Anybody Done a Uke Trade Before?

Just asking for some advice. I am in the process of brokering a Uke trade with a guy in Hawaii. How do I go about the process so that I don't send my$800 dollar Uke to Hawaii and get screwed with a hunk of junk or worse yet nothing? Do I have him send his first? How can I get a guarantee? Anybody had this issue before? Thanks for the help.

I would ask for some references.. Ebay, Paypal, or something. Ask if you can have his driver lic number or place of work where you can verify. Atleast if you get screwed, You can send the cops somewhere... Agree on the whole transaction via email so atleast you have something to show if worse case scenario happens.

I personally wouldnt do this kind of trade with a perfect stranger. If I did, I would ask him /her to send theirs first..

just mu 2cents

I do trades all the time, but it comes down to knowing the guy on the web or in person. If its a new person with no background I take a 50-100% deposit on paypal.

I traded a concdert uke for a martin backpacker once and both of us were here on the UU. I was nervous but she sent the guitar first. I also had her send it tom my school so she could see that I was legit. I personally wouldn't send it to Hawai'i unless I knew the person here on UU or somewhere else. If you have any friends in Hawai'i you could have them verify for you. Have you checked into UPS or Fedex and see if they have a policy where you send it to a store and the person comes in and ships there instrument to you after they pick yours up?

Aren't you a firefighter? Firefighters are like brothers normally right? Local firestation help maybe?

Risky dealing with internet peeps. Where did you meet the person at?

tiki_ink said:

Just asking for some advice. I am in the process of brokering a Uke trade with a guy in Hawaii. How do I go about the process so that I don't send my$800 dollar Uke to Hawaii and get screwed with a hunk of junk or worse yet nothing? Do I have him send his first? How can I get a guarantee? Anybody had this issue before? Thanks for the help.

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Yeah I'd be very cautious about doing that, the person could be anyone!

Maybe you could use something like an escrow service (www.escrow.com is the one eBay recommends, for example).

Edited to add: Now that I look into it, I think they're set up more for purchases rather than trades. Still, maybe you could just get some mutually-trusted third-party to act as a middleman in a similar way.

JJ