Barry Szamboti

[scsuxci]

Whats funny is thats all I asked to do I guess I havent bought enough cues here lol....I asked to escrow he said NO...I said I''ll pay...He said NO....He said I want $4,300 for the cue and I said YES...He said I won't said it to anyone LOL....Where was I the A$$ Hole? Better off without the headache, and its not the first time stuff is swiped from under me for more money.........No bumpy ride,,,,I said all along I hope its legit and right but when a person refuses ESCROW thats a RED FLAG,,,,but now with another buyer they ACCEPT ESCROW?>??????????? Weird huh:thumbup:

PLUS...This joker isnt even the guy selling the cue or who has the cue after I talked to the "other" owner.....The "real" owner told me this guy was "some clown who had internet"....and thats a quote

With a cue of this magnitude ,I don't blame you one bit for being cautious.Some people might feel that you being cautious is actually saying, you don't trust them, but at the end of the day its your money and have every right to feel comfortable with the transaction as well as the seller.It has to be a 2 way street.Probably better you didn't get,to much bad Karma

 

[vinniebabarooch]

The cue was as described.
Thank you Doug and David.

 

[db28540]

szam cue

Thanks Troy! Hope you enjoy your cue! Just for the 5 year old gossip crowd...Barry said the cue was perfect..and it's 100% original. You couldnt have ask for the deal to go any smoother..Thanks again!

 

[TheCueHunter]

Thanks Troy! Hope you enjoy your cue! Just for the 5 year old gossip crowd...Barry said the cue was perfect..and it's 100% original. You couldnt have ask for the deal to go any smoother..Thanks again!

I'm Glad..All I wanted was to send to Barry as well but "Doug" wouldnt agree, but then WHY WOULD he when after he accepts an offer and someone else offers more money:thumbup: Congrats on the pickup I picked one up today myself but I'm not telling where its coming from so no one calls and offers a dollar more

 

[vinniebabarooch]

I'm Glad..All I wanted was to send to Barry as well but "Doug" wouldnt agree, but then WHY WOULD he when after he accepts an offer and someone else offers more money:thumbup: Congrats on the pickup I picked one up today myself but I'm not telling where its coming from so no one calls and offers a dollar more

Just for the record.
As I told you in a pm, I had no idea you were involved in trying to buy this cue. I made him an offer and he said ok. That's all that I did. Never knew who was interested or who made offers.
Thanks

 

[cueaddicts]

Just be glad he wasn't a closer drive for me....lol. :smile:

Congrats on getting it, Troy. It looks like a nice early cue.

 

[hotrod]

glad this worked out well for all parties. I did a deal with Dave couple weeks ago and it went flawless with no hiccups. Congrats to both parties.

 

[TheCueHunter]

Just be glad he wasn't a closer drive for me....lol. :smile:

Congrats on getting it, Troy. It looks like a nice early cue.

Lol, Thanks for the support Nice to know most cue dealers would try to beat the best offer by a dollar or so and then drive to go get it

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

I've been lucky I guess . . .

First, congrats to both parties involved on a nice 'Barry' transaction. :smile:

I don't think it's unreasonable, at all, however, for a potential buyer to be adamant about escrowing the deal. And, yes, especially when looking to buy from a seller who has a very limited (or no) track record to go on.

But there are two things that I think are worth considering in a deal like this one.

1. The cue was apparently very desirable and the obviously very fairly priced as evidenced by how many *knowledgeable* az'ers expressed an interest to buy it.

So, the first consideration is that the seller is likely getting lots of inquiries and some offers, so how can I best move forward on this deal?

I think the answer is pretty straightforward. If the idea of escrow wasn't sitting well with the seller and if this is a deal breaker for me, then walk away. Or, decide to take a risk (a very calculated one - see #2 below) and try to make it real easy and even enjoyable for the seller. The old honey vs. vinegar thing.

And, btw, far be it for me to provide Lawman a tutorial on how to close a cue deal - I think that not only is he a good guy but I believe he's bought and sold a few before. :thumbup: So, to be clear, my comments are not directed at him.

I am speaking very generally and, for me, it really would come down to how bad I want a particular cue, how much effort will it require to keep things going in a positive direction and most importantly, how can I accomplish it while minimizing my risk.

2. Use a method of payment that provides recourse if anything is misrepresented. Our resident expert, Kevin Brewer, can chime in if he likes but I believe a paypal payment that is funded with a credit card puts you in a good position - little to no risk if things were to go awry.

I have purchased a few medium to large-ish $$$ cues on az without using escrow service that ended up being great deals because the sellers looked a little risky (low or zero iTrader or out of country) and potential buyers appropriately felt uncomfortable. I paid via paypal with my cc and felt good knowing that if needed, I could seek a remedy through paypal buyer protection or via a cc dispute.

But I will readily agree, using an escrow service, when possible, is invaluable. There's nothing quite like having a trusted, impartial, and completely objective person in the middle of an important deal.

I am a very educable fellow so, please, if I got any of this wrong, feel free to let me know.

Best,
Brian kc

 

[kvinbrwr]

First, congrats to both parties involved on a nice 'Barry' transaction. :smile:

I don't think it's unreasonable, at all, however, for a potential buyer to be adamate about escrowing the deal. And, yes, especially when looking to buy from a seller who has a very limited (or no) track record to go on.

But there are two things that I think are worth considering in a deal like this one.

1. The cue was apparently very desirable and the obviously very fairly priced as evidenced by how many *knowledgeable* az'ers expressed an interest to buy it.

So, the first consideration is that the seller is likely getting lots of inquiries and some offers, so how can I best move forward on this deal?

I think the answer is pretty straightforward. If the idea of escrow wasn't sitting well with the seller and if this is a deal breaker for me, then walk away. Or, decide to take a risk (a very calculated one - see #2 below) and try to make it real easy and even enjoyable for the seller. The old honey vs. vinegar thing.

And, btw, far be it for me to provide Lawman a tutorial on how to close a cue deal - I think that not only is he a good guy but I believe he's bought and sold a few before. :thumbup: So, to be clear, my comments are not directed at him.

I am speaking very generally and, for me, it really would come down to how bad I want a particular cue, how much effort will it require to keep things going in a positive direction and most importantly, how can I accomplish it while minimizing my risk.

2. Use a method of payment that provides recourse if anything is misrepresented. Our resident expert, Kevin Brewer, can chime in if he likes but I believe a paypal payment that is funded with a credit card puts you in a good position - little to no risk if things were to go awry.

I have purchased a few medium to large-ish $$$ cues on az without using escrow service that ended up being great deals because the sellers looked a little risky (low or zero iTrader or out of country) and potential buyers appropriately felt uncomfortable. I paid via paypal with my cc and felt good knowing that if needed, I could seek a remedy through paypal buyer protection or via a cc dispute.

But I will readily agree, using an escrow service, when possible, is invaluable. There's nothing quite like having a trusted, impartial, and completely objective person in the middle of an important deal.

I am a very educable fellow so, please, if I got any of this wrong, please feel free to let me know.

Best,
Brian kc

Brian

Ooooh, you got me on this one. I liked this cue (along with everybody) and yes, if the seller would have accepted my PayPal, I would have sent him money no problem. I think (working from memory) at first his price was too high for me PLUS I'd have to talk to him about PayPal, but I'm sure the other interested guys were in the same position, having to work on price and also escrow. I think (from memory) the seller dropped or revealed a price that made me a buyer and I was about to contact him regarding PayPal when it sold.

Its a balance when someone joins AZ in order to sell a big cue. On one hand, it makes perfect sense that it would happen that way, on the other hand, lots of scams are initiated that way. As buyers, its easy to see it only from our perspective, but you know, as a seller, getting hit with all that speculation and mistrust from your buyers feels crummy.

I sold a big cue on eBay before I joined AZ. As a matter of fact, I learned about AZ through that sale, a neighbor Googled Gus and found the AZ thread discussing my auction. And like many threads about big cues sales, the first 25 posts were all speculation about the myriad of ways my sale could have been a scam. Meantime, all the big cue dealers (none of whom I knew at the time) all contacted me through eBay and I was on the phone with every one of them the first night the auction ran. Anyway, just about perspective. One of the cue dealers was suggesting I had a "done deal" at his figure (which to me seemed like a lot of money for the cue at that time) and all I had to do was send the cue to Barry for escrow. Now to all us AZers, would could be more reasonable? This dealer was representing himself as a close friend of Barry's. Here's what I heard as an uneducated but honest seller:

"send the cue to my close friend, whom you don't know, without getting paid".

Just saying, when most of us hear that a new seller won't escrow we are very quick to be suspicious and I can remember when I thought escrow sounded like a proposal that was fraught with danger and I absolutely refused to do it.

And really, as you point out, it could have been the method of transaction the seller felt more comfortable with in this case, rather than the money. Not saying it was, but I thought the same thing.

That cue would have been my lifetime player for at least 2 weeks.

Thanks

Kevin