Posted by TubaDude on March 14, 2003 at 20:09:01:
In Reply to: Paranoia of buying/trying a new horn posted by Richie on March 14, 2003 at 19:02:54:
I've been on both sides of this type of transaction and let me tell you, you just have to have a lot of trust if you choose this type of arrangement. I once sent a horn out to a guy in San Francisco from Orlando and it took about a month to get it back. After that experience I have adapted a "I'll meet you somewhere halfway" policy where I meet the seller/buyer somewhere halfway between our locations and let the buyer try the horn for a few hours to see if they really want it. My last horn I sold this way the buyer was trying to line up few other horns, so I took the sale horn up to him, let him try the horn for a few hours while I did a gig, and then picked it up after my gig. A few days later he decided to purchase my horn so I drove it up to him and received a cashier's check. That is also an important part of the transaction. Always get a cashier's check, never expect a seller to take a personnal check for the instrument.
Hope this helps out! TubaDude