[Aimless1]

There have been so many threads lately of deals gone bad or scammers amongst us, that it make one think this is normal on Head-fi. I haven't found this to be true, even though I have had one less than satisfying experience.

My most recent experience is a deal that should have never happened....at least if you look at it on paper. The new member just joined this month. 0 posts. 0 feedback. Lots of ebay feedback, but how good is that, really? Then to complicate matters he needed the item shipped to a non paypal confirmed address and needed it in a hurry. I don't know about you, but I see many reasons for not completing a deal with this individual, especially for a $879.00 item.

But, he was quick to respond to questions. He was straightforward and appeared to be honest. The individual worked for an airline, had homes here and over seas. Had just received his orders that he was to fly out of New York (not his home) shortly and wanted the item to take with him. His explanations were much more convincing that I have written here. As he put it, one of us was going to have to take a huge leap of faith. Logically I was more than willing to walk away from the deal. But I trusted my gut and decided to go through with it.

I send a pay pal invoice understanding I have no protection shipping to a non confirmed address. When I receive the payment I see the confirmed address has been changed to his temporay address while in New York. So far so good. Then the amount I receive is for more than the amount agreed to. Seems he would like the item shipped overnight. He explains that he has included more to cover the cost. If too much, keep it and enjoy a beer. If not, then send an invoice for more $$ which he will cover. So I go to ship overnight and sure enough, not enough to cover the cost. I decide to ship and send an invoice for the additional.

Happy ending! He pays the additional and a little extra, receives the item overnight and is quite delighted with it. Lots of opportunity for the deal to go bad. Would I do it again? With him, yes. With someone else, probably not. But then again, I find most of the head-fiers I have had contact with and/or completed deals with have been good honest people looking to do the right thing. I believe this new head-fier is going to fit right in if he chooses to participate. This is a community of good people. Yes, we have some unsavory characters among us. Buth they are the exception, not the norm.

 

[.coco]

Yup, lots of good people here

 

[krmathis]

Yeah, its certainly possible. And I actually think most deals around here are hassle free...

 

[necropimp]

i haven't bought much recently (bought a fair bit a few years back though)

haven't had any real problems at all... IIRC i wasn't too thrilled about the way my HD580s were packed but they weren't damaged so i can't really complain

still waiting on the last thing i bought but it's only been a week and it's coming from canada... in my experience items arriving from canada take longer to get here than items arriving from finland, bulgaria, england, russia, japan.... all of those countries can get packages to my southern indiana location quicker than canada

 

[dazzer1975]

every one of my head-fi deals have been hassle free.

I may have been lucky, infact, reading some stories of the problems that do occur, I have been lucky.

Pay attention to feedback and take precautions as far as you can do, but at the end of the day it seems a pretty reasonable forum to buy and sell on here with regards being safe.

fingers crossed, I and others wont get scammed on here, which for me is the bottom line. Anything else can be dealt with.

 

[yeahx]

I have bought some used CDs and that went really well. They got shipped out quickly and the CDs were mostly in perfect condition. I hope to get other things in the future for my rig but I hope it will be with names I know.

 

[ronnielee54]

I have never had a problem with a completed head-fi deal. I have even sent out one item before money order arrived and had no problems. Only problem I had was with a student who would not quit trying to get me to lower the price. He made a lower offer and when I accepted it he would try to get me to lower it even more. Finally told him to f&^% off and quit waisting my time (was in a really bad mood that day).

 

[Ttvetjanu]

Both of my deals were extremely satisfying. I took the risk of sending money through a non-paypal means (western union money order) and recieved both items fairly quickly (or as quickly as it could be expected). I've tried to get other deals but people generally seem to want a paypal trade, which is problematic for me because I'm unable to get a paypal account (long story, bank does not support, still a student so I can't get a visa/credit card).

I've only dealt with members that have had good feedback, and generally seem honest and communicate well, also 1000+ posts.

 

[-=Germania=-]

I have had 90% be completely hassle free.

Sometimes there has been problems with shipping, but always on the fault of the shipping service sometimes requiring phone calls.

 

[Uncle Erik]

No problems here with anything I've bought or sold. Some minor guilt going over a sale right now - one member asked to buy a spare that I have. Not a problem, except that I've been locked down in the office and fly off for a week tomorrow morning. Argh. So I've promised to hold it until I get back and then we'll work it out. I would have liked to have dropped it in the mail yesterday. Anyhow, he's cool about it and I'll make sure he gets a good deal when I get back.

 

[Dzjudz]

I've only done two deals on Head-Fi. One involved an item trade, the other was me buying an item from another member. Both were precious deals (hundreds of euros) and of course in principle very risky to me (chance of not getting the other's trade or item), but both went very smoothly. It helped that I was familiar with both people from being a member for an extended time. Good and clear communication helps a lot. In the end it all comes down to trust. If you don't feel right about the trade/sale, don't do it.

But the best deals were of course the Christmas CD Exchanges

.

 

[Rednamalas1]

zero problems so far, but I haven't bought/sold too many stuff on head-fi (10-12?)

 

[GreatDane]

Great story OP.

I've sold to more than a couple new Head-Fi members with zero or very few posts...not any big value items but no problems and some were overseas.

I currently have 2 packages that are overdue. One is on day 25 and the other is 15 days. Fingers crossed. Both are overseas. Hang in there guys...

 

[IceClass]

I've had a bunch of hassle free purchases, sales and a trade.

Generally speaking, people are very cool and honest.

 

[wuwhere]

I've bought about ten items from other head-fiers without any trouble at all.