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Buyers Beware!!

Buying guitar tips !!

****i won last night , i took Italy ! FINALLY !!HAHAH

I just posted this on lowyat a few days ago… hmm and i thought this is worth posting on my blog . might be useful to some of y’all

I have been buying and selling used guitars and gears for quite some time ..2-3 years ..

and of course once in a while , gapnap gets screwed and scammed . I made mistakes , very obvious ones .So now i am gonna be your grandfather , teaching you the Do and dont’s when buying used gears..here it goes ..

1.too good to be true deals = 99.9% scam

really . its true .but people are still falling for this . uhh..

Particularly HIGH END GUITARS lah …there is no such thing , as a Gibson for 500 USD ..a Fender MIA at 200 USD ..so yeah..watch your hands..

2.NEVER NEVER NEVER pay before feeling and touching the Guitar ..
unless the seller has a SOLID good reputation among your friends ( at least 5 good deals )

Pickup changes , additional hairline scratches , hidden dings , electronics are things you cannot see and judge from the pictures

Plus , many resellers are not that “knowledgeable” like some of you guys are (we are humans , we have weaknesses too)

Therefore , By you (buyers) seeing and feeling the guitar , it eliminates the problem of

Buyer says : Eh this seller ah.. have no idea , or very little knowledge of what they are selling

Even the most reputable seller , tells you the condition of the guitar is 9/10 ( his impression)

what if , you are a SUPER PICKY customer , the sellers impression of (9/10) , in your book is only a (7/10)

then got misunderstanding lor ..one side (seller) saying that it is 9/10 , and you complaining the seller cheated your money for it is only a (7/10) ..

SO SEE AND FEEL THE GUITAR PLEASE !! you can always say NO to the seller when the guitar doesn’t meet your expectations .

IF you buying pedals / pickups .. not too bad-lah.. since the amount isn’t that big ..
alot of sellers require 50% deposit…especially for guitars..
50% of a guitar is already 4 digits …what if the guitar comes with ding , or it was stolen or what ..

3. Make sure the seller is expose enough

Eh , not expose as in this expose lah

Seriously , you will need the seller’s

-address
-real picture
-real name

another method is to check the domain site name owner ..just say…the seller you are dealing with is ..Tommy Lee ..from the website www.Tommyguitars.com

so , you can go to godaddy.com , and run through tommyguitars.com , see if the owner of the website matches the seller’s real name ..if it doesn’t matches then you know lah something fishy going on ..

3rd method is …ask a trustable seller or a pro buyer.. about The Seller you are going to deal with .Chances are , your friend can roughly evaluate the seller’s credibility.

I know i have a “blacklist” for every bad buyers and resellers .So if you sms me and i did not reply , chances are , you are blacklisted

Everyone of us has our own horror stories …a seller/buyer that has been in the market for a long time can easily see through scams based on their experience la ..

4.DO NOT get too “price driven” …price driven customers are easy scam targets..
seriously . its true .

Most of the time , price driven is motivated by Greed

I shit you not . Do not be too Greedy in this business lah . Always create a win-win situation with your sellers/buyers.. its to easy when you are all about prices you know?

5. For online transaction , never pay through western Union . always Request for Paypal or an escrow service , or anything that links to a credit card .
Western Union agents don’t even give a damn about the person who is receiving the money. all they ask is your i.d and you are good to collect your money .Plus , Western Union is not responsible for the non-receipt or quality of any goods or services.
As for paypal/credit cards ..If anything happens you can lodge a police report and get part of your money back

6. DO NOT UNDER DECLARE

Just pay the bloody tax . Dude , i know its tempting to under-declare and TAX FREE your guitar…but..

do you know that there is a possibility of GEAR DAMAGING during shipping?

do you know that you can actually claim insurance for it ? So what happens if your 10k guitar , you declare as RM200 . Kastam doesn’t stop it yes . but when it reaches , it is torn apart

is saving that few hundred worth it ?

In my experience , YOUR GEAR MIGHT GET DAMAGE , when you let Malaysians handle our parcel . Think – Transport from KLIA to your house- that is the period people treats your guitar like shit and throw your guitar in the van like a soft toy . Make your way to KLIA , watch how they stuff all the barang-barang to your car . prepare to get Horrified .

Random Question: gap ! i called you last saturday night wanted to ask you about the Epiphone JAPAN . what were you doing-lah ? still available?

Nah , Epiphone Japan is sold . Last Saturday ? errr…..

spot gapnap

best gig in my life . 4 encores .crazy ass energetic starving crowd .thank you UTAR community service society . new record for my band uh..show off mou

yeah..sometimes i need to post about my life abit abit lah ..a blog with all tips ..no feel ..no human touch..just like a shredder for some peple

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