Selling to Brazil

Adair Torres · Post by **Adair Torres** » 17 Jan 2010 9:54 am

Hello Steve .... Rubens Campos is a very common name in Brazil. Do You have his phone number? I could call him.

Don Poland · Post by **Don Poland** » 17 Jan 2010 10:24 am

I think the name "Rueben Campos" is a pretty common name. It has been suggested that buyer beware, however, I think if you follow the advice of others here(b0b, JD, etc...) that have dealt with buyers outside the US, you should be ok.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 17 Jan 2010 4:07 pm

Tony Glassman wrote:I thought Paypal was now not releasing funds until the payer receives the goods.

If that were true I'd be out of business. PayPal actually advises vendors not to ship goods until the payment clears.

Tony Glassman · Post by **Tony Glassman** » 17 Jan 2010 4:52 pm

b0b wrote:
Tony Glassman wrote:I thought Paypal was now not releasing funds until the payer receives the goods.
If that were true I'd be out of business. PayPal actually advises vendors not to ship goods until the payment clears.

I sold a couple of 6-strings recently and Paypal would not release the funds until the buyer received the instruments. Maybe they do that on higher dollar items. On the other hand, Canadians bought both guitars and had them shipped through a customs house. Maybe International sales are treated differently.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 17 Jan 2010 10:43 pm

Maybe a merchant account is different from a personal account in that respect.

Charles Tilley · Post by **Charles Tilley** » 19 Jan 2010 4:51 am

I have used a service called Escrow.com. Here is how it works. You set up a transaction and they contact the buyer and explain what goes on. The buyer agrees to send the funds to Escrow.com and does so (including handling costs). Escrow.com notifies you the funds are in house and you ship the goods. Buyer notifies Escrow.com that the goods have arrived with no issues and Escrow sends you the money. Escrow.com is sort of a money clearing house for both parties. There may be some short delays in getting this sale completed compared to PayPal but it is 100% safe. Good for those who do not use PayPal.

I am involved with one in Sweden right now and have no ill feelings about it.

Charles Tilley

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 19 Jan 2010 11:59 am

So.... I sold my guitar to a forumite from Austin. Out of curiousity, did Rubens fall off the face of the earth? I stopped getting emails after getting multiple emails in one day. Did he complete a single satisfactory transaction with anyone here? Maybe he hasn't been heard from because as his email told me, he was traveling to the USA? OR just maybe......

Interesting little diversion here.

David Higginbotham · Post by **David Higginbotham** » 19 Jan 2010 2:31 pm

I haven't heard back from him either after telling me the guitar I had was perfect for him. I dont think he bought the tubefex he was after either nor the many other items he said were perfect for him.

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 19 Jan 2010 5:02 pm

I did not sell my Transtubefex to Rubens. Here was his last email to me via The Forum after I asked for his Miami friend's address and saying I wanted a USPS Money Order. I believe the fex is sold and am awaiting funds from another member. Thanks, stevet

From: Rubens Campos
To: steve takacs
Posted: 14 Jan 2010 7:36 pm
Subject: Rubens Campos-Transtubefex-I still want to buy
Hello Steve.
Sorry it did not conclude the purchase of Transtubefex. I had some problems with the release of money, but it solves. If you are still on sale, want to be with him. Monday will be back, I'm traveling to work. Can I pass data from my friend from Miami to make the Money Order, or can I do for Western Union, is up to you. Please ask you to answer me, and once again sorry for the inconvenience. I want to be an effective member of the forum. Thereafter I'll post links to jobs in which I participated and still do part. here in Brazil. Thank you for your understanding.
Greetings
Rubens Campos

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 7 Feb 2010 4:07 am

Just a little update.
It looks like Rubens is a legitimate buyer and member of the Steel Guitar Forum.
I must admit that I was hesitant to do business with him, things just looked a little suspicious. Well, I was wrong. I just received a PM from Mr. Campos telling me that he purchased a Fessenden and was very happy with it. He also said that he wasn't happy about some of the comments made about him in this thread. I don't blame him.
Apologies Rubens, and good luck with your new guitar.

Bert Deivert · Post by **Bert Deivert** » 7 Feb 2010 4:38 am

I an American and live in Sweden and find myself in the same position as Rubens many times. I always talk to the seller of a guitar and say that payment can clear before they ship, and because of that there is usually no question after that. As far as I know, Western Union and checks are NOT good ways to take payment. PayPal and bank transfer are best.

I have sold a number of instruments as well and usually take bank transfer payment which is cheaper than PayPal from this side of the pond. I can make a payment to a bank in the US for about 10-12 dollars. I don't really understand the fear of giving out your bank details for a transfer. How can the funds disappear?! In Europe we use the IBAN code and the BIC SWIFT code for the bank. IF a bank should somehow let somebeody else take out your money from an account without your signature, or due to digital fraud, they would be liable to pay it back.

I give out my bank transfer codes all the time. I think that there may be an exaggerated fear of identity theft in North America which then seems to extend to all sorts of theft, like from your bank due to giving out an account number for a bank transfer.

If I am in error, it would be interesting to hear about it.

I feel sorry for many legitimate musicians around the world that wish to buy gear from the US and Canada, but folks refuse to ship to them out of fear... An English friend is moving to Thailand and asked me to forward gear to him since he believe eBay folks will no longer ship to him there. I get refused all the time myself on eBay and the sellers cite ˚scams˙ as the reason.

As long as payment is made in full before shipping and the payment has cleared, it can't be a problem, can it!?

cheers
BERT

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 7 Feb 2010 8:01 am

Amazing... it seems all I've gotten from him recently is emails attempting to download trojan software on my computer. So, he's legit huh? Who did he buy the Fessendon from?

admin · Post by **b0b** » 7 Feb 2010 8:42 am

Bank transfers are not common practice in the US like they are in other countries. A couple of years ago, I had to set up a transfer from a financial service into my bank account, and it took 10 days for the two institutions to shake hands.

In Europe and other countries there are well established safeguards and protocols. Banks in the US may have the same thing, but they aren't familiar. Most payments between individuals within the US are done via personal checks.

I think that Rubens ended up buying his guitar from a dealer. FWIW, there was nothing in any of his replies that raised a red flag in my mind. His responses were typical of people from other countries who don't speak English. I couldn't convince people of that, though. $:\$

It's very rare for a scammer to actually want your goods. They want money. There was no hook in anything Rubens wrote that would have resulted in him receiving money. He was trying to send money to people in the US. He just couldn't get past people's distrust of foreigners.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 7 Feb 2010 9:16 am

Apparently he bought a Fessenden directly from Jerry Fessenden. Jerry called me to ask about the safety of taking a PayPal payment from Brazil, so I'm pretty sure it's the same guy.

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 7 Feb 2010 11:30 am

On this type of forum. I usually like to see more than one post before I feel comfortable doing business with a member.

I've never had a problem on the forum and appreciate b0b giving us a place to do some trading.

Dave Proulx · Post by **Dave Proulx** » 7 Feb 2010 1:51 pm

I have have recently joined the forum, although I have been following it for more than a year. I have just moved back to the States after a total of 15 years in South-east Asia, the last 6 of them in Thailand, and I just want to offer a cautionary note to Bert Diever about shipping to Thailand.

If your friend is going over there for work, and has a valid work permit, he can bring a one-time shipment of his personal items into the country, duty-free. After that, customs can charge up to 30% of an item's value in duty fees.

The difficulties in getting Americans to accept bank transfers as payment, plus the duty fees, are the reason I finally gave up on my dream of learning to play pedal steel while in Thailand.

Dave Proulx

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 8 Feb 2010 12:12 am

For me it was not a distrust of foreigners or Rubens language problems. I've been "the foreigner" the past 38 years, having lived in seven countries. I've also sold several steels and guitars to buyers in Germany, Holland, Norway, Australia and Japan. For me it was more along the lines of Crowbear's: "When in doubt........ lay out." I'm happy Rubens got his guitar and perhaps other items, but I have no regrets about being cautious. stevet

Ivan Posa · Post by **Ivan Posa** » 8 Feb 2010 12:58 am

I have bought many items from fellow forumites with only one problem from someone who is no longer with us. I always ask for the seller to retain possession of the goods until they have the fully cleared US funds before shipping is initiated. Occasionally the transfer of funds can take time and patience is required from both parties to complete the transaction. I am fortunate to have a good friend who lives in Dallas who handles my shipping to NZ if the seller does not wish to get involved with international shipping. I prefer to use Paypal and have had no payment issues. Caution and clear communication is required from both parties involved.

Bert Deivert · Post by **Bert Deivert** » 8 Feb 2010 3:14 am

Thanks Dave for the heads up on the Thailand import duties!

Cheers
BERT

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 8 Feb 2010 6:59 pm

Please close this. It has been well addressed.

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Selling to Brazil

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