When I picked up the IJ, the seller did not trust the bills (I just picked those up from the bank). One by one he held them up the light checked both sides and complained that most bills were new unused bills (he said he never saw these ones before). He did that several times for the whole stack and finally after 30 minutes he was satisfied that they were real bills.

I think the saying goes like "Ill doers are ill deemers"

I heard a buyer on a podcast (I think it was Kaneda's) that got robbed out of a fair amount of cash. If I'm not mistaken, the police said they would have showed up to keep an eye on the transaction. I think they guy was ripped off for ~$15K.

Rather interesting interview.

The fees on an expensive game make paypal a no go for me

Never take Paypal for any game. period. Unless it's your brother you trust.
Too many times there have been stories about sellers finding out very close to the 90day mark that the buyer "protested" the transaction and got their money back without returning the game.
Just.Don't.Do.it

I can't walk into a branch of my financial institution because there aren't any close enough, so I'm, "that guy with the $20's".

Not really, I've had people do it to me many times. They just don't know the proper etiquette is all and I never say anything it's no big deal. And they can pay me however they want in cash of course, it all spends.

John

I mean.....

You don't have to be experienced to make that call, you just have to know yourself, and what you're willing to put up with to get a game. Unless you're buying from local collectors that you know well, or having a game shipped, literally anything can happen anytime you go anywhere. You might get run over by a semi, you might get robbed. Taking precautions is smart, but living in fear of the small probability items is not worth the stress, IMO.....unless you have an anxiety issue going into that type of situation.

There's been maybe two times ever where I was just like "Nope, nope, BIG NOPE" and passed on a game. One of them turned out to be that hilariously funny story another pinsider posted about a nightmare pickup in Louisiana a few years back from what appeared to be two drug dealers. The other was just.....out in the country and it was extremely muddy, and it was for a ratty Future Spa that was beat to crap. Too much trouble for the reward.

Here in Sweden we got Swish, digital payment using your phone and it can't be reversed so it's equal to cash on the glass. I've paid 11 300$ for a pin this way. Also bought several cars this way.

It's really nice not having to think about carrying all that cash around or the hassle to withdraw from a bank/ATM.

I mean, when I'm going to buy pins from a stranger's house, I usually checkout the house/neighborhood on google maps. And almost every time the seller has a house much nicer/newer than mine, located in a good neighborhood. Seems like most pinball collectors are pretty well off. Plus, buying or selling I always try to talk to them on the phone before the meetup. You can get a real good sense of a person with just a simple chat.

Also, I mostly buy from Pinside or Facebook ads, and so you get a lot of extra information about the person you're dealing with. Feedback history on pinside, or PII (like their name, employer, ect.) on FB. And really, once you've done a few large-cash deals it becomes old hat, and just how pinball business is done.