shows up. These two charges will negate the deal you believe you're getting or at least make it look like less of a deal than you initially thought.

And finally, if anything happens, you'll be forced to ship it back on your dime to the seller which will cost a ton more than shipping it across a couple of states.

Honestly, the fact that you admit your total inexperience is cause for alarm and enough for me to strongly recommend you do not even attempt this. I would suggest you familiarize yourself instead with the concept and mechanics of e-commerce. Start small ; create a PayPal account. Once it's fully operational, I suggest you order cheaper items to start, like an album from somebody on this website. Then, you can venture on some of the other websites you mentioned. Hopefully, you won't run into issues but if/when you do, you'll be so glad you're not dealing with an extremely expensive item whose seller is located on another continent.

Not trying to be a buzzkill but rather am trying to infuse a dose of realism to your extremely enthusiastic but somewhat misguided eager post. My parents are in the same boat, situation-wise. Unless I were there to supervise the entire process, I wouldn't be comfortable with them even attempting anything like this. There are *way* too many pitfalls and ways for them to encounter major problems ranging from uninformed decisions (such as accidentally sending the funds by Friends & Family - therefore having no recourse) to being clueless as to what to do if the item isn't flawlessly functional.

Of course, you are free to do as you wish. I know people tend to do as they want to regardless of the advice presented to them but I personally believe you'll be far better off if you follow my suggestion.

My 2 cents.

 

You do realise that mains electricity in the US is different to Europe. You might be fine using an adaptor with a small electric razor, but anything bigger...

 

Really?

 

Thank you Strat-mangler these amps are light weight OTL and came from USA . I was hopping someone new of a service that did These transactions. I agree, I just really was thinking someone on here new something I don't about accomplishing this type of transaction. You are also right that I should start with pay pal and dabble a few deals to feel confident in buying on line. To me, and I am probably wrong about this too, audio gone and ebay with pay pal is the way to go. ANY OTHERS?

Dave S, I know all about voltage and differences between USA and Europe, these amps work with either,

Bluemooze, I don'the know, I just see items listed on sites ,that I've tried to buy and they were all ready sold , I just kneed to know how to safely do this when I find a deal in the USA. BECAUSE I'm heading Strat-mangler,s advice. About doing it from Europe, although I've received goods from Japan via DHL and it showed up in pristine condition , it's the money to a stranger with no safe guards in place

Thanks Guys, much appreciated Fitz