Be careful who you sell to!

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 3:23 pm

Richard, interesting story! I have one that was related in the C&F chat room that beats that all to hell and back, in re: someone buying a set of 'antique Highland pipes' off eBay, making a deal with the seller to take his old pipes in partial exchange. Deal was made for his pipes (value $800) plus about $400. Fellow received his pipes, sent them to be repaired (noting that they played beautifully...but with strange, nice sound) and was informed that he has HIGHLY valuable pipes...HISTORICALLY VALUABLE pipes, and a museum in Scotland requested that they be left to the museum in his will, as they couldn't afford to purchase them from him. And please insure them for (I think the number turned out to be) $28K. Fellow offered them BACK to the original seller even exchange with his original pipes and the $400....and the seller refused. I call that class act all the way around.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 4:25 pm

I'm glad this got settled. I've bought, sold, and traded whistles with more then 15 C&Fers and never a hitch. We're the most honorable bunch I've ever run across, so I'm glad this got settled, and our record kept clean (except for McHaffie, which didn't involve me).

selkie · Post by **selkie** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:21 pm

Well I feel terrible. I have almost 500 positives on ebay and I sold a Susato low d to a nice guy, also a musician and by chance bought a Folksong book from him. He mailed the book straight out. I paid by e-bay payments. To my horror e-bay has screwed up again with their online payments and not sent him the money. Three times they have done this to me. Paypal seems ok just the Billpoint system in the Uk is not right. I've heard loads of comments and bad dealings with it.

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:38 pm

On 2003-01-17 10:44, PhilO wrote:
The best whistles in my collection were purchased from people who trustingly sent me the whistles before I even decided to buy them and really high end stuff to boot.

The dealers and makers can't deal that way; they need verified credit card number or money order or a wait for checks to clear prior to shipping, and that's expected.

Actually, Glenn Schultz, among others (is Sindt the other?), does work this way. He sends out whistles, then asks for the price of the whistle plus his postage. If you don't like the whistle, you send it back. When I wanted to try a flute, he sent TWO flutes, and asked that I either send back one plus a check or both.

I've often wanted to ask him whether he's ever gotten burned. I suspect the answer is yes, but I think it would be difficult for even the most dishonest person to take advantage of someone that trusting.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 7:31 pm

You're right Charlie, I forgot; Glenn once sent me 3 whistles and told me to keep and pay for what I wanted and return the others, if any.

Philo

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 7:32 pm

You're right Charlie, I forgot; Glenn once sent me 3 whistles and told me to keep and pay for what I wanted and return the others, if any.

Philo

Wandering_Whistler · Post by **Wandering_Whistler** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 8:35 pm

Well, for my own 2cents, I've bought and sold a fair number of whistles to C&Fers...

Every time I've done so (both buying and selling), it's been in the 'traditional' manner: Money sent, instrument sent when money arrives. I've had one not-smooth transaction (comedy of errors..nobody's fault, cept maybe mine for being short due to money pressures), but everything worked out in the end.

For folks who send whistles first, I'm glad nobody's been burned...but it'll only take once to make you feel rather betrayed. I prefer to avoid the off chance.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 8:42 pm

On 2003-01-17 21:35, Wandering_Whistler wrote:
Well, for my own 2cents, I've bought and sold a fair number of whistles to C&Fers...

Every time I've done so (both buying and selling), it's been in the 'traditional' manner: Money sent, instrument sent when money arrives. I've had one not-smooth transaction (comedy of errors..nobody's fault, cept maybe mine for being short due to money pressures), but everything worked out in the end.

For folks who send whistles first, I'm glad nobody's been burned...but it'll only take once to make you feel rather betrayed. I prefer to avoid the off chance.

That doesn't remove the element of trust, though, because the buyer is still trusting that the seller will indeed send the whistle after payment is received. There has to be trust no matter how it's done.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:22 pm

On 2003-01-17 12:01, tkelly wrote:
Wombat, the fellow was away when I shipped the instrument. I knew that and didn't worry. He's back -- not on the board, I don't think, but he has received and sent e-mail since he returned. Since he returned over 2 weeks ago . . . well, maybe it will still work out.

Tery

I hope so, but it does look bad, doesn't it? Obviously it's important to rule out all possible misunderstandings before going public. I do think you're wise to be cautious though. Hope this gets sorted Tery.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:30 pm

Well there I go replying to a comment *before* I finish reading the thread. Turns out to have been a variation on just the thing I was describing. I'm really glad for all that this got sorted so openly and well.

WhistlingGypsy · Post by **WhistlingGypsy** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:48 pm

I don't get this idea of sending the money first. You're just as likely to be burnt that way as the other. I had a couple of dealings with some C&Fers over the holidays and the money and whistle were sent at the same time. I think this is the best way all round ~ realizing that you could still get burnt if the other party does not fulfill their part of the deal.

I had a whistle sent to me from Phil Hardy without me paying anything, until I decide whether I liked it or not. This kind of trust only builds goodwill and everyone wins in the end.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:56 pm

I've had a couple whistles sent to me for a test run before purchase, with a "send it back if you don't want it" type thing going on. I've had a member send me his Silkstone to try out when I was a newbie on the board (which floored me - he let me have it for a month!) and - the thing that still impresses me - my Low D copeland, I bought it from a board member who doesn't post much, and he sent it to me before he received my check. (We both put them in the mail the same day.) Now THERE is trust.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:02 pm

In my line of work, I meet a lot of different kinds of people and make an awful lot of deals. And I've been burned a few times over the last 20 or so years. When you are in a business like this you kind of live and learn. I like to think that I am a good judge of character as a result of my experience. I am therefore *not* surprised at all to hear that there have been few if any bad experiences with regard to deals between C&Fers. For example, I remember once not long ago when E=Fb sold a bunch of glass flutes for a good price to anyone with over 100 posts based solely on trust - and as I recall it went off without a hitch. I would have no problem trusting anyone on this forum.

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:13 pm

Well, I've a different "twist" on the situation. One of our esteemed C&F members bought a Holiday Trio from me, and I shipped it day after Christmas, Second Day, insured USPS. After nearly two weeks of not hearing from him, I got another set ready to ship, in anticipation of him beating me up for not sending his merchandise. The morning I was going to ship the other set, and put in a claim with USPS, he wrote to let me know that he'd gotten the set some time back, but just didn't let me know, as he had much to do over the holidays.

Moral: I was really in a tiz over not getting acknowledgement of receipt. I can't afford to do a Return Receipt on every shipment. I, and, I'm sure, other makers, rely on you to let us know you've received your merchandise in a timely manner. We're not big impersonal chains - we know every whistle we send out, personally, and we worry when you don't say anything.

... just the perspective from the Other Side of the Coin...
Cheers, all,

serpent

Tom Dowling · Post by **Tom Dowling** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:22 pm

I would like to 'weigh in' on the notion of whether having posted more or less than 100 messages to the C& F Message Board should be indicative of anything in the wide world of trust in whistle buying. I believe I have 71 or so posts on this version of the C & F Board, though there were prior versions and I have been coming around for about four years--time sure flies when you're butchering tunes and searching for that perfect whistle. In any event, like many of us, I have been engaged in numerous 'whistle deals' with C & F members, none of which involved any issues of 'truth in advertising' or timely shipment or payment. (That is not to say that I do not rue more than one mid-range to high-end whistle acquisition I have made. My collection of whistles that I don't often play--or even like that much--but can't bear to part with is a lot bigger than the collection of whistles I do play.)

We may, at times, be an opinionated and crochety bunch, but by and large we are square dealers.

Be well,

Tom D.