Buying a pin from abroad

[domlouis]

Hello
Contemplating buying this pin i found in Germany. I can't go and collect so i was planning to use a courier to collect it.
What is a reliable/safe process for buying a pin from overseas?
In my simple head i could commission someone to go and pick it up, confirm it's there and in one piece over the phone, i'd pay the seller by electronic transfer with immediate effect (can i do that? ) and the seller would be able to check that his money has arrived and let the courier on its way. Is that the way people do it?
There might be other threads on the subject and apologies if there is. I just got lazy.
Thanks
Dom

 

[Sven Normansson]

Firstly, if you don't know or know of the person, Don't. I did this with my X-Men. Bank transfer and then get it on a carrier. If you are in doubt a credit card will offer some protection as a bank transfer is done there and then with NO protection.

 

[mark9]

It is a gamble but I've done it and am mainly happy with how it turned out.

Get the seller to give a list of other pinball owners who he has sold to so you can get contact them for references. And get recently taken pictures so you can check the GPS location and time stamp details.

Probably wouldn't do it now though, with the euro rate being rock bottom at the minute.

 

[ronsplooter]

I've bought two games from Europe in differing ways. The first was my Spanish Star Wars which I was sent photo's of and had some email correspondence with the seller but in the end had to bank transfer the money with zero protection if it was a scam. I arranged for a courier to collect from the given address but again could have easily been out of pocket if it was dodgy. Thankfully everything was fine and the game was delivered and I justified the risk by telling myself that it wasn't a huge amount of money involved in the deal.

The second was Transporter which I drove over to collect myself and pay cash. This is obviously the safest way of buying a pin from abroad.

I think you'll be lucky to find a courier who will go and check the game out, ring you once there so you can make payment etc. Most just want to turn up, get it loaded and be gone so generally having it paid for in advance seems to be the preference of most sellers.

It's always going to be a gamble if you can't go and get it yourself but ask the right questions and you can help mitigate the risk but only do deals with money you can afford to lose should the worst happen

 

[Deleted member 2463]

I did an import from a German dealer on my monster bash but had lots of pictures of the table - I was more concerned with the state of the machine than the mechanics knowing that things can be fixed - the Dracula motor was ropey but simple to fix and a few switches out - the dealer has given me a credit to cover the parts so was pretty decent. But there was a few times if I wondered if it would turn up - they also wrapped it very well on a pallet.


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[jonathan]

I've done 2 drives to France to pick up pins/arcades

Expensive these days due to petrol unfortunately