Quoted from davjoszie:I'd rather not purchase anything sight unseen. Cash on the glass, road trip (to place the cash on the glass), or patience. And if you live in Pinball Siberia in the USA, maybe just VP.
I live in a big market where there are machines aplenty, and yet I've still had a few games shipped to me. I would never do it with a common game like TZ or MET, but some games are just hard to find. It's not like there are a ton of HUO Airbornes or Safe Crackers floating around locally.
Quoted from Parzival:Once a potential deal is lined up, usually through PMs or text, I like to Facetime (or atleast call) the person to see their game live.
This is key! You should always talk to the person on the phone before agreeing to purchase the game. You can tell right away if they are a true pinhead, or if they are just feeding you a bunch of bullshit.
Quoted from Reality_Studio:One thing I'll add is that a pattern I'm noticing lately is the scammers will say they are with the military in some way shape or form. Like they will say they are stationed somewhere on duty, with the reserves, ex military, etc, they try and make some association with military service. Almost every scammer that has contacted me has played this angle lately. Not sure why this is suddenly a thing, but it's yet another red flag to add to the mix.
I'm pretty sure they use this as an excuse so that you can't come look at the game or send someone to look at it for you. "Sorry, it's in storage, and I'm currently stationed in Guam". Obviously, this makes no sense, and you should immediately stop dealing with the person. In fact, if a seller ever refuses to let you or someone else come and see the actual game for any reason, you should immediately call off the deal.