Buying S/H

[Astro-Bob.]

Hi everyone, I have found a S/H SE8 for sale and the chap claims it's only 16 months old, I am very nervous at the thought of paying hundreds of pounds to someone at the other end of the country and hoping I get the scope, Is there a safe way to go about this? I have never bought anything S/H from anyone on the web before

[rowan46]

how did you find him?

[Astro-Bob.]

Hello Rowan, why? do you want to beat me to the sale? :-)

It's an advert on an astronomy S/H for sale site

[Cjg]

Generally you would "buy the seller" before you buy the product - google the seller, is he on linkedin etc see what else you can uncover - has he / she traded on ebay, is there feedback?

[jam1e1]

hi ive bought and sold astro bits/scopes from small to large value and not had a problem as yet- saying that i try to be careful when buying by asking pertinent questions, checking they sound legit, ask for telephone numbers & discuss over phone, ask if had any probs etc... most people seem to be honest. if they appear to have bought/sold before then all the better as gives a bit more confidence

only rule i do keep to is dont buy if cant afford to lose out for whatever reason

[Astro-Bob.]

I can't go and see him as he is in Scotland, what's the safest way to pay him £900

I can't google him or check on him as all I have at the moment is his advertiser number, I have emailed him to ask if it's still for sale and if it is I will phone him but as I understand it he is saying in the ad that he will arrange for a currier at my expense, can I arrange cod do you think?

[mdstuart]

There are escrow arrangements that can be set up so a third party holds your money. You get the goods and then if your happy the third party passes on the money.. I used it once on another transaction outside of this hobby!

Mark

[Peter Drew]

Unless there are a lot of extras going with it, £900 doesn't sound like the bargain of the year to me. I bought mine S/H less than a year old in mint condition for £650. They are a very nice scope and I certainly wouldn't part with mine even for £900.

[Astro-Bob.]

Thanks Mark that's handy to know.

Peter, ooer! I don't think there's anything extra with it but as a new one is about 1300 I thought 900 was quite good, it's 16 months old. shows how much I know then

[Peter Drew]

Bob, to be fair to the seller, I think when my seller purchased his the price new had been dicounted down to around £1150 for a short while. There's no reason to expect that the one you mention is in other than good condition and would still represent a good buy. I was very lucky.

[Astro-Bob.]

Ok Peter, understood mate. Well I haven't heard anything from him so I guess he's sold it already, Bummer,

[Demonperformer]

I have never used this supplier, but, even with shipping, import duty and VAT (Import duty & taxes for Celestron nextstar 8se) on top, £436.80 looks as if it could be a very good price. Of course, you would have all the hassle of dealing with customs, etc.

[Odd Thomas]

I have never used this supplier, but, even with shipping, import duty and VAT (Import duty & taxes for Celestron nextstar 8se) on top, £436.80 looks as if it could be a very good price. Of course, you would have all the hassle of dealing with customs, etc.

Hi DP,

I've had a look at the web site, very interesting, in particular the motorcycle section... they're giving them away!! I would dearly love to be proved wrong if someone on here has used this company, but I suspect it looks like an easy way to loose a lot of money quickly.

Tom

[kniclander]

you do get some protection if you pay by paypal (not gift) - if the seller objects to you using paypal and paying the charges (about 4%) yourself, run away.... etc

[Catweazel]

Hi Bob, it would have been helpful to know which site the scope was for sale on! How did the seller ask to be paid; if you could pay by PayPal you would get some protection. With that amount of money at stake, I would be wary of buying without seeing the scope first, but that's a personal thing. I have bought a few items from Astro Buy & Sell, and not had any problems, I bought a scope there, but met the seller and looked at the scope before buying. The smaller items I have bought there have been fine. Same goes for fleabay!

[Astro-Bob.]

Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. it was on here Catweasel

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

I notice on the site he has a notice on the home page about Fraud and gives a lot of contact emails people have had from thieves, but quite a lot of them look normal to me, so I guess I'm too trusting.

I wouldn't have been able to see it before buying in this case as he was in Scotland over five hours drive away

Anyway doesn't matter now as he did email me today to say it was sold, still interesting though in case something else comes up for sale on here

I notice the selling and buying section on this forum is no longer in use, what happened there? If we aren't going to have one are we allowed to make offers to each other in our threads?