does anyone know of a Michael Lalancette, want to buy a pin off him but wants money upfront before delivery, he says he has over 20 reference, just a little iffy about sending money upfront
Reference check???
- Thread starter serge
- Start date
Saltimbanco
Well-Known Member
I don't know that person, however I would not send money up front to anyone unless you have references or you can check out the game yourself, or have someone else do it on your behalf and inspect if legit.
Saltimbanco
Well-Known Member
Another member was asking the same thing a while back.. do you know his forum/avatar name?
http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/looking-for-seller-reference.9885/#post-64790
http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/looking-for-seller-reference.9885/#post-64790
My advice is I would ask him how much for the pin picked up by yourself that is being delivered since he probably has it factored into his selling price or charging to say $150-250 to deliver on top of the machine? Personally I would rent a van or truck and make the drive out myself to see and pick the game up myself to avoid putting both parties in an awkward situation. For example if there was some undisclosed playfield wear, broken plastics, cracked ramps or damage what are you going to do? Settle for the game and maybe get a bit of money back from Michael? What if you can't live with the damage and now Michael has made the day trip for nothing. To make things simple and safe for yourself I would just go and maybe bring a friend who knows for things to look for when buying a used pin. What pin are you looking to buy because some games have known list of problems or things to look for before buying. Did you receive good quality pictures and details?
There are very few people I would ever buy a pin sight unseen from in this community nor could I personally vouch for as sellers except for maybe Ancient Games, medvet, Bally Boy, cooke, Williams Fan and few other OGs. I've never heard of Michael Lalancette before and I'd be curious to see who his 20 references are too.
There are very few people I would ever buy a pin sight unseen from in this community nor could I personally vouch for as sellers except for maybe Ancient Games, medvet, Bally Boy, cooke, Williams Fan and few other OGs. I've never heard of Michael Lalancette before and I'd be curious to see who his 20 references are too.
Mike Walsh
Active Member
Saltimbanco
Well-Known Member
isn't that the way its done with shipping, has anyone actually sold a pin to someone and shipped it first before getting payed?
Fleetwood mIkea
Active Member
Have never shipped but wouldn’t unless I had cash in hand first. Anyhow, check out his thread on fb About this very topic.
Does COD still exist? Back in the day, like late 90s it was all the rage. That's how we did transactions COD, the carrier would collect the money before delivering the package. Don't know if its still a thing but seems safe~ish.
After posting this, I googled COD to see if it still exists and I guess it's a Canada Post thing. Check it out here for more info
https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/kb...type=kb&cat=sending&subcat=generalinformation
After posting this, I googled COD to see if it still exists and I guess it's a Canada Post thing. Check it out here for more info
https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/kb...type=kb&cat=sending&subcat=generalinformation
The only way I can see this happening is if there is strong references to support both the buyer and seller. I have helped back and vouch a few deals like this in the past where either the pin was shipped and paid after delivery or pin was paid in full before being shipped.
Funny the game in question is a Royal Rumble because a close friend of mine bought one years ago from a seller in QC based on some pictures and brief description of the game. After he had the game delivered he noticed there was a robertson screwed into the playfield in front of the scoop to the left of the center ramp. Turns out the kicker didn't work so I guess the previous owner thought they would just block the ball from going in with a screw instead of just fixing the busted wire off the coil. It was pretty disappointing this wasn't disclosed and probably partially my friend's fault for not noticing in the pictures. I never saw the original pictures so can't comment whether the screw was visible in them or not. Had my friend drove out to see this Royal Rumble he would have either seen this screw in front of the scoop or the screw hole on the playfield before committing to it. Now that he paid someone to pick up and deliver the game to him he is now stuck in a hard place because game has already been paid for.
serge I highly recommend you make the trip and see the game with your own eyes unless the pictures and description provided have you convinced this game meets your standards and expectations. I find this varies because what people consider mint or collector quality (aka CQ) is not to me. I'm not going to name any names but I can tell there is a certain province where there are some shady collectors that misrepresent their games. They prey on the fact that you just took a day off, drove 500+ kms one way for a game and will just settle for what they consider "invisible point of wear" and fine to take a small $50 discount instead of driving home empty handed. If this happened to me I would consider the day lost and gas money a blessing in disguise.
Saltimbanco
Well-Known Member
Shady collectors are not defined by where they live, they are just dishonest people regardless where you find them. So not limited to a single province, IMO. And it does not mean that this specific seller is not legit, however I would totally heed Mike's advice because it's the right advice.
Thankfully I've never been burned personally but I have had few personal friends over the years get burned as well as random people on the forums over the years like serge who might be new to the hobby that don't know any better get taken advantage of. But I agree shady sellers can come from anywhere which is why you do your best to do your due diligence and get reference checks. I can just speak from other people's experiences and those who got burned there was always one common denominator.
The screw was literally above the orange arrow in the middle of the scoop hole. The only reason it was there was so the ball wouldn't go in during game play because the wire broke off the coil ball search wouldn't be able to kick it out.
I always send cash in advance. You can easily do your due diligence on Pinside in a couple hours. Recently bought games from Sask and Edmonton.