Trading cues

[SCCues]

If you want to trade cues with someone in another country, how would you go about it to protect yourself from not receiving the cue you are trading for? I've heard that proficient billiards has a service where they are the middle man in a deal like this, but I haven't talked to anyone who's used them for a cue trade.

SCCues

 

[zeeder]

If you want to trade cues with someone in another country, how would you go about it to protect yourself from not receiving the cue you are trading for? I've heard that proficient billiards has a service where they are the middle man in a deal like this, but I haven't talked to anyone who's used them for a cue trade.

SCCues

If you're trading cues with someone that you don't fully trust then an escrow service is the way to go. I believe that Proficient charges $50 for their escrow service and I've heard from several people who were very happy with escrow through Proficient.

 

[TATE]

If you want to trade cues with someone in another country, how would you go about it to protect yourself from not receiving the cue you are trading for? I've heard that proficient billiards has a service where they are the middle man in a deal like this, but I haven't talked to anyone who's used them for a cue trade.

SCCues

The very first thing I would do is get good, solid references from some folks over here who they've dealt with - better if you know them too. You have almost no recourse against overseas fraud, and there is a lot of it. If it's a known cue dealer such as Hermann or Lucky, or a few others, then you have nothing to worry about and they will have a lot of references.

Once they've passed that test to your satisfaction, pick a third party you both trust, such as Scot Sherbine, and have them handle the trade. Both cues get shipped to them. He inspects them, gives you both reports, photos and an evaluation, and upon approval ships to each of you. The cost is double shipping, of course, and $60 for his services.

http://www.proficientbilliards.com/services/escrowservice.htm

Scot is 100% reliable. Once you've developed a trusting relationship with an overseas contact, then it's just like dealing with anyone else.

Chris